Mixed/Cross Dominance

drsolace

drsolace

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Hey everybody,

I've been doing a little bit of research into mixed dominance today. For those of you who don't know what it is; imagine a person who writes with their left hand but kicks a ball with their right foot. The dominant side of their body is mixed. However, cross dominance is not just limited to arms and feet, it can occur in eyes and ears as well.

I was wondering if anybody else has mixed dominance. I am right handed and footed, however my left eye and my left ear are dominant; it makes aiming with anything quite difficult.

Apparently this mixed dominance can cause some communication problems in the brain. Further research has led me to believe that eye patching can be an effective way of correcting which one of the eyes in dominant.

Thoughts?
 
I thought many many people were mixed dominants. I'm not though. Is it really that much of an issue?
 
Dragon said:
I thought many many people were mixed dominants. I'm not though. Is it really that much of an issue?
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I don't believe it's an issue if your limbs have mixed dominance. But when it comes to the eye it's a different story.

Take for example, if somebody asks me what letter is in the alphabet after K, I will have to recite the ABC song in my head untill I reach L. But if I have an eye-patch over my left eye; I can somehow visualise the letters in my head.
 
Where can I read up on your research?

I'm a mixed dominant. I'm a lefty but I shoot righty and my right eye is definately better than my left eye.
 
alcyone said:
Where can I read up on your research?

I'm a mixed dominant. I'm a lefty but I shoot righty and my right eye is definately better than my left eye.
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Here's a couple links, I question the validity of some of it though:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Eye-Patching-to-Stop-Negative-Thinking&id=760903

http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=...df+eye+patch+left+brain+dominance&hl=en&gl=au

It's hard to find links on the net; they all point to eye patching in regards to lazy eye.

If you aren't sure which eye is your dominant one, it's pretty easy to find out how: http://www.ehow.com/how_11347_determine-dominant-eye.html
 
I think I'm a mixed dominant, but I never knew there was a term for it. I often do things with my left hand (I throw better, etc) but I'm a righty. And if someone talks to me I usually listen more with my left ear.

I was extremely clumsy as a child, too. Often dropped things, tripped over things, etc. But I'm not sure if that was a cross-dominance issue, or if I just grew faster than most my peers (until 5th grade, when everyone shot up over me!).
 
Although I am left handed (write with my left) I use my right arm and right leg for almost everything else.

However my left eye is the dominate eye but because of my right arm I shoot (rifles and pistols) with my left eye closed.

I am also pretty sure I hear better with my right ear as well.
 
drsolace said:
I don't believe it's an issue if your limbs have mixed dominance. But when it comes to the eye it's a different story.

Take for example, if somebody asks me what letter is in the alphabet after K, I will have to recite the ABC song in my head untill I reach L. But if I have an eye-patch over my left eye; I can somehow visualise the letters in my head.
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That is really weird. I can't even imagine why it does that. You would probably have to wear an eyepatch for quite a while though for it to work, and you'd have to be careful about damaging your eye too.

It would also probably be very bad for your brain, to be honest. I know making people switch hands damages their brain.
 
I am right handed, and right footed. My eyes and ears are of equal strength (neither dominates).
 
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Interesting. My optometrist tells me that my eyes do not work together-the left eye is near sighted, and handles reading. The right eye is far-sighted, and handles distance, like for driving a car. I also have great difficulty distinguishing left and right. No difficulty with cardinal directions, though.
 
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Dragon said:
That is really weird. I can't even imagine why it does that. You would probably have to wear an eyepatch for quite a while though for it to work, and you'd have to be careful about damaging your eye too.

It would also probably be very bad for your brain, to be honest. I know making people switch hands damages their brain.
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To be honest, I've been trying to imagine why my brain does a lot of things, there's no rational answer there tho haha.

I remember when I was younger I had lazy eye, the optometrist gave me some glasses to fix the problem. I remember they made me feel like a dork. I decided to screw the glasses and that I'd just use my left eye more if my right one was going to struggle.

I'm skeptical about eyepatch therapy damaging my brain; this is only because I've only seen positive outcomes from the therapy. But then again, my mum always told me that continued blessings stale and fade when they're not properly appreciated.

I'm curious, what damage occured in the people you know after they switched hands?
 
Interesting thread. I was born a righty but changed to a lefty at 12--a deliberate decision made for reasons only a 12-year-old could fathom. I've always been left eye dominant and that didn't change even after the stroke paralyzed much of the left side of my body. For years after the stroke I could smell nothing with my left nostril, so I guess I'm right nostril dominant...lol. That's changed some over the years, though my sense of smell is till somewhat impaired.

Another anomaly is that before the damage to the right hemisphere of my brain, I had the ability to visualize anything I'd heard or read; not a photographic memory, but a remarkable one and a great aid in law school. Since the damage to the temporal, parietal and frontal lobes in the right hemisphere, howevr, that sort of visualization is gone and my short-term memory became impaired as well.
 
I took the right brain/left brain test for a college course today and scored something like whole brain that leans right, I guess? I got 2112, so no areas of avoidance, just a slight right preference... Anyway, I have always been mostly ambidextrous. I can write left handed, but it takes a few minutes to get used to it, because I usually don't. My handwriting on both sides is terrible. My optometrist says I have a clear right preference, which has caused that eye to be slightly worse, but the gap is narrowing. Everything else is either way, though. I played soccer (defense, it came very naturally to me) in grade school and I always confused the goalie.

Anica, I'm sorry to hear about your stroke. How long ago was it?
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