I Met a Backwards Man

[chezlaw]

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I had this problem until I was 15 or so. Not this bad, but I could never remember which was left or right. I was 15 and watching a kid's show with a friend's brother when it clicked: "Left is the hand that makes an L when you hold it up". It was easy to visualize after that and a couple of weeks later it was natural. Watching myself think about it now, deciding left from right still requires the invoking of visual or kinesthetic memory from one of the times I've decided between left and right (such as visualizing a car turning or imagining myself writing. But it's instantaneous now as opposed to requiring thought.

Point being that you can do just fine for a long time without instinctively knowing left from right.

As for your dilemma, I'd mention it quietly to the partner. She probably already knows and if not should be the one to break it to him.

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Feynman had the same problem, he had to feel for a mole on one of hands.

I don't think its the same problem as in the OP.

chez

[Borodog]

A lot of these stories sound bizarre to me. I have trouble picturing what that must be like. Strike that. I can't picture it at all.

This sounds very common given the number of people speaking up. Now I have some sympathy for all those students I've seen writing with their right hands while doing their right hand rules with their left . . .

[soko]

take a marker and draw an L on his left hand and an R on his right hand

[Nielsio]

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A lot of these stories sound bizarre to me. I have trouble picturing what that must be like. Strike that. I can't picture it at all.

This sounds very common given the number of people speaking up. Now I have some sympathy for all those students I've seen writing with their right hands while doing their right hand rules with their left . . .

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Maybe check out Susan Greenfield - Brain Story. There are endless amounts of ways in how people's brains have defects/disorders, and very specific ways also.

[Borodog]

Which one is Barron's?

[CallMeIshmael]

boro,

You're probably just using different sides of your brains

[metsandfinsfan]

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boro,

You're probably just using different sides of your brains



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all those optical illusions always freak me out

[Hopey]

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boro,

You're probably just using different sides of your brains



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all those optical illusions always make me hard

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[Bill Haywood]

Can anyone explain how this illusion works? How does our brain mess it up? It occurs even with one eye closed. I can kind of imagine how it would work with a symmetrical object, but this floors me. Here's my theory. Imagine a straight, diamond shaped pole. As it turns, it will widen and narrow. With the elongated points at zero and 180 degrees, it is narrow, at 90 and 270 it is fat. Imagine it starts with the long points at 90 and 270, and imagine it spinning first clockwise, then CCW. Now think about the individual frames of the point that starts at 270. When it spins CCW from 270 halfway to 225, the frame at that point will be a particular wideness. At 220 it will be slightly thinner. Now think about when the point swings CW from 270 to 315. The wideness will be the same as at 225. It is exactly the same frame. At the frame at CW 320 is identical to CCW 220. It only works if the object is in silhouette.

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[madnak]

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It only works if the object is in silhouette.

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Yeah, at any given point the silhouette could be facing either direction. This is because the body elements are roughly symmetrical. The face/ponytail are most impressive.