Most people use their right hand in everyday life, and only a small part of individuals can be called left-handed, since they perform the main actions with their left hand. This phenomenon is not fully understood by scientists, and new research gives rise to even more questions and guesses. Parents need to take into account that if a child is left-handed, developmental features make it difficult for him to adapt to the world of right-handers.

Causes of left-handedness

The reasons why the right hemisphere develops more than the left and takes on a dominant role during the formation of the brain can be different. It is with this structure of the brain that a person becomes left-handed. In medicine, the factors that have an impact on this are:

1. Heredity. More often than not, it is precisely this that determines the organization of the brain that leads to left-handedness.
2. Impact of complicated pregnancy. The wrong lifestyle of the expectant mother and her exposure to bad habits can cause a redistribution of functions in the hemispheres.
3. Birth injury. Fetal hypoxia that occurs during childbirth can also rebuild the brain.
4. Head injury. Affects if it affects the left hemisphere of the brain, which previously played a leading role.

Sometimes a baby becomes left-handed if there are already left-handed people in the family. A boy or girl copies the habits and behavior of adults, begins to use his left hand more.

By the way, the concepts of left-handedness and left-handedness differ from each other, although sometimes they are replaced with each other. The left-hander not only uses his left hand for his actions, his left leg, ear and eye are also leading.

The image below shows photos of three world-famous left-handers. Did you recognize everyone?

How to recognize a left-handed person

Parents may notice from an early age that a child is more likely to use his left hand than his right. But it is possible to make a final conclusion about his left-handedness only after entering school. Consultation with a neuropsychologist is required if the child is confused about the definitions of time and space, has difficulty speaking, or tries to write with his left hand.

The main signs that the baby is left-handed become pronounced at the age of 5-7 years. During this period, the child can use the left hand more actively than the right. But sometimes this is due to the heterochronism (unevenness) of the development of the brain. By the age of 12, when the connections between the hemispheres are finally established, everything may change. That is why such kids need to be closely watched as they grow up.

It's pretty easy to do a left-handedness test yourself. You need to invite the baby to jump on one leg, listen to a secret in the ear, give a hand for a handshake, look through a telescope. If in these situations the child will use the left side of the body or the left paired organ, we can say that, most likely, he is left-handed. Parents are not recommended to retrain such children, otherwise the baby may be at risk of enuresis, nervous tics, stuttering, digestive and speech problems.

The video below shows well the features of left-handed, right-handed and ambidextrous:

Features of the development of a left-handed child

The development of children with a dominant right hemisphere has its own characteristics. Attempts to forcibly change a left-handed person can lead to disruption of the brain, slow down and disrupt the development of the baby. Parents should not focus on its features. Let the child feel the same as other people. This will form an adequate self-esteem in him.

You should not give such children an excessive educational load, assigning them to special classes with in-depth study of subjects. The peculiarity of these children lies in increased vulnerability, emotionality. Their psyche does not tolerate unnecessary stress and harsh educational measures in the form of shouts or punishments. We'll have to come to terms with the uneven handwriting of a left-handed schoolchild, it is impossible to achieve perfect calligraphy in his case. When a child writes with his left hand, the writing speed is not very high.

1. Such a child needs to be prepared for school using games that develop visual memory and coordination of movements.
2. Any game actions must be broken down into stages so that they are carried out consciously.
3. Correctly organize a left-handed workplace with lighting on the right. Trace the normal position of the forearms, the comfortable position of the notebook while writing.
4. For better assimilation of information by such a child, it is recommended to use illustrations, visual aids.
5. You cannot compare a left-handed person with other students, highlighting his shortcomings. To him must be shown tolerance and understanding.

If the child is left-handed - a boy, the peculiarities of his development can be smoothed out by playing sports in which both limbs are involved. Skiing, basketball, swimming will be useful for him. Any exercises for the development of fine motor skills of hands will help such children, then it will be easier for them to cope with writing even with the left hand. When a left-handed child is a girl, developmental features push her to teach her to play the piano, knitting, and modeling.

The well-known pediatrician Komarovsky, referring to extensive practice, claims that the primacy of the left hand over the right does not in any way prevent the child from developing normally and subsequently having success in the professional and personal spheres. Often these children are even more talented and have creative abilities that should be revealed with the help of their parents.

If the child is left-handed, Komarovsky suggests considering the developmental features as a variant of the norm, while paying a little more attention to the children. Today, left-handed people account for about 5% of the active adult population. More often such people are found in the artistic environment, in the world of sports. There are also quite a few of them among those who are engaged in manual labor (up to 7.5%).

Among the famous personalities left-handed were Charlie Chaplin, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Jeanne d'Arc. Often, left-handed people are characterized by high talent in various fields and out-of-the-box thinking.

Physiologically, left-handedness is due to the peculiarities of the functional asymmetry of the cerebral cortex. To explain the nature of left-handedness, the principle of symmetry-asymmetry is used. There are several points of view regarding the causes of left-handedness as a manifestation of the features of interhemispheric asymmetry.

• 1. According to the genetic theory, left-handedness is inherited and conditioned by chromosomal factors, which determines the specificity of the morphological structure of the left-handed brain.
• 2. According to the socio-cultural theory, the formation of a “hand” is associated with cultural and historical conditions, which since childhood socially impose the preferential use and training of one of the hands.
• 3. According to the pathological theory, left-handedness is the result of trauma at different stages of prenatal and postnatal life. Most often, this is a birth trauma due to an abnormality of the birth canal, the result of the application of forceps during obstetrics. Each specific case of left-handedness has its own conditionality, which can be associated with either one or a combination of reasons. This principle is becoming increasingly important in scientific knowledge, in the study of natural phenomena, the origin of brain asymmetry. By the nature of the manifestation, three types of functional asymmetry can be distinguished: motor, sensory and mental. It should be noted that these types of asymmetries are formed and function relatively independently.

Motor asymmetry is manifested in the inequality of participation of the right and left halves of the body in movement. So, according to the involvement of one or another hand in the activity, they distinguish between right-handed and left-handed people (right-handed and left-handed).

Sensory asymmetry is understood as a functional inequality of paired sensory organs. For example, the role of the right and left eyes in binocular vision is different. The leading eye is the first to be set on the object, and its information is more significant for the processes of consciousness.

