The left-handed cat, a matter of brain not breeding: from the archive, 11 June 1955

Oxford scientist finds evidence that left-handers are born, not made

Cats, unlike men, are inclined to be left-handed. This is the conclusion of Mr J. Cole of the Oxford University Laboratory of Physiology, after an experiment with 60 cats "selected at random." Parrots, it seems, show a similar left-handed tendency and, in fact, a large proportion of all the animals tested by various workers have shown a preference for using one or other forelimb.

This work with animals is apparently of some significance to "handedness" in men. In a paper published recently in the United States (presumably there is a keener interest there in such fundamental problems), Mr Cole opposes those psychologists who think environmental factors make us left-handed or right-handed. The explanation, he suggests, lies in the structure of the nerve fibres associated with the brain.