TheThaiger
Banned
I'm off to have an eye test soon - can the optician tell you which eye is dominant, or doesn't it work like that?
Any other ways of working it out?
Any other ways of working it out?
How can you determine your dominant eye?
- Thread starter TheThaiger
- Start date
Pick out an object about ten or so feet away from you. With both eyes open take your pointer finger and thumb and create a circle, then take that circle and make sure the object you are looking at is in the circle. Now proceed to close one eye at a time. Whatever eye you have open and keeps the object in the circle will tell you what eye dominant you are.
I really don't think it matters, Thaiger.
I think you should just look at things the best way you know how.
So when you're playing pool, bring the cue to your eyes, rather than
your eyes to the cue.
When I was young, I had a goatee for a while...that's how I found out
I was right-eyed....the cue would part my beard on the right side of my
chin.
But I didn't have to know that, I was seeing the shot the best way I
could already.
Joe Davis was extremely left-eyed.
Earl Strickland is extremely right-eyed.
I doubt they had to figure that out before they became great players.
I think you should just look at things the best way you know how.
So when you're playing pool, bring the cue to your eyes, rather than
your eyes to the cue.
When I was young, I had a goatee for a while...that's how I found out
I was right-eyed....the cue would part my beard on the right side of my
chin.
But I didn't have to know that, I was seeing the shot the best way I
could already.
Joe Davis was extremely left-eyed.
Earl Strickland is extremely right-eyed.
I doubt they had to figure that out before they became great players.
I agree. It's somewhat trivial information. Something else to consider, your dominant eye isn't an constant thing. If an image appears on your right side, your right eye will focus on it. If an image appears on your left side, your left eye takes over. How it pertains to sports, specifically pool, is pretty simple. The object you are focusing on should always appear centered. It really doesn't matter which eye is responsible for it. The bottom line, very few (if any) professional pool players pay close attention to eye-dominance ever.
Don't over-think it.
Hmmmm.....that explains something for me.
I had days when I swear I was using my left eye more, and my left eye
is 'lazy'.....can't read a book with it.
On those days, my touch was better and I had some of my best runs.
TheThaiger
Banned
Not over-thinking something is my forte. I still don't know if an optician can tell me which eye is dominant, however.
It is my opinion that the dominant eye plays no particular role in executing the pool shot, but rather the subconscious mind sorts out all of the necessary information and accomplishes the task. :smile:
I agree, Tramp.
KNOWING where the ball is and KNOWING what to do about it will make
you a player....I broke a few guys who could read a street sign.....
...before I could even see the sign, never mind the words.
...now back to your wise cracks, this is getting too serious.:grin:
Thats definitely not true. When youre shooting a gun and aiming in a sight, you dont switch eyes depending if the deer is on your right or your left. The eye that you aim with is always the same because the eye that youre using to aim is your dominant eye. Have you ever seen John Morra shoot? He may not pay attention to it, but it is very apparent that his eye dominance is extreme.
I think you're not applying it right. When you're sighting a gun (or a pool cue), your body's relationship is with the gun, not the deer. With that said, you're always going to use the same eye when sighting a gun. However, if you were to pick up a cup of coffee sitting on your left, you're going to focus with your left eye. If you pick up the same mug on your right, you'll focus with your right eye.
My point is that eye-dominance varies according to your body's relationship with the object. People often think that you always use your dominant eye for any hand-eye coordinated action and that's simply not the case.
Yes, an optician should be able to tell you which eye is dominant.
Alternately, the method lukemindish mentions in a prior post works quite well.
I don't see how an optician could even tell. Typically the stronger eye is dominant and they can tell which eye is stronger but dominance is strictly how the brain processes this information. I have poor eye-sight and I see an optician often. I'm also cross-eyed dominant (fairly unusual for a righty) and equally unusual is that my dominant eye is my weaker eye (not by much).
