Determining Eye Dominance

[Mike]

Let's forget the why . . . I've been trying to determine my dominant eye. I've used all the usual techniques--forming a circle with the thumb and forefinger, sighting an object in the circle, then opening and closing each eye to determine which is focused on the object--and variations of that type of technique. The results vary from one self-test to the next. Sometimes it appears I'm right-eye dominant and other times it seems as though it's the left eye.

 

I know that there is such a thing as 50/50 dominance and that eye dominance can change over time. Is there a more accurate way to determine eye dominance, or do my non-repeatable results indicate that I am indeed 50/50 dominant?

 

This is a recent photo of me, just in case it helps:

 

 

Actually, though, I am serious about the question.

[beemerman2k]

 

Now that guy was funny!

[Lineareagle]

Imagine my surprise when I found out I was cross handed.

Left eye dominant and right handed.

Found out when I decided to step up my archery skills from bare bow, which I was very good at, to sights.

Couldn't sight at all!

Funny thing I am right handed but can only use chop sticks in my left hand.

I use the extend hand, hold up finger look at object in distance. Close one eye then the other finger stays on object eye dominant.

[Paul Mihalka]

I also found my dominating eye in a interesting way. At one point in life I got into pistol target shooting. It was the old fashioned single handed Olympic style shooting. When I got pretty good at it, I was picked to be part of a national competition team. It was the first time I had a trainer look at my shooting. After looking for a short time he asked me if there is anything wrong with my right eye. No. Well, I'm shooting with my right hand, but line it up with my left eye. I must have a very dominant left eye. I'm doing good, just keep on doing it. This explained to me why I was never good at rifle shooting.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I also found my dominating eye in a interesting way. At one point in life I got into pistol target shooting.

 

Funny, I was just going to suggest that Mike visit the range for some shooting, and see which eye gives better results.

[Bprimm]

make a pencil-sized Ø hole in a piece of paper...

hold the edges of the paper with arms stretched out.

Keep both eyes open and focus through the punched hole on something across the length of a large room.

(thermostat..part of picture..etc)

Rather quickly, bring the paper to your face without losing sight of the object you've focused on.

 

You'll have to bring the hole in the paper to your dominant eye or you will lose sight of the object.

 

I've witnessed people stop moving the paper toward their face and then reposition so they could again see the object.

They were trying to take the hole to the eye they thought to be dominant.

 

If you don't stop movement or move your head, you can't cheat.

[Spike]

Thats the same problem I have, but reversed. I am left handed, but right eye dominant. It makes shooting a long gun a real PITA. It really doesn't help with shooting trap.

[bakerzdosen]

I learned that I was "cross handed" (to keep with the same phrase) while learning to shoot with a 35mm camera in junior high. My teacher explained that I'd be better off viewing with my right eye so the wind lever wouldn't poke me in the eye.

 

Maybe it was the repeated pokes negatively affecting my right eye, but I still use my left eye.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

A sneaky tip for trap/skeet or pool for that matter, if you are cross handed. Place a piece of transparent tape over the dominant eye, enough so the focus in that eye becomes slightly blurred. Assuming nothing wrong with your vision in the other eye, your mind will automatically switch dominant eyes so long as that condition persists. You will still have the binocular vision so important to shooting moving objects well.

 

I'm sometimes cross dominant, comes and goes, and this little trick got me to AA/27/A back when I could afford that hobby. Actually, I couldn't afford it, just didn't keep records until the last year.

[KrazyHorse]

Wow! Guess I'm cross-handed too. I'm left handed, but my right eye is dominant, according to the little paper test. Guess that's why I shoot right handed??? Come to think of it I do most sports right handed (pool, bat, tennis)

[Dave McReynolds]

An interesting thing happened to me as I was going through cataract surgery. After the first lens replacement was done on my left, non-dominant eye, I took out the left lens from my eyeglasses. I continued shooting my bow in between the surgeries, using the eyeglasses with one lens in and one lens out. I found when I was shooting the bow that sometimes I would turn my head in and block my dominant eye with my nose or something, and my left eye would take over. It was really obvious to me that this was happening when I was wearing the eyeglasses with only one lens, but something I had been unaware of before. It helped explain some times where some arrows would group around the bulls eye and others would hit somewhere else on the target.

[Pilgrim]

I also found my dominating eye in a interesting way... No. Well, I'm shooting with my right hand, but line it up with my left eye. I must have a very dominant left eye. I'm doing good, just keep on doing it. This explained to me why I was never good at rifle shooting.

 

Back about 1992 I lined up a combat pistol shooting course for my agents from a guy named Jim Greg. He was one of the masters of the game back then, and his book is still a standard text. He guaranteed to teach each and every one of us to fire six shots in six seconds from the holster, using no sights, into a group with all shots touching in a single cloverleaf at seven yards. And he did it, too. In fact, he was so good that he had all of us firing six shots into a palm-sized group at that range in near-total darkness. One of us could even walk three steps at an angle up to the firing line in the dark with his eyes closed, turn, draw and fire and get six lethal hits in six second. It was the damndest zen experience I ever had. His major tool was faith - he instilled faith in his students that they could do it if they'd just do what he said.

 

Jim began the course by seating all ten of us in a semicircle around him. He told us he would toss us a washer. He wanted each of us to catch it one-handed and look at him through it with one eye.

