You may be more left-handed than you think…
Left-handedness test
We all know which hand we hold a pen with, but how far does this bias extend throughout your body? Are you left-eared? Left eyed? Here are some simple tests you can apply to yourself.
- Imagine the centre of your back is itching. Which hand do you scratch it with?
- Interlock your fingers. Which thumb is uppermost?
- Imagine you are applauding. Start clapping your hands. Which hand is uppermost?
- Wink at an imaginary friend straight in front of you. Which eye does the winking?
- Put your hands behind your back, one holding the other. Which hand is doing the holding?
- Someone in front of you is shouting but you cannot hear the words. Cup your ear to hear better. Which ear do you cup?
- Count to three on your fingers, using the forefinger of the other hand. Which forefinger do you use?
- Tilt your head over on to one shoulder. Which shoulder does it touch?
- Fixate a small distant object with your eyes and point directly at it with your forefinger. Now close one eye. Now change eyes. Which eye was open when the fingertip remained in line with the small object? (When the other eye, the non-dominant one, is open and the dominant eye is closed, the finger will appear to move to one side of the object.)
- Fold your arms. Which forearm is uppermost?
If you have always considered yourself to be right or left-handed you will probably now have discovered that your body is less than total in its devotion to its favoured side. If you are right-handed the chances are that you were not able to be ‘right’ 10 times.
We have produced a survey for Left-Handers Day where you can record which hand you use for various activities and get an overall rating for how left-handed you are – click here to see the test form.
I’ve always considered myself right handedScott. However many of the tasks that I perform I do with my left hand. I think I used my left hand more before I started school and it was drained out of me.
handedness and eye-dominance is the thing that has always intrigued me as a lefty. the test touches on it in #9, but i haven’t seen any other posts on the site about eye-dominance and handedness. i throw, write and eat with my left hand, but i’m right eye dominant and for me this means; i shoot a pistol, bat, play guitar and skateboard righty. i’ve also fortunately never had to search for or use lefty scissors, knives or can openers. i’m definitely part of the “smudge club” and only use felt tip pens to write with as the ink is dry before i drag my hand across it…my helpful tip for those that still put pen to paper.
i’d be very much interested to know what studies or research has been done concerning eye dominance related hand dominance.
I knit right handed and sew left handed l use scissors right handed but use a knife to cut a cake or bread use lefthand l use a knife and fork like right handers, l can only write draw and paint with my left hand!!
Proudly left handed
What’s the result I figure maybe we have a dominant side yet we also have use of the right and left side brains, I hope we all dont just use one side , I always felt different tho, like I dont make sense to people however I can I understand them, like there is a difference in teaching etc, they use to take my pencil from my hand over and over in kindergarten, I hide to do homework cause I felt I was bad for using that hand I was hiding it , so i figure the brain and mind its complex and amazing, honestly we were given both sides , we work together in what side is dominate, and we work together , excuse my grammer not use to this phone
Hi Bett,
I’m sorry I missed out on no#4-I have always been fascinated by reading backwards. I also can’t read and write upside down, inside out and back to front. Did this just happen one day? How old were you? I wish I could do that-you and Mr. Da Vinci have my admiration.
When I pick up a magazine I start from the front like a righty.
I can write with my left hand while using the com. mouse with my right at the same time, but I’m sure many can do that.
When I was young my mom tried to teach me to knit. She was right handed but knowing that I wasn’t she tried to teach me left handed knitting. She simply couldn’t figure it out so she taught me as a righty. As a result I never could knit well or fast like my older sister but I did manage a cardigan, baby socks and bonnet and a few other things.
My left handed mother had the opposite problem in trying to teach right handed me how to knit and tie shoe laces etc. I have never been able to tie a bow properly. My brother is left handed too, my mother makes a big thing about it and sees left handedness as very special. Unfortunately I am just cack-handed.
the 1 to 10 left or right test How left handed are you, said, “If you have always considered yourself to be right or left-handed you will probably now have discovered that your body is less than total in its devotion to its favoured side.” I got 10 out of 10 for my left side!!
Okay, I think your How left-handed are you quiz needs a space for notes.
I came out as mainly Lh’d. MAINLY! I AM LEFTHANDED. My mother was left-handed. I have a left-handed daughter and my other two children have left-handed tendencies.
1. When I was a child, I broke my left arm twice and had to learn to write with my right hand. I no longer do.
2. I have a lazy eye, my left, so I have no choice but to use my right to see with (no 3D films for me).
3. I was taught to knit and crochet by my grandmother, who was right handed. And to play the piano and there’s no way you can do that left handed, not easily anyway. It’s a right handed world. Lots of us are taught skills by right handed people or through no choice, have been forced to use right handed equipment for most of our lives. I don’t know what I’d do with it if someone gave me a left-handed tin opener, I’ve been doing it right handed for so long, it’s become second nature. It doesn’t make me any less left-handed. If I was forced to put a spoon in my right hand to eat, I’d quickly lose weight (note to self, must try that).
4. You have missed a vital left-handers skill, which is reading backwards. I don’t just mean Jabberwocky style, although I can read and write upside down, inside out and back to front. No, I mean, when you pick up a magazine, where do you start? I invariably start from the back, which makes more sense when you’re a left-hander, flicking the pages with your left hand, and I’m surprised more books for the left-handed aren’t written from the back forwards. I’m sure I could come up with more but it’s 5 minutes to midnight and I’m a bit tired.
On the whole though, well done, love the mag.
Oh my goodness! I totally read magazines from the back to the front! I thought that was just a weird thing about me–didn’t associate it with my left handedness. I taught myself how to crochet because I simply didn’t want to do it right handed. But I did have to reverse the instructions in my head in order to do it. 🙂