In 1981, the Nobel laureate American psychophysiologist Roger W. Sperry identified mental asymmetry. Psychic (psychophysiological) asymmetry is understood as the originality of mental activity and the accompanying neurophysiological processes associated with the activity of the left and right hemispheres.

In left-handed people, the dominant specialization in the work of the cerebral hemispheres is less clearly expressed than in right-handed people. And if a right-handed person is dominated by the left hemisphere, then the subordination and mutual coordination of the work of the hemispheres in a left-hander is carried out according to a more complex mechanism. In left-handers, in the first place, interhemispheric "interaction and specialization of the hemispheres" is not formed. Each hemisphere of the brain has its own role.

The left hemisphere is called rational - logical. It is in charge of logical, abstract, analytical thinking. The left hemisphere of the brain processes information progressively, sequentially, considering all possible options. The left hemisphere is also responsible for the right side of the body.

The right hemisphere is called emotional. It is responsible for imagination, imaginative thinking, perception of art. The right hemisphere "processes information at once, instantly perceiving a holistic image, our ability for emotional perception, synthetic thinking, intuition, visual-spatial functions are based on it." The right hemisphere of the brain discusses the left side of the body.

Considering the characteristics of left-handed people, it is necessary to know the characteristics of the hemispheres of the human brain and the spheres of mental activity for which they are responsible.

The dominance of one or another hemisphere determines the predominant development of certain functions in "left-handers" and "right-handers", the knowledge of which helps to take into account the individual characteristics of children in the learning process.

The difference between a left-hander and a right-hander does not end only with the fact that one child is more actively using his left hand, and the other with his right. Everything is much more complicated, but the main difference is that left-handers have a different way of processing information coming from the outside world, different emotional reactions to this very information. Each hemisphere is responsible for its own special type of information processing: - the right - "figurative" hemisphere, processes information instantly, perceiving it as a holistic image; - left - "logical" - processes information sequentially, going through all possible options.

There are a number of psychological characteristics that distinguish left-handed children from right-handed children. Here are the main ones:

Lefties have excellent spatial orientation, "body sense", excellent coordination of movements, are more mobile than right-handers; - they are more successful in the study of geometry due to its spatial nature, but they have problems with arithmetic counting, because these actions require logic, consistent thinking, and this is a function of the left hemisphere; - they do an excellent job with various tasks for generalization, but "grasping" the integral image of the image instead of its step-by-step analysis prevents them from mastering reading; - it is more difficult for left-handers to master competent oral and written speech (their ability to actively reproduce speech is much less pronounced than to understand words); - they poorly perform activities that require constant self-control; - more (than right-handed people) are emotional, impressionable and vulnerable, in connection with which they can often feel resentment, anger, be irritable, especially in situations of difficulties that they often encounter; - left-handers are endowed with a rich imagination, prone to fantasy.

Emotional and psychological characteristics of left-handed people:

• v increased emotional sensitivity;
• v vulnerability;
• v rapid fatigability, as a consequence of this - limited working capacity;
• v high level of creativity;
• v pronounced ability for original artistic creation;
• v irritability and resentment;
• v susceptibility to various fears (fearfulness);
• v low level of self-control;
• v decreased emotional background (prevalence of bad mood);
• v conformity (tendency to passive perception of reality);
• v conscientiousness;
• v timidity;
• v increased level of anxiety;
• v aesthetic impressionability.

All emotional and psychological characteristics of left-handed people testify to the complexity and inconsistency of their inner world. In this regard, the psychological problems of the child can begin not only when entering school, but also with the wrong and oppressive approach of teachers and parents can manifest themselves in a preschool institution. The most common negative consequence is asthenic neurosis, in which there is increased fatigue, rapid depletion of the nervous system, and a sharp decrease in working capacity. Headaches, restless sleep, irritability, incontinence appear, and appetite decreases. Affective reactions are noted: violent outbursts of discontent, refusal to work. MM. Bezrukikh notes that “in boys and girls, neurosis can manifest itself in different ways. Disinhibition, restlessness, motor restlessness are peculiar to boys. And for girls, a lowered background of mood, lethargy, and tearfulness are more characteristic. According to the data of domestic doctors, neuroses are more common in left-handed children than in right-handed peers. According to the observations of Professor A.P. Chuprikov, clinical forms of neuroses in left-handed children occur in 32% of cases. In order to avoid the above problems, it is necessary to study the problem of functional asymmetry of the brain, left-handedness as actively and globally as possible, and communicate the research results to educational institutions and parents.

Features of the organization of the cognitive sphere of a left-handed child may have the following manifestations:

• v reduced ability of visual-motor coordination: children do not cope well with tasks of drawing graphic images; have difficulty holding a line when writing, reading, as a rule, have poor handwriting;
• v deficiencies in spatial perception and visual memory, "specularity" of writing, omission and rearrangement of letters, optical errors;
• v element-by-element work with the material, folding on the "shelves";
• v weakness of attention, difficulty in switching and concentrating;
• v speech disorders: errors of a sound-alphanumeric nature.

When organizing developmental work, it may be necessary to involve a speech therapist, defectologist, psychologist in cooperation. The expressed emotionality of left-handed people significantly complicates education and training. These children need special developmental activities:

• v hand-eye coordination;
• v accuracy of spatial perception;
• v visual memory;
• v visual-figurative thinking;
• v the ability to process information holistically;
• v motor skills;
• v phonemic hearing;
• v speech.

It should be noted that left-handedness is a risk factor not in itself, but in connection with certain disorders and deviations in the development of a particular child. Not all left-handed children, especially if attention was paid to their full mental development in preschool childhood, will have serious learning problems.

In older preschool age, left-handed children are often found with difficulties in developing their writing, reading and counting skills. The point is that the starting point for mastering these skills is visual perception. Violation or lack of development of visual-spatial perception, visual memory and visual-motor coordination, which are often found in left-handers, lead to the following difficulties:

• - perception and memorization of complex configurations of letters when reading and, accordingly, a slow pace;
• - the formation of a visual image of letters, numbers (violation of the ratio of elements, the child confuses letters, numbers similar in configuration, writes unnecessary elements or does not add elements of letters, numbers);
• - selection and differentiation of geometric shapes, replacement of shapes similar in shape (circle - oval, square - rhombus - rectangle);
• - copying;
• - unstable handwriting (uneven strokes, large, stretched, multi-inclined letters);
• - mirror spelling of letters, numbers, graphic elements;
• - very slow writing tempo.

