Just like the choice of a hand to catch an object or to write, the choice of the eye which directs the vision and the axis of the glance is determined in childhood, generally before 5 years, without one knowing why. . One also speaks of preferential eye or aiming eye. “It also impacts the position of the gaze, the head, the shoulders…”, notes Virginie Ruet, podiatrist trained in posturology.
We can have a “homogeneous” eye/hand laterality: we are right-handed with a right dominant eye, left-handed with a left dominant eye, or “crossed”: we are right-handed with a left dominant eye or vice versa. About 90% of people are right-handed but only 67% of people have the right eye as the dominant eye.
To aim at a target
We use our two eyes for global vision: the brain constantly merges two images. But when you have to look through the viewfinder of a rifle or a camera, you naturally use the dominant eye and you tend to close the other eye. Ditto, when aiming at petanque, mölkky or bowling: it is he who guides the gesture.
To perform precise gestures.
“When you have to look at a specific point, the dominant eye provides more central vision, and guides the second eye,” explains Virginie Ruet. It is he who will naturally follow the tip of the pen to trace the letters well when writing, or to focus on the eye of a needle when you want to pass a thread through it. It therefore contributes to manual skill.
To be determined, reaction time
. In some sports, such as tennis or fencing, having a “crossed” laterality between the eye and the hand can be an advantage: a majority of well-ranked athletes have this characteristic, for example Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal in tennis. Studies have shown that this crossed laterality leads to shorter reaction times between the moment when we receive the visual information (for example the position of the ball) and when we execute the gesture.
Is it worth training it?
No, because most often, we use our two eyes and it is this binocularity that allows us to have the notions of distance and depth, including when we write on a sheet. “In sport, motor preference (which hand you hold the racquet with, which foot you shoot the ball with, etc.) and peripheral vision are ultimately much more important than eye preference,” says Romain Bordas.
What if he can’t see well?
“If the dominant eye has poorer visual acuity and there is a clear difference between the two eyes, we will tend to refer to the other eye to aim,” says Romain Bordas, orthoptist and neuroscience clinician .
And you, what is your guiding eye?
How to determine the dominant eye? Stretch out your arms, aim at an object with your hands forming a heart shape with both eyes open, close one eye: if the targeted object is still there, you have found your master eye. Otherwise… it’s the other one!
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