Recently, scientists at the University of Oxford have gathered enough evidence to identify a novel gene for handedness. Even more astonishing, their research suggests that there is a link between handedness and language-related disorders.
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| Handedness |
So then, what implications does this hold for right-handed and left-handed individuals? It is a well-known fact that most people are right-handed.
Since the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body (and vice versa), then it is safe to assume that language is dominant in the left hemisphere of the brain for most people.
From this theory, we should conclude that left-handed individuals hold language regions in their right hemisphere; however, left-handed individuals also display evidence of language in their left hemisphere, too.
In left-handed patients with aphasia (a language disorder that impairs language function as a result of a brain injury), symptoms tend to be milder than right-handed aphasic patients. This is strong enough evidence to suggest that left-handed individual hold more language regions than right-handed individuals.
Many questions remain about how language processing works in the brain. If left-handed individuals do in fact have a greater ability to retain language, could they also have a greater ability to acquire language than right-handed individuals?
In addition, can the link between hand preference and disorders affect language development? Exploring new avenues of neuroscience can one day help us further understand ways in which the brain plays a powerful role in language development.
- Team Shirsa
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