The phenomenon of mirror writing (FZD) was first described in 1874 by Westphal.

Most parents of little left-handers are familiar with this phenomenon. For some, it manifests itself in the form of mirror drawings, writing, there are also mirror reading, mirror perception. I. Makariev in his work "If your child is left-handed" reveals a number of concepts that explain FDD. “Some authors see the reason in disorders of visual - spatial perception, right - left orientation, in defects of visual - motor coordination and biocular vision.

Others see the phenomenon as one of the components of speech disorder. But all researchers cite a lot of data on the connection between FDD and the presence of left-handedness. " The Italian forensic psychiatrist and anthropologist Lombroso also suggested that in childhood, the images of letters are formed in both hemispheres, moreover, mirror-symmetric. One of the factors that provoke mirror writing may be an unstable dominance of the hemisphere when writing, that is, attempts by the right hemisphere to take control of the writing with the right hand. This, possibly, determines the frequent occurrence of mirror writing among left-handed children. With the deterioration of the functional state of the child, fatigue, strong excitement, etc., the balance of the relationship between the cerebral hemispheres changes, which leads to an increase in the number of cases of mirror writing.

Nowadays, in preschoolers, one can often observe how, when gesturing or when moving according to instructions with one hand, the other hand makes involuntary mirror movements. Mirror movements are apparently associated with the immaturity of the cerebral cortex, especially the left, and insufficient development of interhemispheric connections. This phenomenon usually disappears completely by the age of 8-10, when interhemispheric connections are formed, due to which mirror-symmetric movements are inhibited.

Lefthandedness- This is one of the options for the development of the body, associated with the peculiarities of the brain. In left-handers, in the first place, interhemispheric interaction and specialization of the hemispheres are not formed.

Each hemisphere of the brain has its own role.

Left hemisphere called rational-logical. It is in charge of logical, analytical, abstract thinking. processes information sequentially, progressively, going through all possible options. The left hemisphere is mainly responsible for the right side of the body: it receives information about the right eye, ear, right arm, leg. Right hemisphere called emotional. It is responsible for figurative thinking, perception of art, imagination. The right hemisphere processes information at once, instantly perceiving a holistic image, our ability for emotional perception, synthetic thinking, intuition, and visual-spatial functions are based on it. The right hemisphere serves the left side of the body.

Usually, by the age of 4-5 years, children develop leading hand, eye, ear... The leading left hand (ear, eye) indicates the activity of the right hemisphere. Until then, children can pick up objects, hold a spoon, draw, cut, etc. now with one hand, now with the other. The dominance of the hemisphere has not yet been established for them. It is important at this time not to insist that the child perform actions with one hand, when dominance is established, this will happen naturally.

Left-handedness and left-handedness

Studying the characteristics of left-handers is complicated by the fact that left-handers are not at all a homogeneous group.

Left-handedness defines only the leading hand, whereas left-handedness- a complex characteristic reflecting the high activity of the right hemisphere of the brain (in contrast to right-handers, who have a dominant left hemisphere). Thus, if your child prefers to do everything with his left hand, then you can confidently say that he is left-handed. However, whether he is left-handed in general can only be judged by identifying leading eye, leading leg and leading ear(observation that the child uses more often).

When studying at school, of course, the most important characteristic is the characteristic of the leading hand, since the child will have to master the letter.

Causes of left-handedness

There are various reasons for left-handedness, on which the development of certain qualities in a child may depend.

• Genetic left-handedness.

left-handedness is 10 - 12 times more common in families in which at least one of the parents is left-handed

• "Compensatory" left-handedness associated with any damage to the brain, more often the left hemisphere in the event of any trauma, illness at an early stage of the child's development
• "Forced" left-handedness... The choice of the leading hand in these left-handers is usually associated with an injury to the right hand, but may also be the result of imitating family or friends.
• pseudo-left hand in children, the dominant hemisphere in relation to the hand is not formed. Then there is pseudo-left-handedness or, more often, approximately equal use of both hands.

Features of left-handers

Left-handers demonstrate, on the one hand, higher creative abilities (the rigidity of established connections can contribute to more standard thinking), and on the other hand, the formation of skills in activities that require interaction of both hemispheres is slower in comparison with right-handers.

Emotional Research: right-handed people show greater sensitivity to positive emotions, while left-handed and ambidextrous people are characterized by a predominance of negative emotions, i.e. they are more pessimistic. Research conducted at the University of Michigan (according to I. Makariev) revealed that left-handed people are dominated by such indicators of temperament, as anger (emotional incontinence), fear (fearfulness), low mood background, comfort, conscientiousness, timidity, aesthetic impressionability, sensuality, an increased level of anxiety.

According to a number of psychologists, Lefties have particular difficulty adapting to school. According to some authors, the percentage of various kinds of left-handers among children with learning problems is at least 2.5 times higher than the average figures for right-handers.

Habitual problems a left-handed child - persistent difficulties in memorizing the direction of the hour hands, determining "left", "right", sometimes - "higher", "lower".

In a left-handed world, you can read or write a letter or number with equal probability in any direction (both horizontally and vertically). Accordingly, this applies to more complex actions: you can start reading, writing, counting, remembering, interpreting a plot picture from any side (including from the bottom up). When drawing, for example, a child is not able to adequately distribute the space of a sheet of paper lying in front of him: his drawings creep on top of each other, although there is enough free space around. The point is that the starting point for mastering these skills is visual perception.

Violation or lack of development of visual-spatial perception, visual memory and hand-eye coordination, which are often found in left-handers, lead to the following difficulties:

1. perception and memorization of complex configurations of letters when reading and, accordingly, a slow pace;
2. the formation of a visual image of letters, numbers (violation of the ratio of elements, the child confuses letters, numbers that are similar in configuration, writes unnecessary elements or does not add elements of letters, numbers);
3. highlighting and distinguishing geometric shapes, replacing shapes similar in shape (circle - oval, square - rhombus - rectangle);
4. copying;
5. unstable handwriting (uneven strokes, large, stretched, multi-inclined letters);
6. mirror spelling of letters, numbers, graphic elements;
7. very slow writing pace.

