homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Why some people are left-handed

Left-handed people appear to have better verbal skills, but they also have slightly higher risks of Parkinson's and schizophrenia.

Mihai Andrei
October 3, 2019 @ 1:02 am

share Share

Around 90% of people are right-handed — and it’s been this way since at least the Paleolithic. Now, for the first time, researchers have identified regions of the human brain that are directly linked with left-handedness, and found that being a leftie is associated with both positive and negative traits.

The skewed preference for right-handedness is a uniquely human feature, researchers say. However, we still don’t know why it happens or what other effects it has. While left-handedness seems to run in the family, studies have been unable to show whether left-handedness is strictly under the genetic influence. This being said, several connections have been found between left-handedness and genetic conditions, including schizophrenia. Some results have suggested that genes are responsible for about 25% of handedness — but overall, neurologic studies on human handedness have been unable to shed light on which genes are connected to handedness.

Researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a prospective cohort study of half a million volunteers that gathers a huge range of data on their health and habits. Data from around 400,000 participants was analyzed, with 38,000 of them being self-described lefties. They identified four genetic hotspots associated with left-handedness.

“For the first time in humans, we have been able to establish that these handedness-associated cytoskeletal differences are actually visible in the brain,” said lead author Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud, who is herself left handed.

Most mutations they identified lie in areas connected to the cytoskeleton — the intricate cellular scaffolding that directs the inside of our body’s cells. Mutations in this area have been connected to changing chirality in other species. In snails, for instance, similar mutations can lead to anti-clockwise — essentially, the “left-handed” version of the shell. For snails, this is a huge problem because they can only mate with those who have the same shell chirality, due to the way their genitals are positioned.

While humans have no such issues, researchers found evidence that these cytoskeleton modifications are also affecting the way white matter is structure in the brain. There are well-established associations between left-handedness and several neurodevelopmental disorders — now, the team has found a smoking gun regarding the source of these changes, helping explain why lefties are at a slightly higher risk of some mental conditions, including Parkinson’s.

But it’s not all bad — quite the opposite.

Language-related grey matter regions functionally involved with handedness are connected by white matter tracts. Image credits: Wibeg et al / Brain.

The imaging–handedness analysis revealed an increase in functional connectivity between left and right language networks in left-handed participants. While researchers don’t have the data to back it up, they suspect that this gives lefties may have slightly better verbal skills.

However, this is still only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to understanding handedness. This study has only identified a part of the genetic differences linked to left-handedness, and only in British population — there’s still much more left to discover.

The study has been published in Brain.

share Share

This Stretchy Battery Still Works After Being Twisted, Punctured, and Cut in Half

Not the most energy dense but its ability to withstand abuse is unparalleled.

The UAE Wants AI to Write Its Laws — What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

But can machines really grasp justice, fairness, and human rights?

Scientists Invent a Color Humans Have Never Seen Before

Meet "olo": a vivid, hyper-saturated blue-green that can't be captured by screens or paint.

This Chewing Gum Can Destroy 95 Percent of Flu and Herpes Viruses

Viruses had enough fun in our mouths, it's time to wipe them out.

Conservative people in the US distrust science way more broadly than previously thought

Even chemistry gets side-eye now. Trust in science is crumbling across America's ideology.

We Could One Day Power a Galactic Civilization with Spinning Black Holes

Could future civilizations plug into the spin of space-time itself?

Scientists filmed wild chimpanzees sharing alcohol-laced fermented fruit for the first time and it looks eerily familiar

New footage suggests our primate cousins may have their own version of happy hour.

China’s Humanoid Robots Stumble, Break Down, and Finish the World’s First Robot Half Marathon

Bipedal bots compete with humans in first half-marathon race — with a bit of help from duct tape.

Here's why you should stop working out before bedtime

Even hours before bedtime, workouts can be a problem.

China Just Powered Up the World’s First Thorium Reactor — and Reloaded It Mid-Run

They used declassified US documents to develop the technology.