Most people use their right hand to perform various tasks like eating, writing, playing sports. But there's also a minority of people who primarily use their left hands for these things. Why are left-handed people left-handed? Is it genetic? Are their brains different? Are they smarter? Do they live longer or die earlier? Well, there's a lot of information about left handers circulating in social media, especially making all kinds of claims about left handed people. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Clare Porac, one of the world's experts in handedness, answer these questions. Dr. Porac has extensively studied a range of different aspects of handedness and lateral reality reflected by her several 100 academic publications and two books.

Key Takeaways:

• There are worldwide variations on handedness because there are cultural variations on handedness. Worldwide, there is about a 10% rate of left handedness.
• When it comes to fetal thumb sucking, right thumb suckers tend to be right handed. Left thumb suckers do not have a correlation to handedness.
• If you want to switch your handedness, it takes practice, but it is possible to at least achieve a level of the other handedness.
• Do you really think left handers are more intelligent? Live longer?

"The incidence rate of pure left-handers, people who do everything with their left hand, is really quite low, probably below 5% of the population. Most left handers do something with their right hand. That could be because, their lateral reality is more fluid, since they are not strongly right-handed. Or it could be because they're adapting to a right handed world." — Dr. Clare Porac

Connect with Dr. Clare Porac:

Professional Bio: https://behrend.psu.edu/person/clare-porac-phd

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hilefthander?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/4lefthanders

Book: Laterality: Exploring Left Handedness https://www.amazon.com/Laterality-Exploring-Left-Handedness-Clare-Porac/dp/0128012390

Book: Lateral Preferences and Human Behavior https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FB3D6WK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

Book: In Strange Places

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B091B77337/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Blog: https://sites.psu.edu/clarep/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.