Could Being Ambidextrous Improve Brain Function?

Lately I have been writing with my left hand, and I am right handed.

It is a very interesting feeling while writing with your non dominant hand, because you can literally feel different parts of your brain being activated when you do it.

Is it possible that using both hands equally could help to increase brain function?

Thoughts.

Originally posted by SolarE-Souljah
Lately I have been writing with my left hand, and I am right handed.

It is a very interesting feeling while writing with your non dominant hand, because you can literally feel different parts of your brain being activated when you do it.

Is it possible that using both hands equally could help to increase brain function?

Thoughts.

edit on 25-5-2012 by SolarE-Souljah because: (no reason given)

yes.


that's all i have to say, because its true.

Considering the follwing:

I Bat Left Handed
Golf Right Handed
Write Left Handed
Bowl Right Handed


Your freaking right.

Having studied Martial Arts, I was trained to use both hands, inside my teachings and in the real world. Working fast food has taught me to utilize this aspect and I'm more proficient then some of my coworkers who only use one hand. I still need practice, but like they say, practice makes perfect. My left hand motor functions are getting better and I'm able to multitask better. I can even play with my butterfly knife in my left hand now. Or play with 2 at once.
So my thoughts are that, yes, being ambidextrous does help the brain.
Of course then again I fell into my crawl space the other day. My dexterity wasn't working that day. LOL
Good thread. =)

I am ambidextrous, but like to use my left hand to write because the right hand is boring.

Originally posted by hoochymama
Considering the follwing:

I Bat Left Handed
Golf Right Handed
Write Left Handed
Bowl Right Handed


Your freaking right.

I'm the same. This is called cross-dominance.

Write right handed.
Shoot firearms left handed.
Play instruments right handed.
Play baseball/hockey left handed.

I also prefer my left hand for menial actions, like unscrewing bottles/jars, using screwdrivers, using a cigarette lighter, opening doors etc.

en.wikipedia.org...

Brainfunctions haven't improved in my case, anyway i don't feel an improvement since (story down here)
My whole life i wrote with my left hand
Until 2003 when i had an hand-surgery on my left hand (The medianus-nerv was completely cut through, due to an
accident with a knife).
So after that, i learned to write with my right hand. Because my left was still in pain due to the surgery.
I took about 4-6 month until i was satisfied with my righthand writing skills.
But now after nearly 8-9 years i can use both hands to write, but i found out that when i use my right hand
my writing is much better then the with the lefthand.
But brainfunctions are still the same as the time as when i wrote only with my left hand.

Originally posted by Trueman
I am ambidextrous, but like to use my left hand to write because the right hand is boring.

In more ways than one...or were you not making an innuendo here?

On a serious note, it is hard to find a scientific mention that it improves brain function, if you can at all. To the contrary, there is a study that questions if being "mixed-handed" causes problems.

Being amidextrous creates a larger link between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Alowing the brain to make different connections and work in different ways.

So yes.

IT DOES!!!

Originally posted by Xaphan

Originally posted by hoochymama
Considering the follwing:

I Bat Left Handed
Golf Right Handed
Write Left Handed
Bowl Right Handed


Your freaking right.

I'm the same. This is called cross-dominance.

Write right handed.
Shoot firearms left handed.
Play instruments right handed.
Play baseball/hockey left handed.

I also prefer my left hand for menial actions, like unscrewing bottles/jars, using screwdrivers, using a cigarette lighter, opening doors etc.

en.wikipedia.org...

Pretty much the same here. I had no idea I was ambi until high school and I went out for softball. I was a left hand hitter, though Im right handed. It felt more natural to shoot left handed, but I can do just as well right handed and not be smacked with shells from some guns. One of my kids is ambi, ones a rightie and ones a lefty. I punch left handed naturally first, but Im just as good with the left. I think that a LOT of folks would be ambi if they werent told thay HAD to be right handed, and they actually did this... pushed right handedness in school back in the day when I went!

