This video shows how Chinese artist Xiaonan Song works. The guy became famous for the fact that he can draw two different portraits with both hands at the same time (his other works and videos are here - look, a breathtaking sight!!!) It is also noteworthy that Xiaonan is self-taught. At first he entered the economics specialty, but then realized that he wanted to be an artist. Xiaonan is an ambidextrous artist. Ambidexterity is congenital or acquired during training use of both hands equally. Famous ambidextrous people: Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Kurt Cobain, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Knopfler and Keanu Reeves, Marina Navratilova ( world number one 1978-87) Some known facts about ambidextrous people. A study of 8 thousand children aged 7 and 8 years showed that 87 “mixed-handed” students showed more pronounced difficulties in language skills, and at the ages of 15 and 16 years the same students showed a greater risk of ADHD symptoms (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), and showed lower academic achievement than right- and left-handed students. Ambidextrous students are more likely to have the LRRTM1 gene, which is associated with schizophrenia. Research shows that people with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to be ambidextrous or left-handed than non-schizophrenics. Unlike right-handers, who show strong left-hemisphere dominance, ambidextrous people's hemispheres are developed almost symmetrically, like the brain of a typical person with synesthesia, or “mixed senses.” ”, experiencing intersecting sensory perceptions (seeing music in color, or a picture in smells). The number of ambidextrous (and left-handed) people among synesthetes is much higher than in the general population. Ambidextrous people are easy to anger. These are the results of a study from Merrimack College, which indicates increased interconnectivity of the brain hemispheres, which was found in ambidextrous people and left-handers. A subsequent study showed that an increase in hemispheric connections correlates with an increase in awkwardness, clumsiness and mood swings. Ambidextrous people indicated their bisexuality during anonymous testing. Everyone knows about interhemispheric asymmetry - one hemisphere is responsible for emotions and feelings, the other for logic and abstract thinking. In accordance with this theory, people were divided into left-hemispheric and right-hemispheric, respectively, right-handed and left-handed, depending on the dominant hand. It seems like in every person one of the hemispheres dominates - and as a result of this, we become either right-handed or left-handed. The functions of the left hemisphere were considered to be the perception and processing of verbal-sign materials, symbols that ensure verbal communication between people. This idea was supported by the known facts of disturbances in speech perception and speech production due to damage to the temporal structures of the left hemisphere. The function of the right hemisphere was considered to be the manipulation of non-verbal material: the perception and production of images, melodies, voice intonations; orientation in space, including the space of one’s own body; performing kinesthetic tasks. This idea was also supported by clinical evidence of the loss of these functions when various structures of the right hemisphere are damaged. Many studies of this concept confirmed it. But as experience accumulated, results appeared that contradicted it. For example: Recognition of ordinary human faces is a function of the right hemisphere. But if the features are distorted, or stand out in some way, then such faces are recognized more quickly by the left hemisphere (Parking, Williamson, 1987). Sign language of the deaf and dumb - it is known that emotional gestures, as part of non-verbal communication, are perceived by the right hemisphere. But the language of deaf-mutes is a function of the left hemisphere, and is lost when the left hemisphere is damaged (Ornstein, 1979). Researchers assumed that verbal reports of dreams would disappear in people with divided hemispheres. But it turned out that in more than a third of cases these reports were obtainedsucceeds, although they are less rich than in a healthy person with a whole brain (Hoppe, 1977). This means that the left hemisphere itself produces this figurative information, although less frequently than the right and on a more limited scale. Some researchers have concluded that there is no asymmetry at all - observation of injured people after surgery has shown that restoration of function is possible in the physical absence of a known center - the intact hemisphere forms centers that take over the lost functions. And also the encephalograms indicated the simultaneous excitation of centers in both hemispheres. The psychological beau monde was slightly confused - since a huge number of candidate and doctoral dissertations were built on the assumption that asymmetry exists - now they are talking about the preferential choice of one or another hemisphere for the problem being solved, i.e. if you are used to working with your right hand, then with familiar activities the center in the left hemisphere will be activated accordingly and vice versa, for different types of activities there may be a different hand. It seems like nature does not create excesses - one works, one in reserve - the principle of all paired organs. But here's an interesting fact: paired organs in the body work simultaneously. Maybe it’s the same with all other paired parts? But we see only the tip of the iceberg? How is the “leading” hand chosen? Basically, this is an indirect method - where a tool was put in for the first time - a spoon, a pencil, a toy - that hand started working. Imprinting, imprinting the primary mode of action. If one hand is enough to do the job, it is fixed. If you give two spoons in two hands, he will eat with both of them in turn. If the “leading” hand is busy, he will take the spoon into the passive one and feed himself quite well. There is “mixed-handedness” - aka ambidexterity. Observation of your own children: if a child spontaneously chooses an unusual hand to perform a familiar action, without focusing on the process - while watching a cartoon, he began to eat with his left hand - then until you pay attention to the confusion, the matter is going wrong. As soon as you point out - “look, the spoon is in the left” - the soup begins to spill, the pasta falls out or does not reach the mouth - and you have to transfer it to your regular hand, which already works automatically. An example of switching the center from one hemisphere to another. And, therefore, ambidexterity. My daughter and I taught “right - left” before school using the mnemonic: the RIGHT one does the RIGHT thing, the LEFT one is LAZY. She learned quickly, since she herself is “right-handed.” This is how, with good intentions, we form an attitude towards the left hand as an unnecessary appendage, atavism instead of development into a full-fledged limb. Neuropsychologists who directly work with issues of brain function, synchronization, asymmetry, etc. have drawn various patterns in this area. There is a good book by A.V. Semenovich “These Incredible Lefties” - A practical guide for psychologists and parents - which talks about how to work and live with left-handed children, it seems like these children see the world differently and orient themselves in space differently , like right-handers. If we do not take into account the current reality of scientific psychology, which proclaims that the previous ideas about asymmetry and dominance of the hemispheres have exhausted themselves - i.e. a left-handed child can just as well be abstractly logical, and not emotionally figurative, as was previously thought - there are many useful points and exercises there. When working with children, we now recommend that parents change their dominant hand from time to time so that both hemispheres are trained and used equally intensively. If he does everything with his right, try with his left and achieve results. What this gives is an undeniable advantage over one-armed people “the right one is tired - work with the left one” - this is what allows an ambidextrous person to become an undeniable leader, efficiency increases when you can draw with both hands at the same time, or perform other actions. This is especially useful when children are learning to write, when fatigue quickly sets in when writing copybooks, or when doing sports..