this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
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Asklemmy

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[โ€“] [email protected] 22 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Wait, are you saying you didn't have to actively think about which is right or left before? I've always had to think about it, only for a second, but it's definitely an active thought thing for me.

[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, definitely. I didn't know people didn't have to think about it for a second.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

You're not the only one, it takes me a second or two. Sometimes I make an L shape with my hands to see which way is left. Then again, sometimes I forget my age and name haha.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I always look for my ring, then I know which hand is left.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

My wife has trouble with this as well. She's also not very good with spatial reasoning, I wonder if those are linked

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I am pretty alright with spatial reasoning but have a hard time with left and right. Especially in multitasking scenarios. When driving during complicated situations and in unknown environments for example. I always get my guide to point or have a look at the nav.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Do you have to herd her around the supermarket? I'm forever guiding my mrs out of the way of other shoppers. No spatial awareness bless her.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Lmao it's not that bad. Or rather, it manifests at a larger scale : she'll wonder how we came to face this way by taking that route, or how we're able to see our home from some vantage point. She isn't very agile but I wouldn't say she's dyspraxic either.

Is it ever an issue for you both ?

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

No it's not an issue. It's probably more a me thing than a her thing. I'm probably hyperaware of avoiding the personal space of others.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

This is wild and I genuinely can't wrap my head around it.

So say, if you were blindfolded and run, if I give you command a la those rally drivers you will have a noticeable lag to my cue ? Like not instant ?

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I mean, it's a split second, but yeah, I gotta think about it. I don't think there would be noticeable lag, but it's definitely a conscious thought. I just thought everyone had to have the thought go through their head, it's not just like an instinct or anything.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I guess the brain is just weird like that. This is also news to me, I thought "doesn't know left from right" is just a figure of speech.

And now I'm down into the rabbit hole.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230112-why-some-people-cant-tell-left-from-right

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Now that you mention it, it's odd that some people (like myself) have to think about it. Like I wouldn't have to hardly think about what you meant if you said "up" or "down."

Think of it like telling someone the directions like "twelve o'clock" versus "six o'clock" or "three o'clock" - you probably have to take a tic (heh) to picture it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, the BBC article I posted above also mentions that.

At first I thought it would be like if someone told me to touch my nose and I have to consider which part of my face it is, because for me my body is split in the middle the left and right feel distinctly different I can't confuse one with the other. Fascinating.

Are you ambidextrous by any chance?

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I keep trying, but no, not ambidextrous

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I guess I just felt that "right" is my stronger hand direction, "left" is my weaker hand one. Now, after several years of recovery I feel it almost the same way as before, so my mind makes the same shortcut instead of thinking for a second about it. But if I ever feel the balance of my stronger-weaker side tipped (e.g. right hand has fallen asleep) I guess it's thinking time again.