this thread doesnt really make any sense. i made it when i was sick sometime this morning.
yellow do you know if handedness (righthanded/lefthanded) is from long term potentiation? if so (according to my teacher it is) why arent old people ambidextrous? I dont know as much about it as i should :/
I don't know if handedness is caused by long-term potentiation, but it can certainly be a factor in enforcing handedness.
There are more factors, though, that enforce it, and these combined would actually make me argue that old people would be even more biased in their handedness than young people.
First, long-term potentiation is like positive reinforcement. The more you do a thing, the more your brain can go on auto-pilot when doing the thing. So, if you're right-handed, long-term potentiation would increase your chances of automatically accomplishing fine motor skills with your right hand.
The more you favor that hand, the more dexterous it becomes, the better developed the muscles, the more capable it becomes. The less you use the left hand for things, the more "out of shape" it gets.
I end up holding babies a lot in my work. Not for extended periods usually, but I probably average 15 minutes a day of baby-handling. If a baby falls asleep in my left arm, holy-hell, I'm screwed, because my left arm just can't handle a 10-lbs. weight just sitting there for more than 5 minutes. I have to shift, and risk waking it. My right arm can easily go 15+ minutes, by which time, the mother is usually done with whatever and ready to take it back.
I used to be fairly ambidextrous, but over time, I've become increasingly one-handed.