With the phenomenon mirror movements most of the parents of little left-handers are probably familiar. For some, it manifests itself in the form mirror writing(the child begins to write with the letter that ends the word, then writes the penultimate, etc., so if you attach the mirror to the written word, you will see the written word in the mirror reflection in the traditional way), but there are also mirror reading, mirror drawing , mirror perception.

If, after 10 years, the manifestations of mirror perception persist, then it is recommended to conduct a thorough analysis of the type of mirror movements, their causes and organize special classes that correct the deficiencies in spatial perception, coordination, attention and self-examination skills.

Along with mirror writing, children often have mirror drawing. Inversion is especially characteristic when drawing: top and bottom, vertical and horizontal, right and left change places, and the child does not feel wrong.

The left-hander also faces enormous difficulties in determining the time by the dial. They not only mirror one or both arrows, but also do metric errors- determine the time with a difference of 10-15 minutes (this also applies to the hour hand).

Usually, most left-handers have distortions and delays in the development of speech(oral and written), reading, counting, constructive processes, emotions.

It is important that all these disproportions increase with unskilled re-education of children.

Almost all left-handed children have a colossal, almost mystical, arbitrary control over your mental activity... In many cases, they achieve the desired results in a roundabout way, sometimes finding the most unthinkable external or internal means. Moreover, each time this process is simply unpredictable.

A left-handed child, as it were, always invents his own way of mastering the world of right-handers. At the same time, he has to "pass everything through his head." And neuropsychologists know that the human brain is an amazingly perfect and delicate instrument, but it also has a finite amount of energy in each specific case. The more energy is required for higher mental processes (thinking, speech, counting), the greater the likelihood of "stealing" the basal structures of the psyche (emotional, somatic and others).

This very mechanism is often observed in left-handers. If any child requires attention in this sense, then a left-hander is three times more.

Should you retrain left-handed children?

To prevent even such doubts, I would like to remind once again that we are talking not only about the leading hand, but about a certain organization of the brain... By retraining the left-hander, we unsuccessfully try to remake the biological nature of the child.

It should be understood that by forcing the child to write with the right hand, we cannot change the leading hemisphere.

That's why the consequences of retraining can be: violations of the tempo and rhythm of speech (according to statistics, every third child with stuttering is a retrained left-hander), serious changes in the emotional state of the child (he can become hot-tempered, capricious, irritable, sleep restlessly, eat poorly). Later, even more serious disorders appear: frequent headaches, constant lethargy. As a result, neurotic reactions develop, for example, nervous tics, enuresis, or the functional state of the neuropsychic sphere is disturbed, i.e. neurosis develops, for example, writing spasm.

In retrained left-handers, various neurological manifestations are possible: impaired appetite and sleep, fears, enuresis (urinary incontinence), tics, stuttering, indigestion, irritability, mood swings, motion sickness in transport.

Studied separately manifestations of neuroses in left-handed children:

1. Asthenic neurosis. The symptoms of this type of neurosis are manifested in the following: increased fatigue, exhaustion of the nervous system, a sharp decrease in working capacity. Physically, children can actively work only in the first two lessons, and then it is very difficult to awaken their attention, but motor disinhibition occurs. Preparing lessons at home is usually delayed, and the results are not satisfactory. Written assignments are carried out with special difficulties. The handwriting is unstable (letters of different sizes, different slopes, the line is not respected, many additional strokes, corrections).
2. Obsessive-compulsive disorder. This type of neurosis manifests itself in families where parents are anxious about left-handedness and believe that it can serve as an obstacle in later life. If parents force children to perform all actions with their right hand, they usually obey and try, although it does not work out well. Parents very often see this as disobedience, whim, stubbornness and punish. Such children have an anxious expectation of failure, and in the future - obsessive thoughts of inferiority... Such children are quite often worried about school fears of failure, of writing.
3. Neurotic enuresis. In most cases, only nocturnal enuresis is noted, but it can also appear during the day. Enuresis evokes feelings of guilt, fear of punishment. Working capacity decreases even more, the child cannot concentrate, a vicious circle is formed.
4. Neurotic tics. Tics include blinking, lip licking, forehead wrinkling, nose twitching. Such phenomena rarely cause excitement and anxiety for parents. The child does not control these movements. Tics are not directly related to performing tasks with the right hand, but intensify when the child is tired, nervous.

Help

1. It is necessary to help the left-handed person organize his workplace, change the slope of the notebook, the position of the forearms when writing, take the pen correctly, make sure that the light falls on the right;
2. Lefties should not be required to write right-handed; it would be more appropriate for them to write directly. The actions of a teacher who lowers a left-handed child's handwriting mark are illegal. There are guidelines from the Ministry of Health (from 1985) that prohibit the retraining of left-handers and the need to reduce the requirements for the calligraphic side of the handwriting of left-handed children. Allowed is vertical writing or tilting letters to the left
3. It is categorically contraindicated to require continuous writing from a left-handed child.
4. Any motor actions must be laid out into elements, explaining step by step, each element must be performed consciously.
5. It is advisable to perform special exercises, play games with the child that develop visual perception and hand-eye coordination.
6. Never show a negative attitude towards left-handedness, use the characteristics of such a child in the classroom to instill in children respect for the individual characteristics of each person, tolerance in relation to the manifestation of properties that are not characteristic of the majority.

When teaching for left-handed children, sensory sensations (visual, tactile) are important. Therefore, for a better understanding and memorization of the educational material, use pictures, visual aids.

For left-handers, it is very difficult to work in large groups with strict regulations and strict subordination. Therefore, you should think very well before sending a left-handed child to a kindergarten, military school and college.

Lefties are very vulnerable and sensitive, protect the child from unnecessary stress, praise him more often even for small achievements.

For parents I would like to give advice: do not tell the kid that the left hand is bad. A left-handed person should never feel your negative attitude. Do not compare your baby with others (right-handed and left-handed), do not expect him to be as successful as other children. If you really want to compare - then compare it only with yourself: "Today you did your job better than yesterday, well done!" Remember that he is a very unusual and extraordinary little man.

