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10+ fascinating facts about ambidextrous people
Do you know someone who's ambidextrous?
Rose Ann Dabu
04.02.21

You’ve probably heard about left-handed and right-handed people. We know that there are more people who are right-handed compared to left-handed ones.

What’s more amazing is they have lots of differences when you compare the two.

But have you heard about being ambidextrous? This might sound uncommon for many of us. To give you a quick definition of ambidexterity – it’s “the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well.”

It turns out that there many things about ambidextrous people that we probably haven’t heard yet. So we listed some of them here in this article.

Here are they:

1. According to studies, they can get angry easily.

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This is based on a study from Merrimack College. It implies a higher interlinking of brain hemispheres that can be found on both ambidextrous and lefties. There’s also a follow-up study and it claims that the increased hemisphere connections are associated with some negative emotions like awkwardness as well as clumsiness.

2. People who are ambidextrous are part of the 1% of the population.

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Yup, people who are ambidextrous are very rare. So the percentage of left-handed people is way higher with 10% of the population. While the right-handed ones are 70% to 95% of the population.

3. It’s all because of the brain.

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Everything about ambidexterity is because of the brain. If you’re familiar with the sides of the brain or the hemispheres, you know that there is always a side that’s dominant. But with ambidexterity, there is no side that’s dominant. They are pretty much symmetrical according to Reader’s Digest.

4. Their overall scores in general intelligence testing are quite lower.

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According to Mental Floss, people who are considered as ‘either-handed’ “score slightly lower overall in general intelligence testing“. The scores can be lower in memory, reasoning and including arithmetic.

5. They were more likely to have inconstant moods.

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A study from Montclair State University found that their moods and emotions can be easily influenced by their surroundings. Apart from that, their moods were most likely to change easily compared to right-handed people.

6. Ambidexterity is different from mixed-handedness.

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This could be quite confusing for some. But there are actually differences between the two. Although they can use both of their hands, you can identify the difference in how they do tasks using their two hands. Oftentimes, mixed-handedness describes people who can use both hands but there’s one hand that “may favor one over the other“. While ambidextrous people can use their two hands comfortably and with ease even when writing.

7. There lots of famous people who are ambidextrous.

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It turns out that numerous prominent people are ambidextrous. This includes “Leonardo da Vinci, Pete Rose, Richard Feynman, pitcher Greg A. Harris, Michelle Kwan, Shigeru Miyamoto, Paul McCartney, Benjamin Franklin, and Harry Truman”.

8. Studies claim that ambidextrous people started from being left-handed.

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There are studies that claim that ambidextrous people were initially left-handed. This is probably one of the reasons why ambidextrous people tend to have low scores in general tests of intelligence.

9. They have undoubtedly many skill levels.

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If ambidextrous people may have low scores in general intelligence testing, it’s the opposite when it comes to physical skills such as sports. As they can use their two hands, they tend to excel in physical activities.

10. According to some studies, ambidextrous children are prone to having ADHD.

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A study that involved 8000 children ages 7 and 8 found that 87 mixed-handed students showed higher risks of having symptoms of ADHD. It’s also because their brains are “wired differently” if you would compare it to children who are right-handed and also left-handed.

11. You can guide your ambidextrous child.

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Nope. Don’t fret, because as a parent, you can do big things to guide your kids who are ambidextrous. To avoid confusing them, you shouldn’t compel them to use one hand. You can also let them use their two hands in doing different tasks. As long as they can these tasks properly, you don’t have to correct them or worry about them.

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