The brain does a lot to build a complete picture. It fills in areas you're not focusing on and pretends to keep everything in focus when, in fact, the only thing that's actually IN FOCUS is what you're focusing on.
Just look at the object ball. That's all you can do.
Jude:
I agree with all of your posts in this thread thus far.
Some "stuff" to consider (IMHO):
- "Eye dominance" is merely "eye preference." And that is a mental pathways issue, not a physical one. That mental pathways issue can be rewired/rerouted -- at will -- by wearing a patch on the "dominant" eye for a while, and forcing your mind to depend on the "lesser" eye.
- Your optician can only tell you about eye damage, injury, disease, or defect -- NOT dominance. Unless he/she gave you an MRI and studied your brainwaves, he/she would not be able to tell you about your mental pathway "preference" unless a "preference test" (like that which was already proposed above) was performed. Even though the number of nerve contact/synapse points from each eye's optic nerve to the brain may be different between each eye, the mental "pathway preference" is actually "software" and can be rewritten.
Comparing shooting a firearm (rifle) to shooting pool is a mistake. Like Jude says, one's relationship to the rifle does not change in reference to the target. The line down the barrel leads directly to the target, and to the end result. However, in pool or any cueing sport, the line down the cue does NOT lead directly to the target or end result. Yes, the line down the cue leads to the cue ball, but that line doesn't necessarily lead to the end result (the pocket) unless it's an absolutely straight-in shot. So in this regard, the topic of a "vision center" can and DOES have a profound effect on how well you aim.
I used to shoot firearms competitively. You don't use a "vision center" when aiming a rifle -- you use only one eye (whether open sights or scope, it doesn't matter). While the eye that is not sighting down the sights (i.e. left eye, in my case, because I'm right-handed) can and often is used for "target acquisition" -- e.g. sweeping the range to follow a moving target, or moving to the next target in a rapid-fire multi-target range -- the actual aiming is NOT done with that eye. Aiming is only done with the eye looking down the barrel.
That is MUCH different from pool, which DOES use the concept of a "vision center" that firearm aiming does not.
-Sean
There are a couple of things to consider that complicate the eye dominance and playing pool problem. Your brain knows how to compensate for eye dominance. You have been doing it all of your life and that is why you can reach out and touch a spot on the table without “aiming.”
In the analysis phase playing pool is a three dimensional game. There is parallax correction on the vertical and the horizontal axis that is needed to determine ball pocketing and position. In addition, parallax correction is needed to determine the contact point as one bends to the shot and sees it from an off angle.
The brain has learned to compensate for eye dominance and analysis of a target in all these matters.
But then we come to sighting and aiming a shot. In this phase the line from the back of the cue stick through the striking point on the cue ball to the contact point on the object ball is a straight line for a straight in shot with no English. Under these circumstances eye dominance is a problem for lining up three points in a straight line.
Overlap your thumbs then overlap you first fingers and look through the one inch hole created at a spot about the size of the contact point on a cue ball that is three feet away. Now choose a second object about six feet from the first object and line the two objects up while looking through the hole. This is similar to aiming a pool shot. Place the lined up objects in the center of this one inch hole made by your fingers. Close one eye then close the other eye and you will probably find that only one of your eyes sees the target line. unlike a rifleman you will also find that your eye is not on this line of aim. *
This will unequivocally demonstrate that eye dominance is a problem under some circumstances, such as aiming a pool shot. Apparently your brain is compensating by seeing and feeling a straight line from the off angle of your dominant eye. Notice that you are also “feeling” this line of aim because you cannot see the back of the cue stick.
So why don’t we miss every shot? I think that some people, especially pros, have over learned how to compensate for eye dominance and parallax correction. As has often been noted it can take years to learn to compensate and then only after you have learned to keep your head and body still with a good PSR. I suspect that here is the source of the differences between excellent players and the rest of the people. The ability to make parallax adjustments on the fly may be part of the definition of natural talent.