Center for Psychological Consulting.

A.F. Remeeva
Psychol candidate. sciences, associate professor.
Moscow.

Left-handedness - left-handedness

In a number of modern studies on left-handedness, it is customary to separate the concepts of left-handedness and left-handedness. Left-handedness is defined as a broader concept that includes, along with left-handedness, left asymmetry in the joint functioning of paired organs. "Left-handedness is not limited to left-handedness. It is possible in the functions of all paired organs." Left-handedness means left asymmetry - the predominance of the left over the right in the joint functioning of paired organs. In right-handedness, the right-hand side predominates. Symmetry of the functions of both parts is possible.

Traditionally, in everyday life, we call people who prefer to use their left hand preferably in various actions as left-handed. The words "left-handed" and "left-handed" are often used synonymously. Although left-handed can be called left-footed and left-eared and left-eyed, etc.

Among the factors that determine left-handedness are called: hereditary and external environment. Left-handedness is considered a hereditary trait.

Symmetry - asymmetry

To explain the nature of left-handedness, the principle of symmetry-asymmetry is used. This principle is becoming increasingly important in scientific knowledge, in the study of natural phenomena, the origin of brain asymmetry.

The development of the central nervous system, starting from flatworms, is accompanied by the emergence of bilateral (bilateral) symmetry of the whole body. In the process of phylogenesis in humans, each hemisphere of the brain acquires more and more specialization, which is especially manifested in the preferred use of the right or left hand, the development of speech, a particular method of receiving and processing information.

The evolution of ideas about the functional significance of the paired hemispheres originates from the recognition of the independence and equivalence of the hemispheres as two organs of the psyche. This idea was later replaced by the concept of hemisphere dominance, which affirms the leading role of the left hemisphere in the realization of speech and some mental processes, as well as the idea of ​​the leading role of the right hemisphere in non-verbal processes. And finally, to the concept of functional specificity.

At this stage in the development of psychology, an ever deeper study of the cerebral foundations of various types of mental processes is taking place. At the current stage of development of neuropsychology, the most relevant from this point of view are the problems of interhemispheric asymmetry and interhemispheric interaction.

In Russian psychology, a huge amount of work has been done to study this problem. Employees of the Laboratory of Physiology of Vision of the Institute of Physiology. I.P. Pavlova A.A. Nevskaya and L.I. Leushina obtained extensive data on the differences in information processing by both hemispheres of the brain. The works of N.N. Bragina and T.A. Dobrokhotova, who put forward the spatio-temporal hypothesis of the functional asymmetry of the brain. In their opinion, the first, the main dissimilarity of the hemispheres is their spatial difference, their opposition to each other. The second difference is the dissimilarity of the functions of the hemispheres in their paired work in time: the right hemispheric function - in the present - past, the left hemisphere - in the present - future tense.

The division of the brain into two functionally unequal organs is considered by modern science as an important factor in human adaptation to the surrounding reality.

Brain asymmetry is studied in connection with the problem of individualization of learning. In this regard, the research of V.G. Stepanov, who identified the psychological characteristics of the perceptual activity of schoolchildren associated with the functional asymmetry of the brain. He also developed psychological and pedagogical recommendations for taking these features into account in teaching and educational work.

In the late 50s V.G. Stepanov, who studied the problems of visual perception, gave an experimentally substantiated and most complete modern description of the two main types of perception - "detailing" and "guessing", which made it possible to form a detailed idea of ​​the course of the process of perception. This problem was solved more successfully with the help of a technique for observing a gradually refined image on the screen of an optoelectronic installation.

Later, the results obtained using the above technique were confirmed in patients with "split" brains. These studies were conducted in the United States under the leadership of Sperry, who found out what happens to the processes of receiving and processing information if the corpus callosum is completely cut, thereby disconnecting the large hemispheres of the human brain. Sick people sometimes undergo this operation to relieve the manifestation of epilepsy. Sperry observed split-brain patients in various experimental situations. In one of them, the subject was in front of a screen onto which images of various objects were projected that fell into the left or right half of the field of view.

The use of this technique provided not only a lot of information about the lateralization of the cerebral functions of sick people, but also confirmed the data on the features of perception in humans with the dominance of one of the hemispheres, obtained in the studies of V.G. Stepanov.

The ideas about the detailing and guessing ways of perception completely coincide with the ideas about the left and right hemispheric strategies for processing information. Data from recent joint research by V.G. Stepanov with physiologist M.N. Rusalova on healthy people showed that in the process of detailed perception in these subjects the activity of the left hemisphere predominates, and in case of guessing perception, the activity of the right one. Conclusions were made according to the indications of blockade of the alpha rhythm in the electroencephalogram (EEG).

A huge amount of empirical material has been accumulated on the study of interhemispheric asymmetry of the brain. Summarizing the facts available in the scientific literature, let us characterize the left - right hemisphere information processing strategies.

Left - Right Brain Information Processing Strategies

The left hemisphere of the human cerebral cortex is characterized by the analytical, rational-logical nature of mental activity, the successive organization of the course of various mental processes. Information is processed in small portions, sequentially. The type of information that the hemisphere operates with: word and other conventional signs. The focus is on the reflection of artificial forms (symbols, signs). This hemisphere carries out abstraction, develops concepts, judgments, gives meaning and meaning to information. Develops and stores rational, including logical rules. Logical-sign thinking forms a model of the world that is convenient for analysis, but somewhat conditional and limited. Mechanisms of abstract thinking are concentrated in the left hemisphere of the brain, and schematic recognition of individual objects is performed. This hemisphere is characterized by great verbalization. It carries out the actual linguistic (grammatical in the broadest sense of the word) operations on the text. This hemisphere contains those conditioned cultural and historical programs of behavior that society assigns to a person.

The right hemisphere of the cerebral cortex is characterized by synthetics, dominance of intuition, involuntary forms of realization of mental processes, and simultaneous processing of large amounts of information. The type of information that the hemisphere operates with: images and other non-verbal signals, characterized by a focus on the reflection of natural forms, in particular, people's faces. The right hemisphere processes and stores information leading to the creation of sensory images. It concentrates the mechanisms of concrete, figurative thinking, which creates a living and full-blooded, natural image of the world. Here is the main visual memory with realizations "recorded" for each class of objects (images of specifically seen representatives of this class). Low verbalization. The artistic vision of the world is associated with the right hemisphere.

