When you carry a tot, do you scoop it to your left or your right? Well, this study says you’re more likely to go with left and suggests that where our brains process emotions could have something to do with it. The study’s findings were recently published online for the September 2019 issue of the Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews journal.

The study

Researchers started looking into whether people had a favourite side when it came to carrying babies as far back as 1960. Since then, some studies showed that people did have a preference, but others did not. So, for this research, a team from Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, analysed 40 studies to see if they could come up with any explanations on the issue.

Results

The results of the analysis showed that around 66 to 72 per cent of all the people studied held babies on their left side. Among only right-handed people, the figure climbed to 74 per cent, whereas for lefties, it dropped to a more modest 61 per cent. The differences between men and women were similar, where preferences for cradling babies on the left were at a rate of 64 and 73 per cent, respectively. Julian Packheiser, one of the Bochum-based researchers, says that an explanation for these similar percentages could be a potential link between gender and being left or right-handed. But, that that relationship was not explored in any of the studies.

Why the left?

Lots of theories on why we have this preference have been put forward. Some have been as simple as the idea that right-handed people choose to hold babies on their left so that their main hand could be free for other tasks. But, another proposed suggestion is that people tend to move their baby to their left because the right side of the brain (where emotions tend to be processed) is linked to the left visual field. This relationship is thought to especially be true in the case of mothers, who often form bonds with their babies before they’re born.

Interestingly, this research team also compared these to those of another study they did on hugs. In that study, they found that men who were uncomfortable hugging each other tended to give each other hugs from their left-hand side because of this discomfort. Because of this, Packeiser says that future studies should consider the emotional context behind which the babies are being carried.

So, left or right? Maybe it doesn’t matter too much, just be careful to not drop the baby!

Written by Tesneem Ayoub

More on  Lifestyle & Living