If someone is new to pool playing and is willing to spend the time it makes sense to take a two phase approach to playing and to distinguish between the different areas where eye dominance influences a shot.
Niels Feijen’s routine is an excellent example of what can be accomplished.
* No cheating, keep yourarms at a distance from your face, about arm's length.
In the analysis phase playing pool is a three dimensional game. There is parallax correction on the vertical and the horizontal axis that is needed to determine ball pocketing and position. In addition, parallax correction is needed to determine the contact point as one bends to the shot and sees it from an off angle.
The brain has learned to compensate for eye dominance and analysis of a target in all these matters.
But then we come to sighting and aiming a shot. In this phase the line from the back of the cue stick through the striking point on the cue ball to the contact point on the object ball is a straight line for a straight in shot with no English. Under these circumstances eye dominance is a problem for lining up three points in a straight line.
Overlap your thumbs then overlap you first fingers and look through the one inch hole created at a spot about the size of the contact point on a cue ball that is three feet away. Now choose a second object about six feet from the first object and line the two objects up while looking through the hole. This is similar to aiming a pool shot. Place the lined up objects in the center of this one inch hole made by your fingers. Close one eye then close the other eye and you will probably find that only one of your eyes sees the target line. unlike a rifleman you will also find that your eye is not on this line of aim. *
This will unequivocally demonstrate that eye dominance is a problem under some circumstances, such as aiming a pool shot. Apparently your brain is compensating by seeing and feeling a straight line from the off angle of your dominant eye. Notice that you are also “feeling” this line of aim because you cannot see the back of the cue stick.
So why don’t we miss every shot? I think that some people, especially pros, have over learned how to compensate for eye dominance and parallax correction. As has often been noted it can take years to learn to compensate and then only after you have learned to keep your head and body still with a good PSR. I suspect that here is the source of the differences between excellent players and the rest of the people. The ability to make parallax adjustments on the fly may be part of the definition of natural talent.
If someone is new to pool playing and is willing to spend the time it makes sense to take a two phase approach to playing and to distinguish between the different areas where eye dominance influences a shot.
Niels Feijen’s routine is an excellent example of what can be accomplished.
* No cheating, keep yourarms at a distance from your face, about arm's length.
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BTW for the eye dominance, parallax problem if you position your body with your foot under the imaginary cue stick and look at the contact points while lining up the shot you will have a pretty good idea with regard to what your eyes actually see when you are shooting. Notice what it feels like when you stroke the imaginary cue along this line. Our brains and bodies are truly amazing when you think about the information that is used and the information that must be discarded.
That is simply incorrect.
One of the ways near sighted vision is often corrected is called monovision. In cases where correction is required both at a distance and close-up (for reading) a common alternative to bifocal lenses is monovision. Typically the dominant eye is corrected for vision at a distance and the non-dominant eye for close-up vision. There are a plethora of simple tests available to determine which is dominant.
I have been using monovision correction for years. The optician checks ocular dominance by having me look at something then covering first one eye then the other with a paddle. When the dominant eye is covered, the object appears to move from the location it was at with both eyes uncovered or just the dominant eye uncovered.
Determining ocular dominance is a well understood process.
And i Add Jaffar 'Patch Eye' Basheer, is a pro road player, 80 years now still playing, used to have his both eyes and play like God, lost one eye to accident still play like God,see link
http://www.onepocket.org/PatchEyeInterview.htm
Okay, yes. An optician can give you a dominant eye test. You can do it yourself too. I should have been more specific. Without feedback from you, your optician can't look at your eyes and deduce which is dominant because, as stated, it has to do with how your brain translates the image. So, your optician can determine eye-dominance about as effectively as my mom can (not an optician).
Thank you but I'm just getting warmed-up. You might want to retract that statement soon.
The brain does some amazing things when you lose sight or hearing. I would imagine similar things can be said about people that lose an eye. I will say this, lose BOTH eyes and you'll have to consider giving-up your pool career. So long as a person can see at all, I say anything's possible.