EYE DOMINANCE

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Are you Right Eyed or Left Eyed?

Most people have a dominant eye. This simply means that one eye works a little bit harder than the other. Even though you use both eyes to look at an object, you tend to use your dominant eye more.

Eye Dominance is also known as ocular dominance, or eyedness. Seeing through your dominant eye is the tendency to prefer visual input from one eye to the other. Your dominant eye processes information 14 to 21 milliseconds faster than your non dominant eye. Using the line of sight from your dominant eye tells you where things are out there in your visual world.

In a classroom, your dominant eye helps you find your teacher, the blackboard, a projection screen, or even another student. On the golf course, your dominant eye helps you locate the ball, your target, the hole, or even where the golf ball goes when you swing.

We often hear about hand dominance (right handedness and left handedness), but eye dominance isn't discussed as often. In fact, if someone were to ask you if you are right eyed or left eyed, and you don't know the answer to this question, you are not alone. Many of us are surprised when we first learn about eye dominance.

It does make sense, however, that just as we use one hand more than the other, we also use one eye more than the other. Discovering which eye is dominant is easy, and we can then make simple changes in our surroundings to accommodate our dominant eye. Surprisingly enough, the results of these changes can make our lives easier and more enjoyable.

Right eye dominance is much more common than left eye dominance. Approximately two thirds of the population is right eye dominant, and most of the rest are left eye dominant. There are far fewer people who do not have a dominant eye. Just as there are those who are ambidextrous, or able to use their right and left hands equally well, there are also people who use both of their eyes equally well, but this is not the norm.

Again, most of us are either right handed or left handed, and either right eye or left eye dominant, however the side of our dominant eye and our dominant hand do not always match. Most of the population, or approximately 80% of us, are same side dominant. In other words, we are predominantly right handed/right eye dominant or left handed/left eye dominant. The other 20% of us are cross dominant, which means right handed/left eye dominant or left handed/right eye dominant.

SmartVision Focus is all about discovering the power of a focused mind. We have designed and patented the SmartVision glasses based upon the principle of eye dominance. For optimal success in learning how to develop your focusing skills via the Smart Vision Method, please determine whether you are right or left eye dominant prior to placing your product order. We want to make sure you don't assume that just because you are right handed, you are also right eye dominant. For your convenience, we are offering several simple tests to help you determine your eye dominance. (See Tests to Determine your Dominant Eye below.)

If you are purchasing a SmartVision Focus package for someone other than yourself (i.e., a child, student, athlete, etc.) we highly recommend that you place your order for either a left or right eye dominant pair of glasses, based upon their eye dominance as well. For those of you who choose not to determine eye dominance ahead of time for any reason, we conveniently offer you the option of purchasing any of our product packages with both pairs of glasses, to accommodate anyone's eye dominance. The second pair of glasses will be available for a special discounted add on price.

Tests to Determine Your Dominant Eye

The following simple methods are the easiest ways of checking eye dominance for both adults and even for young children and teens:

Test One
Your dominant eye tends to be the one you use when you only want to use one eye. It is usually easier to close or wink your non dominant eye. You tend to use your dominant eye to look through a small hole in a fence, or through a tube, a camera eye hole, microscope, or telescope.

Test Two
Hold a paper towel or toilet paper tube with both hands at arm's length. (You can also try this test by folding a piece of paper into a roll, by holding up a ring or other circular shape you can see through, or even by making a circle with your thumb and your forefinger.) Keeping both eyes open, arms extended, lift the tube, ring or circle in front of your eyes. Find and center an object about 10 feet away from you. (This can be a small object, such as a door handle, or a clock or picture hanging on the wall.) Now close one eye. If you still see the distant object in the tube or inside of the circle, you are seeing the object with your dominant eye. If you don't see the object, your non dominant eye is open. For example, if you close your left eye, and the object remains in view with your right eye open, you are right eye dominant. If you then close your left eye, and the object moves outside of the tube or circle, this confirms you are right eye dominant. In closing one eye, and then the other, one of your eyes should see the object move, or jump to the side. Whichever eye is open when the object remains in place is your dominant eye. If you close your dominant eye, and open your non dominant eye, the object will appear to move.

