Can you tell your left from your right?

[TeaAndCakeMakeThingsBetter]

Had a random conversation yesterday where a friend and I discovered that neither of us instinctively knew our left from our right. It was part of a conversation around neurodiversity and it got me wondering whether it’s just a random blip in our brains or part of something wider. So - do you just KNOW left from right or does it not come automatically? I also struggled at school with random bits of timetables (6/7/8s - could never remember the ones where the answers were somewhere between 40 and 50, but had absolutely no problem with maths overall and got straight As st GCSE. That’s not a boast, more just that it wasn’t linked to academic intelligence!). Am also left handed if that’s relevant (but still have to consciously think about which hand I write with if asked 🙈).

YABU- duh, obviously I can tell left from right 🙄
YANBU - No! I have to really think about which is which 🙈

From my experience in group fitness classes, quite a lot of people struggle with (1) knowing left from right and (2) being able to march in time to a beat.

Aah, I can see I’ve found my people! My family all know that if I ever say the words ‘left’ or ‘right’, in any context, I mean the opposite to whichever comes out of my mouth.

It’s weird and very frustrating, because I can ‘see’ the correct action in my mind’s eye - I’m picturing the car turning right, or I know we need to go through the left hand entrance - so it’s not like I’m confused about the physical direction. But if I have to say it aloud, I’ll always say the wrong one. Every single time.

And yes, I’ve had a growing realisation throughout my 50s that there may have been some neurodivergence at play my entire life, a thought that’s only really crystallised through trying to help my ND children. It may not be the case (I might just be really crap at certain things) but when I look at the traits and impacts of particular conditions and compare them to situations in my own life, it would explain a hell of a lot!

This is very common and I know why (or at least have seen an academic explanation as to why - I haven't attempted to verify the veracity of it).

As a number of posters have commented, they had issues when learning to drive with left and right and as an ADI I can definitely confirm it is a common problem when learning.

The explanation I saw was in an instructor magazine years ago from a cognitive psychologist who said that it was a particular problem for women more than men (hence the large number of people on mumsnet who have it to some degree or other). The story went that it depends on how many cross connections there are between each side of the brain. More cross connections tended to lead to a slower processing time for left and right. As women on average have more cross connections than men, they are more likely to find it a problem.

Of course when you are driving everything is time sensitive, so any delay or difficulty in processing left and right becomes much more obvious. Some pupils will say they knew they had an issue with left and right, and some don't know until they drive.

Whether the explanation is remotely correct I don't know, but I can definitely say that in 13 years I've only had a few men struggle with left and right and a large number of women (I would estimate 25-50% have some degree of difficulty - often obvious because I see them do their thumb and forefinger on the wheel every time I give them a direction)

I have think I write with my right. And I can’t do east and west either - I have to think WE. I get lost in new buildings, can never remember where the loos and the exits are - it’s really embarrassing. I’ve never come across anyone who struggles as much as I do.

I think it is quite a common problem. I don't have a problem with the basic left hand/right hand but it comes out in other ways. I find it incredibly difficult to steer to the left or right because it is doing the opposite of what you expect. Dancing can be tricky for the same reason and it took me years to look at a photo and realise that if someone was said to be on the left of picture it was my left and not the mirror image. I am undiagnosed but am sure I have mild dyspraxia - neurodiversity runs through my family - and am incredibly mixed handed, almost to the point of being ambidextrous. It's very useful for music. When I started school, I could read, spell and do maths very quickly. I was about two years behind with my writing and found it very tiring and difficult. As I grew older, I found that every ball game (at which I was hopeless), I naturally played left handedly and I am very left footed. I asked my my mother if I was very undecided as a small child which hand l wanted to use. She replied that I probably was so "of course" they encouraged me to be right handed - this was the thinking in the sixties if a child did show a particular hand preference by a certain age. I think that if I had been allowed to wait a few more months I would have settled on my left hand. I can write with my left hand but not as well as the right and use it for many things. My mum now acknowledges me as ambidextrous rather than right handed.

