Right and left handed - Essay Example

This is why a person with an increased ability to use the right hand is referred to as right-handed while those with skills in the left are called left-handed. In that prospect, health experts agree that hand preference happens to infants mostly when they are at 6 months of age. However, there are several theories that attempt to explicate the reasons for handedness and their superseding functionalities (Annet, 2002). On that perspective, it is significant to report that the people with right-handedness make up about 70-90% while their left-handed counterparts are only 10%.

Therefore, this makes left-handed people a minority because the world is unnaturally angled in favor of the right-handed people. Among the most popular theories that help to explain the usage of right and left hand is that of the brain hemisphere. Scientists and biologists have accepted the presence of a relationship between the motor control of speech and other fine motor skills. In that respect, these scientists report in their studies that the brain is subdivided into the left and right hemisphere.

This subdivision ensures every part of the brain has its unique functions that give people of different handedness different advantages of the other (Nicholls et al, 2010). Therefore, research indicates speaking is controlled by the left side of the brain while the control of the body is done by the right side of the brain. Additionally, about 50% of left-handed individuals process their speech on the left part of their brain while the other 95% of right-handed individuals use the same side of the brain.

It is imperative to note that people do not necessarily decide to either use left or right hand in their functionalities of life. However, there are inherent merits of either using right or left hand because of brain development and the structuring of their hemispheres. This brings the supposed advantages of people who are left-handed especially in the areas of visual-spatial skills. Additionally, left-handed people are also dexterous in spatial layouts thus they make the majority of musicians, architects, artists and mathematicians (Annet, 2002).

This is backed by studies that discovered that 20% of more than 100,000 students who took Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) excelled and they were left-handed individuals (McManus, 2004). This is was twice the number recorded for the right-handed people that stood at 10%. Alternatively, studies also indicate that left-handedness reduces arthritis and other diseases that are prevalent among right-handed people. Left-handed individuals are also adept at higher creativity because of the workings of the right brain regions that transmit information between the hemispheres simultaneously.

On the other hand, right-handed people have a lot of competence in the mastery of language especially in the development of phonology and semantics. This is also manifested in the handwriting where right handed people are better than their counterparts. For instance, the writing of languages such as Arabic and Hebrew, right-handed people are well placed. There is also an increased evolutionary fitness that entails higher weight, longer adult weight and care in handling pressing situations that is not easy with left-handed individuals (Annet, 2002).

According to research, there are several factors that may determine the probability of person becoming either left-handed or