A statistically significant predominance of individuals with left hemispheric specialization in Western civilization, and with right hemisphere specialization in Eastern civilization was revealed.

It should be noted that the fully described functional asymmetry of the human brain, as it turned out in recent studies, is inherent only in the right-handed majority of mankind. It consists in differentiating the functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain in their common business - in the implementation of mental activity. Each left-handed person appears to have his own functional brain organization, different from that of other left-handers and ambidexters. It is also obvious that left-handers are not complete functional antipodes of right-handers.

Varieties of asymmetries

Hand asymmetry refers to motor asymmetries. Along with motor asymmetries (arms and legs), sensory asymmetries (vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste), as well as mental asymmetry, are distinguished.

Lefties have long been known to prefer the left hand in manual actions. It is used in gestures. Her movements are more individualized, reflecting the emotional characteristics of a person. Other manifestations of motor left-handedness, in particular, left-footedness, have been studied less well.

The combination of motor and sensory asymmetries inherent in each individual was named by researchers as an individual profile of functional asymmetries.

Diagnosis of left-handedness

There are several options for determining the dominant hand. These are methods for quantifying handedness using questionnaires of 5 to 20 questions, the answers to which reflect the preference of one of the hands when performing daily activities. The most objective methods seem to be those that assess the participation of hands in the process of performing various actions.

Left-footedness is another manifestation of motor left-handedness. Left-footedness is determined by the results of self-assessment of various actions, as well as by the results of the test and functional tests.

Left-handedness is possible in different functions of vision. Asymmetry in the sighting ability of the eyes is more often investigated.

To establish left-handedness or right-handedness of hearing, the method of dichotic (simultaneously on two ears of the presented words) listening is often used.

Researchers Dobrokhotova T.L. and Bragina N.N. a method for compiling an individual profile of functional asymmetries of a person was created, including self-assessment, functional tests, tests for identifying left-handedness of hands, feet, vision, hearing and touch.

Representation of left-handed people in the human population

Humanity is represented by two groups of left-handed and right-handed people, unequal in number. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of persons exhibit a familiar and familiar structure of mental activity. It is inherent in right-handers. It is repeated in many left-handers. In real life, there is no such ideal left-hander who would be the complete opposite of a right-hander.

As a percentage, left-handed people among 18-25-year-olds make up about 5%.

The data obtained, indicating a dissimilar frequency of left-handed people, depending on age, gender, occupation. There is evidence that the ratio of left-handed people is different among those born in different regions of the Earth and at different times of the year.

In different age groups, researchers note a decrease in the number of left-handed people with increasing age of the subjects.

Left-handedness and right-handed world

For the right-handed majority of humanity, it is difficult to imagine what problems left-handers face in everyday life. Almost all household items, professional tools, devices are adapted to operate with the right hand. Every left-hander has to adapt to this "right" world, while experiencing discomfort.

The attitude of the right-handed part of people towards left-handers is far from unambiguous. It ranges from positive, even enthusiastic, to extremely negative. The very word "left" is used as a kind of negative characteristic of anything. What about "left goods", or "go left" ?!

Objective psychological studies show that left-handers have higher indices of integral neuropsychic activity and adaptive capabilities than right-handers. Left-handers showed better indicators of adaptation to difficult climatic conditions compared to right-handers. Along with this, the researchers noted that left-handers are more anxious. Some scientists note that the asynchronous development of some mental functions can be considered characteristic of a left-handed child: outstripping emotional-volitional and lagging behind in the development of psychomotor functions and spatial perception.

The "most capable" among left-handed children, if they are not forced to retrain, may display high indicators of mental development, mathematical abilities, and special achievements in architectural activity. The advantages of left-handers are especially pronounced in some sports (boxing). In playing sports, left-handers enhance the effectiveness of team play.

Left-handedness and genius

The idea of ​​left-handed people as people very different from the right-handed majority of mankind gave rise to many opinions about the exclusivity and originality of these people. Remember at least "Lefty" NS. Leskov. The hero of this work, left-handed, managed to surpass all the masters. We tend to believe that it is necessary to create conditions that would provide left-handers with the opportunity to maintain the uniqueness of their worldview. This would make it possible to fully develop those inclinations that are inherent in nature in every left-handed person.

There is evidence that left-handed people are more common than in the general population, among "artistically gifted ... artists and architects ... athletes in game sports" and less often - among 4% - among engineers, and a little more often - 7, 5% - among those engaged in manual labor.

There are quite a few left-handed people among gifted and truly brilliant people. Here is just a short list of generally recognized geniuses who are left-handed.

Roman Emperor Tiberius, Charlie Chaplin, Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Jeanne d'Arc, Karl Bach, Benjamin Franklin .... The list could be continued.

Teaching left-handed children

According to research by the Institute of Developmental Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, there may be 20-25% of left-handed children in a class. Therefore, modern researchers pay much attention to the problem of left-handedness. A great contribution to the study of this problem was made by MM Bezrukikh, MP Knyazeva. Dobrokhotova T.A. Bragina N.N. and etc.

Left-handedness is not just a predominant possession of the left hand, but a reflection of a certain interhemispheric asymmetry, a different from right-handed distribution of functions between the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

Left-handed children have a number of characteristics that need to be considered in the learning process. Left-handed students cope worse with visual-spatial tasks than with verbal tasks. Many are characterized by inadequacy or impairment of visual-figurative thinking, visual memory, spatial perception, mental manipulation is especially difficult for them ...

The features of the methods of receiving and processing information in humans and the types of cognitive processes involved in them are different. Meanwhile, it is generally recognized that for several centuries our civilization has relied on the detailed (or left-brain) method of receiving and processing information when teaching. This is despite the fact that the guessing (or right-brain) method is most conducive to the development of a person's creative potential, intuition, that is, it contributes to the disclosure of new great personal capabilities of students. It is necessary to differentiate the teaching of schoolchildren, taking into account their adherence to a certain way of knowing during all the years of being at school.