 

Here in this discussion the purpose is obvious. If you caught it with your right hand and looked at him with our left eye, then you had a crossed-master eye. As a sneak-up-on you trick to discover the problem, it was great.

 

But he went a step farther than was done with you, Paul. One guy had a crossed master, and he typically shot in the low 80% range. Paul promised him that if he would switch hands to shoot with he'd improve his scores into the mid-90% range. Jim coached him one-on-one for the first hundred or so rounds, and within that time Al's lethal-shot percentage did improve as promised. He had to buy new gunleather, but he said it was worth it.

 

I used the technique half a dozen times while I was an instructor and in every case the shooter who was willing to try to change hands improved enough to matter.

 

Pilgrim

[edge51]

I found myself left eye dominant the same way Paul. Except, I was never good enough to qualify for even the city shooting team. I was also never any good with a rifle - in fact I could score better with the hand gun.

[Quinn]

Hijack--

For lefthanded shooters. Walther makes a .22 semi-auto rifle that is easily converted from right to lefthanders. It's also a bullpup design so the barrel and action (therefore the weight) are shifted back toward your shoulder. The sights are terrible so I added a red dot scope. It makes for a quick and accurate freehand gun and with the red dot, I just keep both eyes open.

 

end of hijack.

[Ken H.]

Hold either index finger out at arms length pointed at something 10ft /3m or so away with both eyes open. Now without moving your arm, close one eye or the other. Switch back and forth. Your finger tip will move relative to what you were pointing at with your non-dominant eye, and will stay in place with you dominant eye.

[hANNAbONE]

sIMPLE tO find out -

 

Look at an image - oh, say 10-15 feet away.

 

Cover the image with your extended thumb (either one)keeping both eyes open.

 

Close one eye - do you see the image??

 

Close the other eye and open the one first closed - do you see the image...

 

When you cover the image with only one of your eyes and you cannot see the image = THAT is your dominant eye..!!

 

You did it..!

One more thing - I'm a lefty...! I shoot weapons and pool left handed...yet I bat and play tennis etc. right handed....go figger....

[Mike]

sIMPLE tO find out -

 

Look at an image - oh, say 10-15 feet away.

 

Cover the image with your extended thumb (either one)keeping both eyes open.

 

Close one eye - do you see the image??

 

Close the other eye and open the one first closed - do you see the image...

 

When you cover the image with only one of your eyes and you cannot see the image = THAT is your dominant eye..!!

 

Well, here's the deal . . . I've done this, as well as a number of the other eye dominance tests suggested above, and my results vary. Sometimes my right eye is dominant and other times it's the left one. The left one appears to be dominant more often than the right.

 

I've been doing a fair amount of reading on the topic and I've learned a few things about eye dominance. Some people have more pronounced dominance, but others don't. Others experience a change in which eye is dominant at different times in their lives. And, most surprising to me, eye dominance can change in an individual, depending on which way one's eyes are turned. If you turn your eyes to the right, almost without exception the right eye assumes dominance, and vice versa.

 

My reason behind this is the fact that I've recently taken up pistol shooting again. I'm clearly right hand dominant and have always aimed with my right eye. However, I've begun to wonder if I'm left eye dominant. I guess I'll do what Paul did--just give it a try with my left eye and see how my shooting compares.

 

It's not like I'm vying for any national championships. It's just that I'd like to become as accurate as I can.

[Husker Red]

As you mention, I think you simply don't have a clearly dominant eye. Certainly not a problem, lucky you! Interesting that you mention having a different dominant eye in left or right gaze, I've never thought of that before. I suppose that's more common in folks who don't have a clearly dominant eye.

 

When testing yourself, you should also consider the distance of the object you are looking at. Many people have a different dominant eye at near and far. "Far" would usually be defined as anything over 20 ft away.

[Mike]

When testing yourself, you should also consider the distance of the object you are looking at. Many people have a different dominant eye at near and far. "Far" would usually be defined as anything over 20 ft away.

 

That's interesting that you mention that. There is a research abstract from the Journal of Vision that concludes that the "shift in eye dominance that occurs with viewing direction is caused by both eye position and relative image magnification."

[too old to care]

I automatically put my left eye to the viewfinder of any camera I pick up. I have tried to swap to the right eye to keep my noise off the display, but cannot see well enough. So, guess I am left eye dominate.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Mike,

 

That cellophane tape thing I spoke about earlier, really works. A little tape over the left eyepiece of your shooting glasses will force your right eye to focus on the sights and still give you enough binocular vision for judging distances and the like. Even works for trap and skeet but really shows up in pistol shooting. As there, sight alignment is everything.

 

Back when I was nutz about trap shooting I found that the only shot I would miss from 16 yards was a quartering target to the right. Reason being my stance was at about 30 degrees to the right of the trap house and my left eye was picking up the bird before my right so, on that shot, I'd go left eye dominant. Of course, the barrel relationship would be screwed so I'd wind up shooting behind the bird. Coach got me out of it by moving my stance to more square to the house and keeping my head off the gun till I "saw" the bird. After that, 100's were quite a bit more frequent.

[Mike]

Ed, I'll give it a shot. It makes perfect sense, understanding that eye dominance can easily shift toward the "better" eye.