Left-handed people are more prone to inhibition and anxiety, according to new research published by Abertay University in Dundee.

"Left-handers are more likely to hesitate, whereas right-handers tend to jump in' a bit more," said Dr Lynn Wright who led the study. "This is particularly the case when a task or situation is new or unusual."

On tests of behavioural inhibition, 46 left-handed men and women scored higher than 66 right-handers. Women, too, tended to rack up higher scores on the tests of reticence."

Dr Wright and her colleagues uncovered these tendencies by giving subjects a behavioural test to gauge both personal restraint and impulsiveness, qualities which seem to originate from opposite parts of our brains.

The researchers found that compared to right-handers, lefties and women were likelier to agree with statements such as "I worry about making mistakes" and "criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit".

All groups responded similarly to statements such as "I often act on the spur of the moment" and "I crave excitement and new sensations", Dr Wright's team found.

She is a behavioural psychologist specialising in biological and cognitive psychology including emotions and laterality, preferential use of either the left or the right side. She believes that the results could be due to wiring differences in the brains of left-handers and right-handers.

"In left-handers, the right half of the brain is dominant, and it is this side that seems to control negative aspects of emotion. In right-handers the left brain dominates," she said.

The research team says that the fact that some people use their right side of the brain more, rather than the left side, is not an indicator of their personality in any way.

It merely offers insight into how emotions are processed. In fact, it is the way we process information and emotions that differentiates us from each other.