The foregoing requires a new approach to solving the problems of taking into account the individual-typological characteristics of cognitive activity in teaching and upbringing. This problem is of great practical importance, since one of the main tasks of modern human sciences, and, above all, modern psychology, is to clarify the possibilities, methods, means of forming and developing a person's individuality.

The difficulty of the position of left-handed students is aggravated by the fact that often when learning to write, they were instilled in the dominance of the right hand. This was partly due to the lack of techniques for teaching left-hand writing. Today, in the laboratory of psychophysiological foundations of diagnostics and correction of learning difficulties at the Institute of Developmental Physiology of the Russian Academy of Education under the leadership of M.M. Bezrukikh developed a methodology for teaching writing to left-handed children.

The literature discusses more about the upbringing and education of left-handed children. But in recent decades, it has been pointed out that it is necessary to take into account other manifestations of left-handedness - sensory and mental. Many works are devoted to the question of the inexpediency of retraining left-handed children. Back in 1911, Liepman considered interfering with the normal development of a left-handed child to be at least inappropriate. In 1924 Kapustin A.A. spoke in favor of educating the left hand as the rule in teaching left-handed people.

In 1948 Arkin E.A. called "a physiological mistake" the retraining of left-handed children, interfering with their physical and intellectual development, contributing to the formation of neurotic states due to ignoring the "natural orientation and giftedness of nature." Taking into account the latter increases the effectiveness of training and social achievements, eliminates many difficulties arising from retraining.

A.V. Semenovich noted that left-handers make up about 70% of children with school difficulties. She presents left-handedness as "one of the essential and constant individual psychological characteristics of a person", subject to mandatory accounting. Therefore, it is necessary to develop "competent psychological and pedagogical support" for teaching left-handed children.

Significant difficulties arise when writing with a left-handed right hand. It is considered necessary to have an individual approach to teaching left-handed children to write according to a method developed specifically for left-handed children.

Often, forced learning to write with the right hand leads to such typical mistakes in writing as omission of letters, signs, mirror writing. Such children often confuse letters, do not add phrases and words.

Due to frequent unsatisfactory grades, a negative attitude towards school is formed.

The upbringing and education of left-handed children, obviously, should be aimed not so much at adapting to the right-handed world, as at the fullest possible disclosure of their natural inclinations. Therefore, it seems advisable to modify the existing one for right-handers, as well as to develop a special training system for left-handers, providing for their wide differences among themselves.

The idea of ​​the inadmissibility of retraining left-handers in the process of their physical education or teaching different kinds of sports is being substantiated more and more strongly. Deceleration of physical development (body growth) of left-handed young football players, who were trained in techniques through the non-dominant (right) leg, is shown.

The results of our study also confirmed the opinion that it is inexpedient to retrain left-handed children to use their right hand primarily (including when writing).

As a result of using the technique for determining the leading hand, the following results were obtained. Out of 70 adolescent test subjects, 2 non-retrained left-handers (a boy and a girl) were identified. Together with retrained left-handers (5 adolescents), they made up 11.5% of the total number of subjects. These figures are in line with the results of an extensive study conducted to determine the number of left-handed people among children of different ages. Both left-handers and retrained left-handers are represented by subjects of both sexes.

Three out of five retrained left-handers have inherited left-handedness. One is a graphic left-hander (that is, he draws with his left hand), the other four are retrained left-handers who both draw and write with their right hand. Three of this group of subjects are bright household left-handers.

Right-brain cognitive style (guessing way of visual perception) is represented by three retrained left-handers. Left-brain cognitive style - two.

The left-brain and right-brain modes of cognitive activity are represented by both retrained left-handers and not re-educated left-handers. The predominant use of the left hand in graphic and everyday activities does not always mean the dominance of the right hemisphere, since we have identified a left-handed person with a detailed way of visual perception and auditory modality as the main one in the structure of the representative system.

The study of the types of representative systems of adolescents (the representative system is a system through which the individual perceives and uses information coming through the sensory channels) showed that the predominance of the visual or kinesthetic representative system is characteristic of the guessing method of visual perception. But one of the three retrained left-handers with a right-brain cognitive style has as the main auditory representational system, thereby violating the revealed pattern. Since this is the only case when the type of the representational system does not correspond to the way of visual perception, it can be assumed that this precedent is due to the retraining of the left-hander to use the right hand predominantly. Presumably, retraining disturbed the normal development of the functional asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres of this subject.

Individuals with a left-brain cognitive style, as our studies have shown, are characterized by the possession of an auditory basic modality. But retrained left-handers with a left-brain cognitive style have a kinesthetic basic modality in the structure of the representational system, which is also atypical for subjects with a left-brain cognitive style. Thus, the revealed relationship between the methods of visual perception and the types of the representative systems of adolescents is violated only in cases of the observed retrained left-handedness.

Two identified left-handers (left-handed students) have different types of cognitive processes: right-brain and left-brain. A left-handed person with a detailed type of visual perception has an auditory representational system. The left-handed subject has a guessing type of visual perception and a polymodal system of world representation. She was unanimously recognized by her teachers as the most successful student.

The average grade of progress in all subjects studied among the retrained left-handers is 3 points. It should be noted that two out of 5 retrained left-handers are repeaters. All subjects in this group have learning difficulties.

Retrained left-handers have lower academic performance than right-handed students and left-handers. Thus, the average progress indicator of right-handed adolescents is 3.8 points, of retrained left-handers - 3.04 points. The Student's method used to test the hypotheses about the reliability of the difference in means showed that the sample data cannot belong to the same population ((= 1.43; (= 66; ((0.05; reliable). The average score among left-handers is 4.14 points) The difference between the means of this subgroup and right-handers is unreliable ((= 1.21; (= 63; ((0.05; unreliable), therefore, we can refer them to the same population. on the results of the success of their training.

From the foregoing, the need for such an organization of education and upbringing of children, the living and working conditions of adult members of society, is obvious so that they contribute to the harmonious development, high social achievements of not only right-handers, but also left-handers.

In the learning process, it is necessary to identify motor asymmetry, first of all, of the hands. When teaching left-handers, it is advisable to maintain individual preferences and develop the skills of using the left hand for a more complete disclosure of their natural inclinations. For the best adaptation to the surrounding world, it is necessary to teach left-handers to use the right hand. It is obvious that it is necessary to take into account the individual profile of the asymmetry of students in order to choose a training system that should be different for right-handers and left-handers.

