Nature versus nurture is a powerful conundrum. To what extent are certain attributes inherited from our parents and ancestors, and to what extent are our mannerisms learnt during our developmental years?
There are myriad theories concerning handedness – whether a person is right or left-handed. While certain facts we know – that there are far more people (around 90 per cent) whose right hand is more dominant than their left – other aspects of the topic are shrouded in debate.
For centuries, the notion of being left-handed has been surrounded by stigma. According to a Time article published in 1969, in the Middle Ages people who were left-handed were at risk of being accused of witchcraft, while there are many accounts of left-handed children being made to use their right hand instead. Not to mention, the various idioms that point to right-handedness being favourable (such as having “two left feet” or giving a “left-handed compliment”).
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In 1976, Dean R Campbell, founder of the Lefthanders International Inc, established International Left Handers Day as an annual observance on 13 August, to raise awareness of and celebrate people who are left handed. As the day is celebrated around the world, the question remains – what is the science behind being left or right-handed?
Is it in your genes?
As a child, if you can remember naturally picking up a pen with a certain hand, this could lead you to believe that your dominant side was likely determined by your genes. According to an article published in the Smithsonian Magazine in 2013, “scientists have speculated for years that a single gene” could be the key to understanding left or right-handedness.
A study published in the scientific journal Plos Genetics in the same year went a step further, proposing that “handedness is a polygenic trait”, i.e. a trait that is determined by a combination of genes, rather than just one gene.
According to another study published in 2013 called “The Evolution of Human Handedness” by researchers at University College London and the University of Nottingham, 40 loci (the position of genetic markers on chromosomes) could be involved in the determination of handedness.
Clare Porac, a professor of psychology at Pennsylvania State University in the US, began studying handedness after conducting research into eye dominance. In an article written by Professor Porac for Scientific American in 2004, she explained that some researchers argue that “evolutionary natural selection produced a majority of individuals with speech and language control in the left hemisphere of the brain”, the side of the brain that “controls the movements of the right hand – and notably the movements needed to produce written language”.
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2/50 11 August 2020
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes part in an archery session as he visits Premier Education Summer Camp at Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ in Upminster
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4/50 9 August 2020
People cycle through Cambridge as the heatwave continues in Britain
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Healthcare workers take part in a protest in London over pay conditions in the NHS
Getty
6/50 7 August 2020
Emergency services make their way along the seafront on Bournemouth beach in Dorset on one of the hottest days of the year
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Alison Murphy poses for a picture by husband Peter as she walks through a field of sunflowers in Altrincham, Cheshire
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Pakistan’s Abid Ali being bowled by England’s Jofra Archer during day one of the First Test match at the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
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13/50 31 July 2020
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Getty
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The Daily Telegraph/PA
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PA
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Getty
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Reuters
33/50 11 July 2020
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Getty
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PA
36/50 8 July 2020
Players take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the first day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton
AFP via Getty
37/50 7 July 2020
A circus performer from the Association of Circus Proprietors in Whitehall, London. The association handed a petition to Downing Street to ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow circuses to reopen
EPA
38/50 6 July 2020
Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, which re-opened to the public after being closed due to the coronavirus lockdown
PA
39/50 5 July 2020
People visit Columbia Road Flower Market, London, as it reopens following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions across England
PA
40/50 4 July 2020
A member of bar staff wearing PPE in the form of a face mask, pours drinks inside the The Goldengrove in Stratford
AFP via Getty
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Cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands prior to the League One play-off semi final match between Portsmouth and Oxford United at Fratton Park
PA
42/50 2 July 2020
A diver cleans the inside window of the seal tank at Tynemouth Aquarium in North Shields, as it prepares to open on Saturday after further coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted in England
PA
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Slackliner Sandor Nagy practices on the beach in Boscombe, on the south coast of England
AFP via Getty
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(left to right) Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill attending the funeral of senior Irish Republican and former leading IRA figure Bobby Storey in west Belfast
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50/50 24 June 2020
People enjoy the hot weather on Margate beach
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The professor continued, stating that the “genetic proposal to explain hand preference states that there are two alleles, or two manifestations of a gene at the same genetic location, that are associated with handedness”.
One of these genes, Porac explained, means that a person has a 50:50 chance of being right or left-handed, while the other “promotes right-hand preference in the majority of humans”.
Despite the plethora of research into the impact genetics can have on handedness, a study of twins published in 2006 found that just 25 per cent of the variance of handedness was down to genetic factors, with 75 per cent of variance coming down to environmental factors that were “unique to the individual”.
Do environmental factors play a part?
Going back to the two alleles described by Porac, according to the professor, the hand preference of people with the first gene (with a 50:50 chance of being right or left-handed) “can be influenced by external cultural and societal pressures, a phenomenon researchers have documented”. She explained that people with this gene could show dominance in one hand depending on “pressures of familial training” and other environmental factors. Thus outlining the fact that handedness may not be solely down to genetics.
In 1997, a team of researchers conducted a study called “Environmental Influences in Hand Preference”, assessing students from Ivory Coast and Sudan. They concluded that certain “cultural and environmental factors could change ‘natural’ hand preference”, such as a person changing the hand they use to do a certain activity, such as eating.
In a more recent study, carried out in 2019 by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in The Netherlands, they investigated whether early life factors may have a significant influence on a person being left or right-handed. Using the UK biobank, which included the data of approximately 500,000 people, they found that the likelihood of a person being left-handed “was affected by the year and location of birth, likely due to cultural effects”.
Other factors also affected hand preference, the researchers stated, including the time of year a person was born and whether they were breastfed. They concluded that while “on average” people who were left or right-handed “differed for a number of early life factors”, overall, “these factors had only a minimal predictive value for individual hand preference”.
It is apparent that this topic is one that will fascinate scientists and members of the public for years to come. But whether being left or right-handed is down to genetics, environmental factors or a combination of the two, it is clear that being left-handed is still somewhat of a rarity.
Of course this means left-handed people have to deal with issues like household objects (scissors and notebooks) being designed to suit right-handed consumers. But they should remember that left-handed athletes famously have an advantage in sports, as right-handed players in disciplines such as tennis and cricket may find it harder to adapt to left-handed opponents. Just look at Rafael Nadal – with 19 singles Grand Slams titles under his belt, his left-handed tennis technique is one of the most revered in the sport.