Fear affects left-handed people far more than it does righties, according researchers whose subjects watched the movie “Silence of the Lambs.”
Lefties recalled scary parts of the Anthony Hopkins/Jodie Foster thriller in a much more fragmented way, Britain’s Daily Telegraph reports. That effect is associated with people suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder.
"The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder is almost double in left handers compared to right handers,” said lead researcher Dr. Carolyn Choudhary.
"We used a portion of film from 'Silence of the Lambs' that we know elicits fear, so we could check the recalled account against the film. People who were left handed showed significantly more fragmentation in their memories and more repetition.
"It seems that after experiencing a fearful event, even on film, people who are left handed had subtle behaviors that were like people suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder."
The researchers believe the results could provide insight into the way the two sides of the brain deal with fear, as the right side of the brain is dominant in lefties while the left side prevails among righties.
"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,” said Choudhary.
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