Eye dominance

Oh, dang. Here's the link *LINK*

Bill Houghton, like MN today, Sebastopol, CA

>Link WAY below the original message.


Really. Here it is. Really.

Easy Test

Garrett in Victoria

>Extend either arm and with both eyes open, cover an obvious spot on the far wall with your thumb. (If you still see the spot because your eyes see past/around the thumb, center the spot.) Without moving your arm & thumb close one eye. The results might surprise, but you'll certainly know which eye is dominant.

Cheers, Garrett

that's pretty neat

Bill Tindall, E.TN

>

Re: Easy Test

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I tried this, as well as trying to focus on a far light pole, but no dice, I either focus on a finger/thumb or on the pole/spot. If on the spot, I see two fingers. Probably some sort of astigmatism or other.

Pam

Re: Easy Test

Dale Stansbery

>Pam, try just looking straight ahead at your monitor, both eyes open. stick your forefinger in your line of vision. Alternately close one eye, open it then close the other, no need to really worry about focus. When you close your dominant eye, your finger will appear to jump sideways because the non dominant eye is taking over. When you close your non dominate eye, your finger does not appear to move because your dominant eye already has control. If you focus on the monitor, the results will be more exaggerated than if you focus on your finger, or don't focus at all, but should still be the same. The closer you hold your finger to your nose, the more exaggerated the results will be. If you don't see this result, then I'm out of suggestions.

Re: Easy Test

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>OK, done, confirms my prior results: I don't have a dominant eye. So what does that say? I don't have any problems with sawing straight.

Pam

Yeah, but for some of us...

James Watriss

>...it's not so easy. Somewhere alng the line, my dominant eye switched, or they balanced out somehow. Neurological indicators include:

-Sometimes when I'm writing, I'll start a word with the second letter.

-Most drawings and sketches come out looking skewed (this may be more of a practical indicator though, than a neurological one)

And other things. For some purposes, I'm basically ambidextrous. It has its advantages, and its disadvantages, but it does mean that sometimes, I'm sawing with the right hand, and other times, I'm not. (interpret that phrase however you will)

Re: Easy Test

Robin Corell in Atascadero Ca

>Try folding a blank sheet of printer paper into quarters and then tear a corner off such that it will create a dime sized hole in the center of the page when unfolded. with the paper unfolded and held at arms lenght focus on something through the hole. now without blinking keep that object in the hole and bring the piece of paper to your nose. which ever eye the hole is in front of is your dominant eye. This method is more fool proof than the jumping finger method which can be a bit too subtle for some people to be able to see.

Robin

Re: Yeah, but for some of us... *LINK*

Peter Evans in Sydney

>This was discussed earlier (look 2/3 down the messages). The issue is important for some of us (maybe more for golf than woodworking), and needs to be taken into account with sawing straight. I suspect those who saw with 2 hands are compensating for mixed dominance.

Some people I have run through the finger test (not the prostate one) find that the image moves in both directions, but not as large a jump as for one dominant eye; I do not know what the consequences of this are.

From a small sample (2) those who are left eye/right hand dominant saw to the left of square in both vertical and horizontal planes.

Cheers, Peter mixed up in Sydney.


http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/handtools.pl?re

Re: Easy Test

ThomD

>I've never heard of someone without a dominant eye. So that's interesting. There are lots of ways of measuring it. One which is fairly foolproof is to extend both palms towards an object with the fingers up, overlap the two hands so that all that shows is a canoe like slot between the two hands. (I took a picture with just one hand in this positiom, because the other one is holding the camera).

Now look at an object. Raise both hands so you are looking through a gap between the thumbs and first fingers of both hands, open or close your right and left eyes in sequence, the dominant eye has the same sight line, the non-dominant will not see the object. The only different thing about this method is you can't peek around your alignment point. Cutting a small hole in a piece of paper works the same.

In archery if you are right handed but left eye dominant you are supposed to learn to shoot the bow lefty, which is my wife's situation. With British "best" shotguns, they will make a stock so you can mount to the right shoulder but use your left eye dominant to shoot over the barrels.

It's not always that way though. There is some evidence in golf that cross dominance is an asset. Jack Nicklaus is left eye dominant but right handed. It's not necesarry to be that way, but it seems to work fine or slightly better.

Re: Easy Test

Kerry Cox in Alberta, Canada

>Another method I've used when teaching kids archery, is to have them stand 12ft or so away and then, with both eyes open point carefully right at my nose. Their finger will line up with their dominant eye.

Cheers,

Kerry

Re: Eye dominance

Marv

>For me it's a no brainer. My right eye is made of plastic. I see only out of the left side of my head.

I have no problem sawing a straight line as long as I have my saw sharpened properly and of course I've drawn the line straight.

Marv

Re: Yeah, but for some of us...

James Watriss

>Well, I compensate by using either hand, depends on where the line is. I cut to the waste side of the line, and use whichever hand allows me to still see the line I'm sawing to.

So it's not a serious affliction, just something else to have to deal with.

how do we use this info?

Tom Sontag - St. Louis

>This is interesting stuff but I am not sure how I incorporate this knowledge into my ww'g.

In my case, my dominant eye varies depending on focal distance since I wear monovision contacts.

Re: how do we use this info?

Peter Evans in Sydney

>The info is useful in understanding why one may be sawing in a particular way. For instance if left eye/right hand (me) then one is likely to saw to the left slightly. This info helps to correct the sawing problem. Mixed dominance people often saw two handed, and this does improve accuracy.

Clearly if you saw enough you eventually muscle learn to compensate. This is probably true in golf as well. Jack Nicholson and I share the same mixed dominance - that is the end of the similarities in our game.

Those who report that neither eye is dominant are probably not using the test properly. The hole in a sheet of paper is probably the best test.

Cheers Peter in Sydney