Originally posted by hudsonhawk69
Being amidextrous creates a larger link between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Alowing the brain to make different connections and work in different ways.

So yes.

IT DOES!!!

Does it? Can you provide scientific studies that back this claim?

reply to post by ownbestenemy


Albert Einsteins brain is one example.

Originally posted by hudsonhawk69
reply to post by ownbestenemy

 

Albert Einsteins brain is one example.

Stating one person was such doesn't make it true. I am not trying to discount your personal experience in the manner, but has it been proven? There are just as many notable persons that were not ambidextrous that I could utilize to state my stance.

Though I believe the notion that Einstein was ambidextrous isn't quite fact....at least from what I can dig up. It was speculated, but never proven.

reply to post by Advantage

I used to get hell from teachers when I was a kid for using different hands for different activities, and I was in elementary school from 1992-1999! So things haven't changed all that much, except for the fact that in the 90s I could talk back without getting a caning lol.

Technically we aren't ambidextrous though. Ambidextrous implies that a person can use both hands for every activity, no matter what it is. Preferring one hand or the other for different activities is referred to as cross-dominant. If I was ambidextrous I would be able to write perfectly with both hands, but I can't. When I use a screwdriver, I prefer to use my left hand. When I use a hammer, I prefer my right hand. When I fire a rifle or a shotgun, I'm left handed, but when I fire a pistol I can use either hand accurately.

I always wondered if an ambidextrous boxer would have an advantage over his/her opponents, considering that they would have even accuracy in both fists as opposed to just the standard dominant hand.

Probably the best example of ambidexterity and higher brain function is Leonardo Da Vinci;

How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci

Cultivate ambidexterity. Leonardo could work with both his right and left hand and regularly switched between them. You can cultivate ambidexterity by using your nondominant hand for relatively simple tasks like brushing your teeth or eating your breakfast. Later you can use your nondominant hand for writing.

www.wikihow.com...

What happens is as you use your non-dominant hand more you are creating new neuronal connections. As you use these new connections more often the stronger they will becomes. This is known as neuroplasticity. As of now the mechanisms behind it are still pretty much a mystery.

Never really considered it, but yes it would, as it forces the brain to concentrate more when you are using a less dominant means of motor control.
I became proficient in both hands after breaking my dominant hand at age 19. You'd be surprised how much you take that dominance for granted when you can't use it anymore...
In a way it's like any skill. Develop it enough it becomes habit, like driving a car for instance. If you actually thought about how much you actually do driving, you'd probably crash...

Yes it does and many doctors suggest that older people try various exercises such as this in an effort to ward of senility because it creates new neural pathways within the brain.

When I was a t school I had a casual job at the local supermarket and due to the position of the register compared to the groceries I taught myself to use the register left handed. This was probably a good thing as a few years later after I left school i think I burnt a large number of neural pathways permanently. Now I'm back to status quo

btw. I few years ago i stopped playing guitar due to my hand-surgery see my above story (3 1/2 Fingers on my lefthand are completely num).
But at times when i played guitar before 2003, i played normally with the lefthand on the fretboard.
But now it comes. When i played ("Airguitar" you know when doing as if you play guitar), then i played as if the fretboard was on the rightside. I always found that very strange by myself. Maybe its because i have an eye problem its called "amblyopia"(also known as lazy eye)
My two brain-hemispheres are a little out of sync because of this i think. yes!!.., we are all not that perfect!

I hold the fork in my left hand and write with my right, mainly because I was forced to do so in school. I do think it sharpens the mind to be able to switch from one side to the other and that practicing it helps develop the brain. When I swim the crawl, I breathe in on the left, unable to do so on the right so far.

I have always loved tennis and badminton, but had a really horrible backhand. A couple of years ago, I learned that by merely switching the racquet from one hand to the other my game improved immensely. I speak two languages and when hesitating on a word, I automatically switch languages. I dream in two languages too.