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Why do some people confuse their left and right?
Thanks for asking. Knowing the difference between left and right is crucial for various daily activities like driving and navigation.
While most of us take this skill for granted, a significant portion of the population actually faces challenges with it.
A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2020 estimated estimated that one in six adults struggles to distinguish their left from their right.
Of course, if you turn the wrong way when out in the street, it can be a minor inconvenience.
You might get lost or turn up late for an appointment, for example.
But in some cases, confusing left and right can be a matter of life and death.
It might sound unlikely, but all too many times, surgery has been carried out on the the wrong side of a patients body due to human error, with tragic consequences.
And back in 2010 it emerged that the sinking of the Titanic may have actually been caused by a left right steering error.
So, how does this actually work?
According to Gerard Gormley, a physician and researcher at Queen's University in Belfast, writing for theconversation .com in 2015, left right discrimination is a complex neuropsychological process involving several higher neurological functions such as the ability to integrate sensory and visual information, language function and memory.
For some it is second nature, but for others a considerable challenge.
People use a variety of methods to deal with the issue.
A common approach is to use one's writing hand as a reference point to tell left from right, while some rely on tattoos or other body markings for help.
Why is it such a challenge then?
Ineke Van Der Ham is a professor of neuropsychology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
Talking to BBC .com for an article on adults confusing left and right, she's quoted as saying, Nobody has difficulty in saying something is front and back, or top and bottom.
But Van Der Ham pointed out that distinguishing left from right is a different ball game.
According to her, it's because of the symmetry, and because when you turn around, it's the other way around.
and that makes it so confusing.
The challenge becomes even more apparent when you attempt to identify the left or right of someone facing you.
Achieving this requires mentally aligning yourself with the other person, adding an extra layer of complexity for the brain.
What's the underlying cause?
Researchers haven't completely unraveled the exact reasons behind this confusion between left and right.
Nevertheless, Gerard Gormley suggested that some of these difficulties may be linked to body symmetry, he says the more asymmetrical your body is, the easier it is to distinguish your left from your right.
He also claims that if one side of your brain is slightly larger than the other, you tend to have a better grasp of left and right too.
There you have it. Now you know why some people confuse their left and right.
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