Yesterday Chad had me driving in the Wedgewood neighbourhood. At an empty intersection, I asked Chad where I should turn. "Let's try left." After signalling, as I was supposed to, I proceeded to turn. "I meant your OTHER left." I had confused my left with my right and for as long as I can remember, I had always had a bit of a trouble with my left and right. As a child, it was one of the hardest thing for me to learn. As an adult, I really have to take a moment to really THINK before I can correctly distinguish left from right. This explains why I often misdirect the taxi driver and have difficulty learning dances as I put up the wrong arm or place the wrong leg in front.
In my training as a teacher officer in the NPCC ( National Police Cadet Corps). I remember almost steering the whole marching contingent the wrong way. The drill sergeant shouted the command "BERGERAK KE KANAN BERTIGA-TIGA, KE KANAN PUSING" (Move to the right in threes, right turn). I would, of course, move to turn left. It was definitely not a good idea to have me right at the front of the contingent but as I provided much amusement to my fellow trainees, they kept me there.
This is me- much younger and much lighter in the NPCC uniform. (Photo taken by my friend Johannah Soo in 1997)
I learnt that left and right confusion comes from the parietal lobe of our brain. To get a feel for your own left and right confusion and see how well our parietal lobe is performing, you can take a test at the website 'Left- Right Confusion?'. According to this website, more people than you would think have some difficulty when they had to quickly identify right from left.
I am actually thankful that I never had a driving licence in Singapore or in Malaysia, where the right side is the left side of the road. The relatively poor performance of my parietal lobe would have made it more difficult and dangerous for me to drive where the right side of the road is the right side. It would have been even more confusing for me to try to unlearn driving on the left side of the road. A message to all drivers in Seattle : Worry not. I will be a safe driver even if I'll undoubtedly make more than a few wrong turns along the way.
4 comments:
Karen, the right left thing is normal, at least I see it that way. Love the way you make fun of yourself.
As a lefty, I probably make these mistakes, but I have a problem with remembering where I am and finding my exit to a building. I think my brain has mixed messages about direction. Ask my boys they will also agree. Aunty Maeve
a lot of people i know have this confusion. one particular friend of mine would raise and look at his left hand and say aloud "left", and then raise the right and say aloud "right" before he can verify and answer "left" or "right" when telling people which direction to go to.
i fortunately have zero difficulty in this area.
(C&Pd from FB comments)
wah... that's such a good photo... keke... dun worry abt left and right. just point! that's what i told my driving tester. hehehe
(C&Pd from FB comments)
This makes me feel so much better. I call myself "directional challenged". Right and left are so confusing to me. For example, if we are facing each other, my right is your left. If the sink is on my right, but I turn 180 degrees, then the sink is on my left. As a kid this used to really confuse me. I have heard, "your other right" so many times!
Another problem is that because of my confusion, when people tell me to go right or left I usually try to confirm it with them (wondering if they are as I am). I will say, " go left, correct?" they will usually answer, "left, right." The use of the word "correct" instead of "right" helps me considerably.
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