Test Three
Hold your thumb out at arm's length, lining it up with a door handle or a vertical structure (such as a corner of a window or a picture, etc.). Focus on it with both eyes. You are likely to see a double image, which is normal. Without moving either your thumb or your head, close one eye, then open it and close the other eye. If you close your left eye and your thumb remains lined up with the door handle or corner, you are right eye dominant. If you close your right eye, and your thumb appears to move away, this confirms you are right eye dominant. Whichever eye, when open, holds the image of the object lined up with your thumb, is your dominant eye. When you close your dominant eye, your thumb appears to move.

Test Four
Take a piece or paper or an index card and fold in into fourths. Tear the inside corner so there is a small hole in the middle of the paper. The circle should be about the size of a small coin. Unfold the paper or card and use both eyes to look through the hole at a distan at a distant object. Alternate closing your the hole is your dominant eye. If you close your dominant eye, and open your non dominant eye, you won't see the object through the hole.

You can also try a variation of this test with another person present. The two people should be facing one another, about an arm's length away from one another. This version of the test will work well with an adult helping to determine the eye dominance of a child. Ask the child to find the adult's face through the center hole. The adult can then use either another piece of paper, another index card, a business card, or even one of his or her hands, to block the child's eyes, one by one. If the child's left eye is covered first, and he or she can still see the adult's face showing through the hole, the child is right eye dominant. This can be confirmed if the adult then covers the child's right eye, and the adult's face no longer appears through the hole. Again, the eye that is open and which holds the image of the adult's face through the hole is the child's dominant eye. This interactive version of the eye dominance test can, of course, be used with two adults, who'd like to test one another for eye dominance.

Please repeat the above tests a number of times to satisfy yourself that you are sure which eye is your dominant eye. Make note of whether you are right eye or left eye dominant. If you are conducting eye dominance tests for someone else who will be using SmartVision glasses, please note their eye dominance as well. This information will come in handy when you are ready to place your order on the Products page.

Once you know your eye dominance, there are many applicable benefits. Furniture can be moved to accommodate for eye dominance to make a big difference for family members. Rearranging children's bedrooms, playrooms, and classrooms to accommodate eye dominance can improve their attention span or increase their enjoyment of activities.

Sometimes we notice that we tend to sit on the left side of a classroom. The right eye dominant student prefers to sit on the left side because he or she tends to see the teacher more comfortably from that side. You may find yourself typically sitting on the left side of the couch or you may prefer sitting on the right side of the movie theatre. Again, this is often to accommodate your eye dominance.

Recognizing the role of eye dominance can really change the dynamics of a classroom. If a teacher knows the eye dominance of each student, each child can be properly positioned for optimal vision. This can really improve behavioral problems in the classroom. For example, if a right eye dominant student sits to the left of a left eye dominant student, the two of them may be looking at each other rather than at the teacher. By moving the left eye dominant student to the right side of the classroom, and the right eye dominant student to the left side of the classroom, the students will be better able to focus on the teacher. Therefore, the students' attention is put on the teacher rather than on each other. There are teachers who claim that even students with ADD or ADHD have had increased attention spans after eye dominance was tested and accommodated for.

The dominant eye is the one that is primarily relied upon for precise positional information. This can be especially significant in sports which require aim, such as golf, archery, darts, baseball or shooting sports like basketball. Right eye dominant people should partake in all shooting sports as right handed participants. Left eye dominant people should participate as lefties. Exceptions can be made to this general rule but most of them have to do with physical adversities.

You can now see how significant it is for us to be fully aware of our eye dominance. Whether you are right eye or left eye dominant, given the above knowledge, and with the help of the SmartVision Focus program, you will be now have the proper tools and information to help you develop your focusing skills. The benefits will be far reaching, as you apply these skills to all areas of your life!