The perils of being left-handed seem to have no limits. Countless studies show lefties not only are more prone to negative emotions, like anger, but they’re also more inhibited. So NewsFeed was far from surprised to learn they’re also more affected by fear than righties.
(More on TIME.com: See TIME’s top 10 famous left-handed people in history)
In one recent experiment, lefties who watched an eight-minute clip from the film The Silence of the Lambs showed more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder than their right-handed counterparts. That may be because the right side of the brain, which is dominant in lefties, is more involved in the fear response, according to Dr. Carolyn Choudhary of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, who led the research, as reported in The Telegraph. “The prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder is almost double in left-handers compared to right handers,” said Choudhary. But Choudhary warns more research is still needed.
Humans have favored their right-hand for more than 500,000 years, but around 10% of the world’s population is thought to be left-handed, including Barack Obama, Oprah and Alexander the Great. (via The Telegraph)
(More on TIME.com: Read about the perils of being left handed)