As everyone knows, left-handed people are more likely to be witches, and more likely to brag about how Benjamin Franklin was left-handed, or whatever. But a new study indicates that they're also more likely to be affected by fear.
A group of researchers forced some test subjects to watch an eight-minute clip from Silence of the Lambs, and found that the left-handed test subjects, when summarizing the clip, "gave more fragmented accounts filled with more repetition than their right handed counterparts." This is one symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder—which, interestingly, is twice as common among the left-handed as the right-handed. This may have something to do with how the two hemispheres of the brain process fear, according to study leader. Dr Carolyn Choudhary,:
"It is apparent the two sides of the brain have different roles in PTSD and the right hand-side of the brain seems to be involved in fear. In people who are left handed, the right hand side of their brain is dominant, so it may have something to do with that."
So there you have it: If a left-handed person is going on and on about how President Obama is left-handed, and how left-handedness makes for better artists, show her a clip from Silence of the Lambs, and she'll flip out. Problem solved!
[Telegraph; image via Shutterstock]