On a whim (I seem to be doing that a lot lately) I decided to try and improve my skills with my right hand and essentially shoot for ambidexterity. To that end i've acquired a small training software on the DS that supposedly helps to increase a person's skill with their non dominant hand through a series of exercises done daily. In addition to that, i've also been consciously favoring my right hand over my left when going about my day.
I imagined a world of possibilities.
A world where I can use such common everyday items such as viciously right handed can openers with ease. Yes, that's right, can openers. And that's not the only thing designed with only right handers in mind either. The odds are stacked against me. Take a closer look at things designed to be held and operated and you'll see what I mean too. Stuff like scissors, hell even video game controllers.
I also thought would help rewire my brain for better efficiency. In that, I was half right. As I trolled through the internet earlier today I found this gem of an article, cheerfully entitled "Ambidextrous people are Brain-Damaged". Gee mommy, does that story have unicorns and faeries in it?
No Timmy, it does not.
AND NEITHER DOES YOUR LIFE.
Here's an excerpt of this beautiful, moving composition.
Consequences of Converting Handedness. The handedness of a human being is an expression of an inborn, innate lateralization of the cerebral hemispheres where one side dominates. In the neural system, the tracts are "crossed". Thus, a dominant right cerebral hemisphere results in a dominant left hand and a dominance of the left cerebral hemisphere is responsible for right-handedness [18].
Converting handedness, whether it be from a dominant left hand to a non-dominant right or the reverse, (especially during writing) does not result in a change in cerebral dominance but rather a multifaceted cerebral disturbance or damage. This functional cerebral damage (dysfunction, blockage, and inhibition of brain functioning) can then be manifest in the following primary disorders: disturbances in memory for all three areas of information processing (encoding, storage, and recall); difficulty in concentration (early fatigue); difficulty in reading and spelling (legasthenic problems); spatial disorientation (e.g. confusion of left and right); speech problems ranging from stammering to stuttering; fine motor disturbances evident in writing and other activities requiring precision.
The primary consequences can then go on and transform into secondary consequences: feelings of inferiority; shyness; introversion; overcompensation; defiance to belligerence; braggadocio; provocative behavior; bed-wetting; nail-biting; emotional problems that can last into adulthood with neurotic and/or psychosomatic symptomology; and personality disturbances [ 3,4,7,8,9,11,14] .
The next paragraph is entitled "Cerebral Disturbances". In BOLD.
Hmm, I think I might not exactly be helping myself with this ambidexterity thing.
The full article is available here:
http://www.linkshaender-beratung.de/english/Ambidextrous.htm
Figures that the writer is German.
In other news, the telephone at the apartment has finally been connected, so my ADSL application should fall through over the next week or so. I've also met with the interior designer again to revise the original concept he had submitted to decorate the apartment. The new proposal should cost a significantly smaller amount of money.
Anyway, i'm off to write "I have voluntary brain damage" 50 times with my right hand. That ought to be juuuuuuuuust peachy.
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4 comments:
Cutting and pasting a study on voluntary brain damage isn't exactly the best way to go. I think I had to use both my right AND left eyes to read it. You might have caused me serious brain trauma!
Thankfully I'm wearing Patchy the Pirate eyewear right now,so everything should be dandy except for my depth perception.
Way I see it, we're screwed anyway! Why not embrace the damage and the schizophrenia it will undoubtedly bring. As it is, I already have voices in my head that constantly belittles me and makes me cry (on the inside, of course). I think if were weren't supposed to have this brain damage we would have been designed with only 1 eye, arm, leg, etc. But then we'd be fugly. Besides, a girl with 1 boob is missing some of the qualities that make the fairer sex more...sexy?
For some reason, I use almost all daily items right handed. Come to think about it, I'm a lefty cuz I write using my left hand. But I use my right hand more than my left...donno why
Ken
You have been seduced by the Dark Side. I know you use your guitar right handed. In the end I guess its all about what you're comfortable. I think the article is a load of crock. Practically everything we do in life kills brain cells. I doubt that learning to be ambidextrous is going to do any more damage than all the other things we do.
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