Posted by shar on June 24, 2000, at 17:20:49
In reply to Mind-Body laterality...and effects...???, posted by dj on June 24, 2000, at 10:05:58
It's thought in some scientific communities that different sides of the body "hold" different functions due to cerebral organization. So, if one side of the body is noticeably different than the other, it could be due to dominance of the side (more likely to tense up the dominant arm or leg maybe) or due to the brain function the side is carrying out. (I did a paper on this many moons ago.)
There are areas of study of cerebral organization and mind-body connection, defined as side-dominance (operational definition). That is, how the dominant side of the body--which hand you write with, eat with, point with, the eye you wink with, the foot you kick with, ear you use on phone, etc.--shapes or is shaped by the the brain.
Most docs hypothesize that cerebral organization is contralateral. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body. And, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body. Thus the right/left functions of the brain will be expressed via the body. (Right handed writing, left brain holds language)
Some docs, however, believe that in some cases, there can be ipsilateral organization--that is, the right side of the brain controls the right side of the body, etc. And, more lefties were identified as having ipsilateral org, (and the left/right cerebral orgainzation would still translate "correctly").
But, problems were believed to stem from this feature. Left-handed people are significantly more likely than "people in general" to be found in psychiatric populations (hospitals). And, lefties tend to be overrepresented in certain occupations, such as architecture, and the arts. The docs cited the different cerebral organization as contributing to this.
However, to throw a wrench into things, docs have a hard time determining handedness because it is unusual to find "pure" lefties or "pure" righties (but moreso pure lefties). And that begs the question of ambidexterity and how that plays out.
Nobody had looked at ambidexies much when I turned in the paper.
Shar
poster:shar
thread:38054
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000619/msgs/38285.html