Experts

Include Left Handed People In Scientific Studies, Scientists Urged

By Kamal Nayan | Update Date: Feb 15, 2014 12:09 PM EST

There is no denying that left-handed people have different brains and genes compared to the right-handed people. For such and other reasons left-handed people are considered less in the scientific research as subjects. 

Mentioning the issue, a team of researchers have called for more research into left-handed people. In an article published in the Nature Reviews Neuroscience, researchers from the Donders Institute and Max Planck Institute in Nijmegen have urged scientists to stop excluding left-handed people from scientific studies relating to brain or genetic research. 

Researchers noted that the because of the differences with right-handed people, including left-handed people in the studies, irregularities appear in the final results.

"Research into left-handed people is therefore interesting because of the noise they cause," said neuroscientist Roel Willems from the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University Nijmegen in the article. 

"One of our studies from 2009 clearly shows why research into left-handed people is so vital," added Willems in the article. 

"According to the textbooks, facial recognition takes place in the right half of the brain. Our research revealed that the same process takes place in both halves of the brain in the case of left-handed people, but with the same final outcome. That is a fundamental difference. And left-handed people might process other important information differently as well. The minimal amount of research into this is, in my view, a missed chance for the neurosciences."

Even in the case of genetic research, same complications existed. Willems said there were more chances of left-handed people suffering from schizophrenic and psychotic disorders. 

"Databases without left-handed people are not representative for the population and in view of the large number of genetic databases currently being set up, ignoring left-handed people is not wise," added Willems. 

Researchers are also setting up a website where left-handed people are encouraged to participate in the research. 

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