Why do some people struggle to tell left from right?
Valerie Moyses, Bloxham, Oxfordshire, UK
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I used to confuse left and right so badly that my driving teacher had to instruct me to 鈥渢urn my-side鈥� or 鈥渢urn your-side鈥�. I am still working on it.
It seems to be a matter of semantics: the terms 鈥渓eft鈥� and 鈥渞ight鈥� don鈥檛 carry the same sort of natural meaning as other words for location, such as 鈥渁bove鈥� or 鈥渂ehind鈥�. The ancient Romans were probably less likely to get the two confused since their word for left, 鈥�sinister鈥�, came to be associated with misfortune and their word for right, 鈥�dexter鈥�, with things being beneficial and correct.
Guy Cox, St Albans, New South Wales, Australia
As a young boy, I had real trouble telling left from right. However, I was a thumb-sucker, and my Eureka moment came when I worked out that the skin on my right thumb looked different from that on my left, due to the sucking. So when I had to choose between left and right, I just looked at my thumbs. After a few years, the pattern was fixed in my mind.
鈥淚n many languages, the word for right has positive connotations. 鈥楲eft鈥� comes from the Old English word lyft, meaning weak鈥�
Chris Daniel, Glan Conwy, Conwy, UK
Mixing up left and right is surprisingly common. found that up to a third of people have problems with it sometimes. It can be associated with dyslexia and dyspraxia, as well as difficulty telling the time.
In languages such as French, Spanish and English, the has positive connotations of being correct, straight and direct. In Latin and Italian, it is associated with dexterity.
鈥淟eft鈥�, by contrast, comes from the Old English word lyft, meaning weak. The French word for left means clumsy, while the Italian word means sinister.
Many of the animal and plant kingdoms have bilateral symmetry. While top and bottom and front and back are very distinct from one another and have physical realities, left and right have little visible difference except for being mirror images of one another. The concept of left and right is complicated by being linked to the observer, so spatial awareness is needed to learn that your right may be someone else鈥檚 left.
Gerry Gormley, Queens University Belfast, UK
The neurological processes that underpin left-right discrimination are complex. The task requires many higher cognitive functions, including the integration of visual information, language and memory, as well as being able to rotate objects in your mind.
A significant portion of the population struggles to learn which side is which. In healthcare, aviation and shipping, this can be catastrophic. Some of the most infamous errors in medicine were due to performing surgery on the wrong side of the body, such as removing the wrong kidney or limb.
What can be done to help? There are techniques to distinguish left from right 鈥� for example, extending the left thumb at a right angle to the index finger forms the letter 鈥淟鈥� to identify the left hand and side. However, research I have carried out indicates that this method isn鈥檛 foolproof.
Incorporating safety systems when making critical left-right decisions can help reduce wrong-sided errors 鈥� for instance, a surgical team taking a time out before an operation to run though a checklist to ensure surgery is carried out on the correct side of the patient.
Some people who have difficulty distinguishing left from right feel stigmatised and may want to conceal their struggles. Being comfortable saying that you have difficulty with this, and gaining support from those who work with you, could make all the difference.
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