Why lefties are more predisposed to becoming geniuses 2

19/08/2018

Why the lefties are more predisposed to become geniuses 2

Best in mathematics
However, the conclusion reached with this study is that left-handers, in fact, have a greater capacity than the rest for mathematics, a theory on which scientists have never come to an agreement.
Thus, while some studies have shown that these subjects, in fact, are especially gifted for numbers, others have come to claim just the opposite, that they are the most disadvantaged group of people. The difference in results is due, as the researchers of the universities of Liverpool and Milan affirm, to the disparity of ages when choosing the participants of the field studies, to the gender of the same, as well as to the mathematical ability evaluated.
Thus, to obtain more rigorous results, these scientists decided to carry out a series of mathematical experiments on more than 2,300 students of Primary and Secondary, which varied in type and difficulty to counteract the bias of the previous studies: from algebra questions to resolution of arithmetic problems. Before, all of them had submitted to the Edinburgh Laterality Test (a test to determine if a person is left-handed, right-handed or ambidextrous).
The results published in Frontiers in Psichology are clear. "The lefties outperformed the rest of the sample when the tasks involved make it difficult to solve problems, such as the association of mathematical functions to a given set of data," the experts point out. Or what is the same, the left-handers show a better cognitive behavior before mathematical problems of high difficulty. These results had a special presence among male adolescents. On the other hand, when the tasks did not have a special difficulty, there was no difference between right-handed and left-handed.
"Left-handers seem to have an advantage on average when they solve demanding mathematical tasks - at least during Primary and Secondary school - together, these findings show that the hand influences cognition as an indicator of connectivity between the cerebral hemispheres" , the authors point out.
Of course, scientists warn that only one third of people with a more developed right hemisphere are left-handed. "So many right-handers will have a structure similar to left-handed," they conclude.