Does eye dominance help you win in sports? See the facts and decide
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 15. 06. 2024
- In this video, Dr. Laby dives into the concept of a dominant eye. This has been a hot topic in sports vision and is much-hyped - are you right eye dominant or left eye dominant? Do you have the same or crossed hand-eye dominance? Does it make a difference in sports performance? Dr Laby takes the controversy apart and using science and the scientific literature explains why dominance is simply a preference and is not relevant to most sports (shooting, archery, etc. excluded).
Below are time stamps for each of the sections:
00:00 Introduction
00:44 History of Dominant Eye
00:58 Hands are different than eyes
01:32 Eye are normally used together not separately
02:19 The problems with tests of Eye Dominance
04:10 Study: Comparing different test types
04:48 Study: Different tests give different answers
05:35 Study: Dominance may only be a preference
06:03 Internet hype around eye dominance
07:09 Summary
07:48 MLB batters dominance study
08:52 Conclusion
This channel contains information about how athletes can test, correct, and train their vision for maximal game performance. Based on a course originally intended for eye Doctors, it has been adapted for the public as a service to all athletes worldwide!
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When your looking in a single eye piece microscope or in a viewfinder in a camera wouldn't you default to your dominant eye in those cases? I'm left handed but I've always used my right eye for as long as I can remember. I wear glasses and my right eye also doesn't need as much correction as my left eye does, this has been measured in my glasses prescription. This makes me think at least personally I do have a dominant eye and it's not just a preference. Now for sports like tennis or baseball sure this is probably overblown but I could see why in archery or shooting where you are using one eye primarily to line up your sight that it does matter.
Thanks Rama - great question! I think the answer comes from what is the natural state of function for the visual system. Clearly our eyes were designed to work together. By using the eyes together we get the added benefit of 3D stereo depth perception - something lost of you only use one eye at a time (this is very obvious if you watch a 3D movie and close one eye - either eye - the 3D effect vanishes!). One of our publications on this topic makes the point that when allowed to use both eyes - humans will default (prefer) to doing that, and it is the natural and state of greatest benefit. This is very different than our hands for example. With the hands, they are designed to be used independently and it becomes very awkward if we use them together - thus the idea of a dominant hand makes perfect sense - the hand that we prefer to use over the other since we dont really use them together. With the eyes though we want to use them together! Now, there are certain circumstances, such as with a single eye piece microscope or a viewfinder camera as you note where that is impossible (as you correctly note) - in these cases we must choose an eye to use - which in fact may not be the same eye in all cases! Thus this is a "preference" (not a dominance) in specific cases. For example, as you note on the case where one eye has more correction than the other - in this case we may use one eye for near viewing and the other eye for distance viewing since in each case the vision is clear with only one eye - thus hard to say a dominant eye, better to say for example a right eye preference for near vision and a left eye preference for distance vision (or vice versa). Again not dominance since wouldnt expect that to change, but indeed a preference for one eye in a specific use case ... hope that makes sense and is helpful ... thanks for the coment and for watching!
I didn't know that the "dominant" (preferred) eye can change, depending on the test, or changing a variable like distance. Each test result remaining consistent though makes sense to me as far as archers, and whenever I point at something with both eyes open, it's always lined up with my left eye.
I wonder what other tests there are where both eyes are open, that would change which eye is preferred for the situation, and if they are the same sort of test as far as things lining up, or is it some other eye ability that is leading us to label which eye is dominant is those tests. Would be weird to have a test where all of a sudden I am now pointing at things and it lines up with my right eye for whatever reason (where both of my eyes are open and functioning normally in regular environmental conditions).
The pointing test is the most natural test as you test with both eyes open and can get a variable amount of Left or Right preference. In shooting sports/archery where one eye is used, things are a little different but you still should use your preferred eye for the distance
I have a question. My eyesight is -2.7. Is thus gonna effect my basketball game
Hi Malik, Thanks for the note ... is the -2.7 a "power" number, if so that makes you pretty nearsighted and will definitely affect your basketball game. Usually, though the number is either -2.50 or -2.75 so not sure what -2.7 refers to. On the other hand, Docs sometimes use a notation called logMAR in which case -2.7 is an excellent vision - so it really depends on how the term used. Can yo provide more detail?