It is something I've had to get used to over the years.
My sister works as a surgeon. My mum used to joke that at least she would operate on the right side.

Left has an L if the thumb is at right angles
You write with your right if you are right handed
You screw righty tightly… lefty loosely

That being said I still can’t get it.🤣. When I drive I often get it wrong when listening to Waze. Passengers who are giving directions have to say my side/your side.

Takes me a few seconds to register which is which and have to turn my hands out first, yet I have a really good directional compass.

When I think about my right arm or hand, I always think in terms of which hand I hold my pen in. Same with my right leg - I think of it in terms of which leg I lead with. This kind of processing always flits through my head, so it’s not automatic in the sense of being completely instinctive. Also I completely lose the plot if I have to distinguish someone else’s left and right. I find myself stupidly confused. As for following directions, I’m the queen of the magical mystery tour🤣

I'm catholic so I've always know my right from left as I know which hand I bless myself with 😆

This is why I don't use sat nav. And people giving me directions have to point.

I don’t struggle with left and right, that’s instinctive to me, but every time I have to think about east and west, I have to go through the Never Eat Shredded Wheat process! Are you okay with east and west, OP? 😁

When I was doing my psychology degree one of my lecturers was talking about people who dont have a strong left/right hand dominance and how that can mean they struggle to know left and right. Thats me. I do write with my right hand but do lots more with my left hand as dominant. I dont know my left from right instinctively

Cant stand it also when people use North and South and what not in directions either. Not a clue what direction they're talking about.

Au contraire!

I absolutely do know left and right but often say the wrong word.

Oooh this is so interesting! I was hoping someone might have a psychological explanation. That would make sense in terms of women having more cross- brain connections, but why is it only left/right or east/west that are the problem? Is it because the brain works across left and right? And like others have said, sometimes I mean one and say the other- why is it those specific words I have a problem with? Interesting to see that it’s far more common than I’d thought.

That’s interesting too! I am left handed but I throw with my right hand (mainly due to tennis elbow a few years back). Have to think about whether I’m left- or right-footed though. I’m actually not sure!

I just know it without having to think but I've known a couple of very intelligent people who didn't. I suppose for about 90% of people it might help to tell themselves that their RIGHT hand is the one you WRITE with...

No, I cannot tell my left from my right. Neither can one of my children. I also have difficulty with traffic lights and remembering that red means stop and green means go, and not the other way round.

I instinctively know when driving, but not when im not.

There's something different in my brain when driving - like linking it to the way I flick the indicator stick or knowing left doesnt involve crossing traffic.

Not sure but driving if you said take a left I wouldnt get it wrong.

Any other time, no clue, massive overthinking

I cant remember which hand i write about when I think about, opposed to just doing it.

Also my name is Laura, the forefinger and thumb on the left hand are an L for left and Laura. I have to look at both an try and remember which way an L faces. Even though I never write L wrong

Surely it’s just because you know that you’re sitting in the right hand side of the vehicle.

I don't believe that anyone ‘instinctively’ knows without thinking about it at least a little bit. Why would you?

The east-west thing makes sense because if you view north as up as per convention, east and west are right and left so would presumably activate exactly the same neurological processes.

I'm very interested in psychology and neurological processes but very much as an amateur and suspect from what I do know of the science that the explanation I saw was a very simplistic version of the actual mechanisms.

A related thing is why satnavs and maps on phones etc. default to rotating to the direction of movement as opposed to north up as would be a normal map representation. It is because it is the method that is best overall solution for women and men - men would on average be marginally better off with north up, but women significantly benefit from rotation to the direction of travel (typically it becomes even harder to process whether an upcoming turn is left or right for women if not looking along the direction of travel).

I do sometimes have to think about it. But it’s helpful that I’m totally right-handed, which makes it very easy to work it out.

I know my wedding ring is on my left hand. So I always glance down at my wedding ring to confirm my left and right.