Ambidexterity: Can Two-Handedness Improve Your Brain
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Ambidexterity is the ability to use both hands with similar precision for tasks like writing, using tools, and other activities involving using both hands for separate movement control. Thus, when we use our hands, our brain coordinates the muscle movements of our fingers and arms. Motor planning, for example, is responsible for how we respond to stimuli. This is how we know the sequences of actions to perform a task, applying the right or left hand. Individuals with ambidexterity may use both hands freely.
Also, with mixed dominance, that is, with an ability to use both hands with the same efficiency or manner, a set task can be performed precisely and accurately by any hand. An ambidextrous individual has enhanced motor execution.
So with a broken right hand, one can still brush teeth, cook, and do usual things without any fusses since the left hand has the same functional capacity. If a person is fatigued due to a monotonous act in which only one hand is involved, it is possible to switch arms to continue task implementation without sacrificing quality and speed. However, if one lacks a weaker hand also means one lacks a more powerful hand. This is one of the snags that can thwart task execution. But all this is just about your physical abilities. But what about mental agility and intelligence?
How To Become Ambidextrous: Try to Switch Your Dominant Hand
Unlocking ambidextrous meaning and how it affects day-to-day life can be, although exciting, also somewhat confusing. And if it’s not the skill you were born with, developing a symmetric mind won’t be easy. But it is still possible. Physical and mental exercises can become a great aid for having your hemispheres operate symmetrically and promoting your ambidextrousness. Cooking, using a computer mouse, holding a book while reading, or cutting fruits with the help of a non-dominant hand are cool ideas to balance your brain halves and interconnect them. Such re-settings can be tedious for people who don’t have natural abilities and seek ways how to become ambidextrous. But such attempts to redo how your brain control movement can create a space for sharper memory and thinking, as being smart never goes out of style. But, of course, it is pivotal to be aware of the consequences. If natural skills are unlikely to cause discomfort, then such purposeful and intentional training can. You must be mentally prepared to reshape configurations of naturally established motor patterns.
Tips on Learning To Be Ambidextrous
Innate ambidexterity happens without conscious thought; however, learning to apply both hands requires cognitive attention. It means that by incorporating brain exercises, especially those that help us have a symmetrical brain, your overall mental power will grow. And even if it can be an arduous cognitive objective, carving out some time for training brings tremendous benefits you might have missed. More vivid memories, a greater ability to manage several tasks at once (multitasking), and prolonged concentration without tiredness are pegged as the most pivotal ones.
If you want to explore how to become ambidextrous, you must understand why you need it. If you strive to gain unusual cognitive experience and have a memory boost, then you can try training your non-dominant hand — just be ready to embrace such a challenge. So take the ball. If you usually throw the ball with your right hand, then your task is to do it with your left one. It is normal if such activity is uncomfortable for you. But if you continue to practice, your memory will encode such a motor skill with this particular hand, and each time it will be easier and easier for you to perform it. You can choose a different activity. It can be the routine things you do daily, such as locking the door or holding a cup of coffee or something you’ve never done before, e.g., painting, embroidering, or cutting figures from the paper with a non-dominant hand.
Can Ambidexterity Boost Your Brain And Thinking?
Many swirls are there among brain researchers on whether the effects of such a phenomenon are good or detrimental. However, it is proven that some cognitive functions get stronger if one can use both hands with the same efficiency. Thus, the imagination capacity will be at its highest peak of functioning up to the development of synesthesia. It means that the brain area that produces our senses can interlink them and evoke several senses as a response to one stimulus. For example, when you hear music, you can also mentally see some hues in your brain. So Mozart can sound green to you or make you feel the smell of almonds even if there is no source for such a smell. Usually, such experiences differ, and it is not an illness. Of course, it can become a hurdle to the performance of some more literal tasks that require fact analysis and reasoning. However, such an ability can still enhance almost all types of thinking, support your visualization, and inspire creativity.
If one’s mind is more symmetrical, it suggests that reaction time, decision-making, and memorization processes are more accurate, faster, and more consistent. That is why some professionals in different spheres are suggested to train using both hands as efficiently as possible. It will be extremely useful for some medical practitioners, such as surgeons, as many operative manual techniques must be applied during procedures and operations. So it can make a difference if both left and right hands will be ready to deal with medical issues.
Cognitive Benefits of Ambidextrous Training
Individuals who are ambidextrous tend to demonstrate stronger thinking patterns, and it is easier for them to improve memory. Obviously, such individuals have more options and ways to perform specific objectives, as it is possible to use both arms when throwing the ball, and the outcome in both scenarios will be the same.
Although, it would be fair to mention some downsides. If you are ambidextrous from birth, meaning naturally, more likely, you will be impinged by the troubles of balancing your emotions. Panic, anger, and uncontrollable frustration can become dominant because your brain cannot harmonize positive and negative feelings. So if you are looking for triggers and reasons for emotional imbalance and cannot detect the obvious causes, ambidexterity can be the answer. And while training two-handedness can make a difference to how we process information and to the speed of encoding by activating hidden brain potential, naturally occurring ambidexterity raises risks of cognitive issues. For example, kids who are categorized as ambidextrous ones are at high risk of having a neurodevelopmental disorder.
Ambidextrousness and Memorization
Your brain must be constantly subjected to new experiences. It can be, for example, a kind of mnemonic device or a new hobby. Otherwise, your mind can be in a dormant state, and the memorization mechanism will be slowed down. Exercises suggested for ambidexterity can be that unique way to re-energize and re-start your brain, so if you are inclined to use only one hand when writing or doing sport, consider changing it to see what comes of it. Obviously, visible progress and far-reaching effects require your commitment, no matter what kind of mental exercise you apply. But once the first results are on their way, you will be impressed by how you memorize and retrieve things. It especially refers to those things that require launching both hemispheres of your brain. Thus, learning to play the piano or guitar will be a breeze, as it was proven that musicians have more symmetrical brains.
What to Do to Make Both Sides of Your Brain Highly Functional
To boost the power of both hemispheres, you can try mind mapping. A mental walk along the visualized area where vivid features connected with details and facts you want to remember will not only assist in fending off challenges, such as lapses or poor recall but also will stimulate both left and right brain parts. It will make your mind even more advanced and memory storage even more expanded. Stop at nothing, even if organizing information with the mapping method seems too complicated. Also, don’t be content with the first results and seek how to hack your thinking patterns, re-organizing thoughts and producing great mental outcomes. Keep in mind that some relaxing and not-so-intensive tricks can also make your mind sharper, so music-listening sessions can nurture both sides of your brain. Although, keep in mind the unwise approach to becoming ambidextrous may lead to uncoordinated and clumsy actions.
FAQ
What is an ambidextrous person?
Being capable of using both hands equally well can benefit many tasks. For example, you can alternate activities between two hands if one of them is tired or even hold two things at the same time without difficulties.
Who is the most famous ambidextrous person?
Famous scientists, such as Einstein, and talented politicians, such as Benjamin Franklin, had ambidexterity. It proves that a symmetric brain sparks more creativity, flexible minds, and in some cases, even IQ.
Is ambidextrous natural or learned?
It can be both. In some individuals, it is natural and controlled by genetics, while others can train their asymmetric minds to be more symmetric.