Are lefties actually smarter?

Megan Williams5 said:I can't speak for the rest of the left-wing crowd, but I'm literally clenching my fist while typing this. I'll attempt to write this way, though I doubt they could even manage it.

Looks good to you... No way. Easier to learn how to write right-handed than doing that 🤷
As for all these studies and whatever, I think the only thing that actually matters is what the side of the brain controls—that's where the pros and cons come from. Everything else is just nonsense, guesswork, or cherry-picked examples.
Nobody can be smarter than their genetics allow, regardless of which side of the brain they use...

And those studies, man... like, recently some researchers in Sweden presented results from a long-term study claiming chocolate helps you lose weight... so... 😬

I gave it a shot... I find I can write a bit more clearly this way than I can with my right hand, though it still feels completely unnatural. I can manage with my right, it’s just slower and the handwriting is admittedly a mess.

Of course it doesn't feel natural to you when you've spent years conditioned to write in a completely different way. For me, this style of writing just developed organically over time, and I don't deal with any overlapping issues anymore, though my hand tends to sit closer to the baseline of the letters than what you see in that photo... 🤷

Here is a solid article regarding left-handedness. One interesting takeaway is that 70% of people who aren't right-handed actually possess what is referred to as a dominant brain hemisphere—specifically the left hemisphere, just like right-handed individuals. This effectively dismantles the myth that righties are left-brain dominant while lefties are right-brain dominant; that simply isn't how it works for a large portion of the population. The piece also clarifies what the whole concept of "hemisphere dominance" actually entails. As they put it, "Hemisphere “dominance” does not mean that one side of the brain controls the other side. Rather, a person’s dominant hemisphere is the one in which the brain’s language processes and the motor capacities that facilitate speech reside."

Haha, this whole thread really gave me a good laugh!😂
I happen to be left-handed, and if I’m being honest, I feel like I’m the dimmest bulb in the room most of the time—and please, don't mistake that for low self-esteem; it's just an objective observation on my part! From what I've seen, other lefties I know tend to stand out for their lack of wits even more than right-handed people do.
What strikes me as unique about myself and others like me is this slightly different, perhaps more naive way of perceiving reality. You could arguably interpret it as a form of creativity, which might even be linked to how our brain hemispheres function.🙂

hollowpilot3 said:Who’s to blame if I decided to stay in tonight instead of heading out? Now I’m stuck here with nothing better to do...

Let's put those claims to the test and see what we actually find; hopefully, we can round up enough people from that left-wing intelligence study to get a decent sample size.
Here is a test to measure your reaction time. Post your results along with your orientation (spatial, not gender-based 😬). I'll kick things off:

right index finger - 176.6 ms

P.S. I ran this six times to get that average.

Total tries - 50
Average - 306.2
skeptic