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Can you tell right from left?
Yes 86%  86%  [ 12 ]
No 7%  7%  [ 1 ]
Yes, but only my own right and left, not someone else's. 7%  7%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 14

NewTime
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12 Jun 2016, 9:12 pm

Can you tell right from left?



nick007
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12 Jun 2016, 9:37 pm

I can but I have to think about it for a second. I had problems telling the difference when I was little due to my dyslexia.


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Noca
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13 Jun 2016, 10:34 pm

I use the hand signals to tell, the hand that forms "L" means left. I have difficulty reading clocks as well.



NewTime
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13 Jun 2016, 10:43 pm

Noca wrote:
I use the hand signals to tell, the hand that forms "L" means left. I have difficulty reading clocks as well.


Yeah that's a clue as to which way is which. The left hand forms an "L". Of course, for someone who is dyslexic, this clue won't work.



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13 Jun 2016, 11:06 pm

Is this an aspie trait, or a trait of people with mixed handedness?

I write left handed, but do most other things right handed. Although I'm pretty fast now, when I was a kid it always took me a second to answer "left or right" questions correctly. I always had to translate it through my own handedness: "I write with this hand, so that's the left side, so that direction is left." But I always assumed this was a result of mixed handedness.


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Dox47
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13 Jun 2016, 11:34 pm

Yes, but it took longer for me to learn than for most people, I had to touch a mole on my neck as a kid to remember.


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14 Jun 2016, 12:07 am

I have to concentrate really hard and if anyone asks me directions I go into a bit of a panic.

I did think I had it sussed out at one point but it just seemed to get worse after a while.

If I'm telling someone to go left my arm will be pointing right.

I can't even explain to anyone how confusing it is for me, it's as though my brain truly believes that left is right and vice versa.


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CaptLasik
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14 Jun 2016, 12:10 am

I remember my father trying to teach me left from right. It took me a while to grasp the idea that someone else's 'left' wasn't on the same side as mine if they were facing me. I can tell left from right with ease 90% of the time, but sometimes it takes me a few seconds.


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15 Jun 2016, 7:25 pm

The can't-tell-left-from-right thing is fascinating to me....I don't have it but people in my mom's family do.

I am curious about what it is, and have wondered:

Is it an isolated language issue ....for whatever reason the words "left" and "right" never get firmly glued to the spatial concepts? I have words like that, that I never learn permanently, but it doesn't affect my understanding of/concepts for the things they refer to.

Is a sort of abstraction issue....like left and right are concepts that only exist for you when you are looking at and comparing specific objects? Like your brain can't form an abstract spatial concept for them that you can think about without concrete visual references?

Is it a working memory issue? (to translate your left to someone else's left requires rapid perspective-shifting)

Is it different things for different people?

I don't know if it's more common for people with mixed-handedness, only that I have mixed-handedness and don't have any trouble with telling left from right.


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