News Neuroscience

Whether lefty or righty, practice makes the difference

By making people write with their elbows, scientists found that repetition really matters

A composite image of arms shows a person writing the number eight with the left hand and the right hand. The eight on the right is smoother.

People tend to be better at writing with either their left or the right hand, shown in this composite image of a person writing “8”. This specialization doesn’t apply to elbows, a new study suggests.

Lily Kurosaki

By Laura Sanders

Babies are born with a natural preference for using their left or right side. Now, a new study suggests that preference alone doesn’t explain the dominant side’s superior skills: They come from practice.