Eye Dominance Question
Equipment
So...I have always thought my son was right eye dominant. I checked him out when he was younger (he is now 13) with the standard procedure. In the last year or two I have started to question that. I have tested him multiple times and sometimes it comes out left eye and sometimes right eye.
He says when he looks through the circle made by his fingers he sees two hands.
If he holds his right hand out and makes the circle and closes his left eye the object is still centered. If he holds his left hand out and centers the object, then closes the right eye the object is still centered. But not vice versa.
The only other thing I have noticed about him that seems different is that he can hit a baseball with incredible reliability. He rarely ever strikes out which tells me something is a bit different in how well he sees the ball from most kids. I do not say that at all with arrogance or pride or whatever because it is not a skill he has worked to develop but something he could do since he was a tot. I just wish he hit with more power but that's a separate issue.
A reliable base hitter is much more valuable than an occasional power hitter. :^)
I have a friend who has no dominant eye. I forget the term, but basically, one eye can take over when the other is tired or some such stuff. He has to shoot a bow or pistol with one eye closed till he has his target established and then can shoot with both open.
Backpack Hunter is dead on. They're a small segment of the population. My middle kid is one of those people. Early in the day, usually slightly right eye / right hand dominant. Later in the day, often slightly left eye dominant.
Took us a little while to figure out what was going on.
Tell him to go with dominant hand and close the other eye.
I must of had the same issue as a younger (1980??). Sometimes my arrows would hit a foot to the left if I shot with both eyes open. I learned to shut my left eye when I draw. Open it at anchor and use both eyes to shoot. I was shooting with someone last summer and he asked me about it. I guess I didn't know I was still doing that. Seems to still be working.
Better way to check for eye dominance is to have someone point at an object with both eyes open. Then go back and forth closing one eye. The dominant eye will naturally have you line up on the object to where your finger is on it when looking at it with that eye open. The less dominant eye open will have your finger off to the side of the object.
He's young so don't tell him you're doing a dominance test. Tell him to stand both eyes open and raise his finger and point at your nose. His eye will be under dominant eye. Another test is to have him point at something distant and than YOU block his eye with your hand. If object moves it's non dominant, if it stays still it dominant eye. There is a percentage of people that switch eye dominance or read no true dominant eye. When we teach we call this cross eyed dominant but others have used the term when referring to opposite hand eye. If this is the case have him try both ways and see where he shoots better. Best if he shoots both eyes open though. A guy I teach with had a girl who's eyes switched with each test, he coached the girl to first multiple years in a row squinting an eye to force dominance to one side. She never closed that eye though
Ugh his finger will be under eye. Sorry
To go along with this, which way does he shoot a rifle? I naturally started shooting (Red Ryder BB gun) left hand/left eye dominate without any instruction. A lot of time you will naturally do this with your dominant eye...
Some people have central vision which means they have no dominance and some people's eye dominance will change. It's more common in women than men. I dated a girl that had central vision and she was a phenomenal shot with a shotgun. It was unreal to watch her switch from one hand to the other-even in the middle of a pair on a sporting clays course. My only saving grace was that I was a better shot on live birds than she was.
What it the child doing during the day?? I have always been right eye dominant, except for 8-10 years when I was doing a lot of microscope work. With the close up focus, switch to note book and computers, etc. the eye dominance would change throughout the day, sometimes on weekends while hunting. Drove me nuts, missed some nice deer due to the condition too.
Thanks guys. I have done all of the above as far as having him point at my nose or having him point at an object in the distant. I have gotten decisive right eye and decisive left eye on different occasions. But no regularity (like later in the day he is decisively one way or another. He does everything right handed.
My daughter is cross dominant (right handed but left eye dominant). So I had to get her left handed gear.... My wife is overall ambidextrous (but slightly stronger with her left side) and right eye dominant. She screwed my normal genes up. I should have screened better and found a right hand, right eye dominant spouse. But I think I may have been lucky to just find someone to tolerate my bullshit.
