History! (You don't have to read this part if you don't want)

When I was a teenager I was in a road accident that resulted in a broken arm. Because I had the cast on I wasn't really able to use my right arm or hand, and that was when I discovered I was ambidextrous. I was actually able to write and draw with my left, and in fact the drawings were better. It felt abnormal to be using the left hand though, since I was so used to my right, and once the cast was off I switched back.

Fast forward a bunch of years and I suffered a nerve injury in my right arm that lasted for over half a year. Again I switched to my left arm and hand, however this time I noticed something really unusual. After a couple weeks my mood and attitude changed. How I viewed tasks changed. The way I thought about topics or approached problems changed. I found that certain things that would cause me anxiety either did not, or caused less anxiety when I approached them left handed. I also started making unusual grammatical errors that I normally wouldn't, like using the wrong form of "their/there/they're", mixing up the placement of letters, or misspelling words that I normally had no trouble with. Once the nerve damage healed enough I switched back to my right, again because using the left felt a little strange to me.

The Experiment!

I was interested in why these differences happened and read up on how handedness relates to the two hemispheres of the brain. The two hands would use different pathways to get to the same location, and when you use one hand you strengthen those particular pathways. These pathways would then strengthen links to other parts of the brain. It's sort of like if you imagine there being two trails in a nature reserve. Both will lead back to the parking lot, but depending on which path you take what you will see along the way may be different.

This past week my nerve injury has become aggravated again and so I'll be switching handedness for a while again, but I was wondering if anyone would like to do a little experiment. The experiment would be to...

1. Switch handedness for the next couple weeks.
2. Taking note of how you're feeling as the weeks progress.
3. Taking note of any differences in approaches/views/attitudes/stresses.
4. Observing for any unusual effects like the writing difficulties I'd mentioned in the first part.

Switching handedness means you open cupboards with the opposite hand, you drink with the opposite hand, use a fork with it, move your mouse to the other side of the desk to control it with your opposite hand, etc.

Some Help...

Aside from those regular tasks there are a couple exercises that can help with this.

• Write letters out (not words) like you would have done as a child learning the alphabet.
• Draw shapes. Circles, squares, triangles, spirals.
• Try playing an instrument with the other hand dominant, or only with that hand (like one handed piano).

These exercises put all your focus on controlling that hand which will help those pathways strengthen.

That's it

Anyways, that's all there is to it. If you're interested in trying this than please post an update at some point to report on whether it's done anything for you or not! I will be posting updates in this thread too once a couple days have gone by.

[Fresia]

Thank you for sharing your history and I think it is a very interesting experiment. I did not know that about the link about the handedness and the pathways to the brain. I would love to participate but I am ambidextrous, am not one hand dominant, am constantly using both hands for all tasks, and therefore would not be of much help. I will be following along though out of curiosity as to the results. Best of wishes with the experiment and to all those participating. It should be fascinating.

I'd love to try this if I had the time and patience. I've always heard that lefties are more creative

[Perna]

I've studied handedness and enjoy working with my non-dominant one. I enjoy wondering about handedness and the senses too.

Do left and right handed people really hear this differently? « Richard Wiseman

[punkybrewster6k]

Omgosh. Im a lefty and cant think or concentrate doing this experiment. It makes my brain crazy! Lol
I keep shaking my head. Nope. Cant do it!

Its mentally exhausting for me just for this short time.
I would love to see how others do with this.

Sent from my SCH-S720C using Tapatalk 2

[jrae]

the experiment sounds interesting. but it will not work for me. you see, I am basically ambidextrous! I am right-handed and my younger sister is left-handed. So when I was in high school, I kinda took it as a challenge, to see what kinds of things I could do better than her. I even taught myself how to write with my non-dominant hand!

[CaptainChaos79]

I brokee my right collarbone and discovered I too was ambidextrous. ..interesting

Interesting, a lot of ambidextrous people in here... I wonder if there is perhaps some link between MI and ambidexterity? Perhaps the pathways conflicting, or not becoming as strengthened? I'm going to have to see if there's any actual studies about that

EDIT: Wow, that didn't take long to find! There are studies about it!

Originally Posted by punkybrewster6k

Omgosh. Im a lefty and cant think or concentrate doing this experiment. It makes my brain crazy! Lol
I keep shaking my head. Nope. Cant do it!

Its mentally exhausting for me just for this short time.
I would love to see how others do with this.

Haha, pretty crazy isn't it? Wild how much of an impact switching hands can have on the mind.

[shezbut]

I am completely right-handed, but both of my parents are lefties & neither is artistic. I'd love to try out training myself to write with my left hand, but I don't think that I can muster the energy (or brain power) to do it! LOL

While it may just be my imagination, after 2 days of doing this I have noticed I already feel different.

I don't have anywhere near the level of aversion to creating artwork that I usually do, and when I'm drawing/painting (a PTSD trigger for me) I experience much lower levels of anxiety about it. The work flows out of me much more smoothly, rather than the highly regimented process I have to go through to draw with the right hand. People in the artwork are much more expressive as well, and the places have more of a familiar, homey feel.

The language difficulties have appeared a little bit, with the most common thing being I leave out letters in words but don't even realize it. For example, when typing "in" I would only type "i" and not even notice until I go back and read it a couple times. Normally I'd be pretty good at catching typos like that.

Probably the biggest impact however has been on my overall mood. Try as I might I can't fall into the usual funk I'm in. It's as though a net has been cast across and it won't let me fall that low. But it's not only that I feel better, it's that I feeling anything at all. Generally I walk around pretty numb, but not since waking up yesterday. I've been feeling a lot more emotion, and looking at the posts I made yesterday it seems I'm expressing those emotions a lot more too.

I'm also feeling a lot less anxiety about a day trip I'm planning to take next week. My thoughts have shifted from being so focused on the past (and all associated traumas) to looking at the future. Not just next weeks day trip, but beyond as well. It's almost as though my mind was bound by a ball and chain before, dragging that weight everywhere it went, but now there's a rope tied to it in the opposite direction and some force is pulling it that way.

Of course it could all be my imagination and I'm feeling different only because I expected to feel different, but at the end of day I don't think it really matters which it is. I may continue doing this even after my right nerves have repaired.

I'll post another update in a few more days about it to see if I'm still the same way.

[VinMist]

Im definitely interested! I am a southpaw and most people around me are righties. My bestie is the only person i am close with who is a leftie. I will post updates in a few days. Thanks for the idea!