All of humanity can be divided into many groups using different criteria: nation, religion, skin color, sex characteristics, tea or coffee lovers, and so on. Another significant difference that divided the entire human race into two camps is the dominant activity of the right or left hand. How does a left-hander differ from a right-hander? Let's try to figure it out.

Famous left-handers

Lefties were such outstanding personalities as Julius Caesar, A. Macedonian, W. Churchill, both Bush, B. Obama, L. da Vinci, A. Einstein, N. Tesla, I. Newton, P. Picasso, many film actors.

A few facts about left-handers from history

Simply put, some people are left-handed and others are right-handed. How the left-hander differs from the right-hander is obvious from the terms themselves. However, in addition to visual differences, there are also those that are not visible to the naked eye. For example, left-handers have a more developed brain, which is also responsible for memory.

Indeed, many creative people are left-handed. In ancient times, much attention was paid to how the left-hander differs from the right-hander.

By the way, over the centuries, some peoples respected such people, while others, on the contrary, discredited them in every possible way. So, in Ancient Greece, they were held in high esteem, since they were credited with no more, no less - kinship with the gods, and it was believed that such people bring good luck. Similar beliefs prevailed in India and China.

Medieval Europe was not particularly tolerant, so here left-handers were suspected of conspiring with the devil, accused of all mortal sins and subjected to terrible torture. Those who survived developed amazing dexterity and adaptability, qualities that began to be inherited and made left-handed people stronger.

The fate of left-handers in the 20th century

At the beginning and middle of the 20th century, they abandoned such radical methods and from an early age they simply retrained the child, that is, they developed the habit of using the right hand more. A similar example is well described in the novel "The Thorn Birds", where the main character, little Maggie, was subjected to a similar practice.

There was a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Almost all agricultural and military equipment was assembled under the right-handers. Lefties would simply find it difficult to adapt to them at a later age.

Later, psychologists proved that imposing skills contrary to their nature on left-handers negatively affects psychological and physical well-being. According to other authoritative researchers, in the process of suppressing their natural nature, they also lose their unique abilities.

Differences between left-handers and right-handers

What is the difference between left-handers and right-handers - it becomes visible from an early age. More than half of left-handed people have a faster pace of development than their right-handed peers. The percentage of people with the makings of genius among left-handers is much higher.

It has long been proven that this quality is inherited, starting from the second and further generations. The same parents may have different children.

Left-handed and right-handed: differences

Interesting fact based on research: one left-hander is born for every 1,000 right-handers. There are other interesting observations:

• Not everyone is openly admitting, but an anonymous survey found that nearly 68 percent of right-handers out of 1,000 surveyed left-handers do not inspire confidence, and they do not want to have a closer relationship with them.
• In former times, on the territory of some countries, left-handers preferred to enter into marriage alliances with their own kind, so that their descendants would also have this feature. This was due to the fairytale theory that left-handedness means that a person has divine genes.
• Lefties quickly master and adapt all the technical devices they need.

Some facts about lefties

There are several points about how the left-hander differs from the right-hander, what is the difference between them:

1. Left-handers have more developed right-handed people, respectively, vice versa. In the first case, this is creativity, emotionality, impressionability, a sharp change in mood, developed intuition; in the second - logical thinking, ability to mathematics and other exact sciences. Both hemispheres exercise control over body movements, but they do it crosswise.
2. Many athletes are left-handed. This applies to various martial arts, boxing, fencing, where they work out tactics that are convenient for them and problematic for the opponent.
3. Every fifth outstanding person is left-handed. The research was carried out: "left" and "right" were offered to solve the same problem. Lefties got through faster and almost always found more options.
4. In difficult circumstances, right-handers act more quickly, but left-handers find original ways out of the situation.
5. Retrained left-handed people, when returning to their natural data, can return their "divine gift" ".
6. There is also a downside. Many mentally ill, well-known serial killers, maniacs and rapists were left-handed or showed latent "left-handedness".

Tests: how to identify left-handed in a child

There are several ways to determine whether a newborn belongs to a particular group. If, during the first weeks of life, an infant, lying on his back, raises his left hand up, tightly pressing his right hand to himself, he is left-handed. In the first three days after birth, the child mainly tilts his head to the right - he is right-handed, to the left - left-handed.

For older children, it is enough to observe their daily activities: which hand holds the comb, cutlery, which hand holds out to take something. The conclusion is very easy to draw.

Left-handed children

It is worth mentioning that there is a third type of people called ambidextrous. These are people who equally own both the right and the left hand. This is a very rare occurrence, owned by less than 1 percent of humanity.

What distinguishes a left-hander from a right-hander at a young age is stubbornness and well-developed fine motor skills. Don't be surprised if a left-handed child at the age of three draws better than you did in high school, sings more melodiously than a nightingale, and shows an interest in playing musical instruments.

Gullibility, one might even say naivety, is what distinguishes left-handers from right-handers. It happens that such children start talking later and have difficulty in pronouncing certain sounds.

Psychologists say that in order to form a full and healthy development in left-handed children, it is necessary to create an environment of love and understanding for them. Do not point out the sloppiness that first manifests itself in them, and also do not compare with other children. A child should not feel like an outcast because of his innate trait. The task of parents is to instill in such children self-esteem and help them master the things around them in their own rhythm.

The ability to endure difficulties is what makes a left-hander different from a right-hander. Perhaps this character trait was inherited by them from their ancestors who were subjected to various kinds of discrimination.

The consequences of improperly teaching left-handers

Of course, not everything is so simple and obvious. Do not immediately hang labels on people based on what their leading hand is. Almost all specialists in the field of education and personality development unanimously declare the dangers of retraining left-handers. Indeed, in the future, this can lead to disruption of sleep and wakefulness, cause indigestion, frequent migraines, pain in the right hand and many other deviations from the norm.

How do left-handers differ from right-handers? This list is long. But we should not forget that the ability to write with one hand or another is far from the most important quality of a person.

The difference between left-handers and right-handers is quite multifaceted, but in general their behavior can carry a lot in common.