Why are some people ambidextrious; right and left handed?

Question

I'm ambidextrious, but I don't know what makes me that way. I can't seem to find anything about it when I search. Can someone tell me why, out of the few people who are ambidextrious, I'm one of them?

Answer 1

This is one of many quirks of nature. It shows that we are all individuals in some very important ways.

There is no way to force this ability, although you can improve the use of your less used side, you can't make them equal just by working at it.

It is something we were born with, and it makes us unique. Everyone has different degrees of connectedness between our left and right sides of our brains. Normal people have one side that is in control, and more than that, it's the way they see the world.

My brother was born left handed, but my mother switched him to using the right hand. He uses his left hand more often than most right handers, but isn't what you call ambidextrous. His body, or rather, his brain, adjusted. His brain wants to have one side in control, so it adapted. He is right handed now, no question about that.

Because you are ambidextrous, you may not know that lefties approach everything from left to right and right handed people approach things from right to left, and these normal people even will adjust their stance so they can use the "correct" side to do things, at the cost of speed and efficiency.

I'm betting that you have unusually fast reaction times. Because both sides of your brain work in such unison, it generally does speed up response times.

Try this one with your friends. Hold a dollar bill between someones thumb and forefinger. Line up the bottom edge of the bill with their open fingers (about an inch apart). If you let the bill drop, most people can't catch it, no matter how large of denomination the bill is.

But ambidextrous people tend to be able to do this.

So, chalk it up to biology and luck, but enjoy it, as it gives us an edge.

Answer 2

Left Handed

Answer 3

I am too...and I have no clue as to why. It is said that we have both a right and left brain connection. The synapses are connected differently. However, some people, like myself can have certain limitations to the ability. I can do everything with both hands, but the legibility of my handwriting with my left hand is a lot less. But I also have severe nerve damage in that hand.LOL. But I pitch, bat, box, bowl with the left just as well.

Answer 4

I am ambidextrous because I was forced to learn to use both hands when I was young. For instance I use my left hand to write but when I was in kindergarten they only had right-handed scissors. So I became more familiar using my right hand for other things as well. I think that with enough practice anyone can learn to use both hands to do everything.

Answer 5

Nature (genetics) for some (which gives the person their natural tendency toward using right or left) , nurture (training) for others (some are taught at a young age to defy their natural tendency), and a combination of both for a few (who are nurtured in defiance of nature, then defied the authority in order to remember how to use both).

Answer 6

A persons 'handedness' is dependant on how their brain is wired. Everyone is wired just a little differently, and i believe this is something that is set very early in our development and advances from there. You just got lucky, enjoy it.

Answer 7

You simply use both sides of your brain where someone who is not uses the side of their brain like if you are right handed you use mainly you right side and if left handed you use mainly your left side of your brain!

Answer 8

You may find the information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambidextrous

Answer 9

I am too .I think its because every thing is made for right handers so we began to do thing that way

Answer 10

Simply put...genetics.