Scientific explanation for the right-to-left confusion

You are learning to drive and the instructor asks you to turn left, you pause for a moment wondering whether the party is on the left ? Do not worry because you are not the only case, according to a survey of American experts, a large proportion of the world's population is also confused when distinguishing left and right.

Right-to-left distinction is a complex psycho-psychological process involving many advanced neurological functions such as the ability to integrate sensory and visual information, language functions, and memory.

For some people this is instinct, but for others the distinction of right and left is a difficult challenge. In the health sector, this distinction can also cause some problems. When the doctor or nurse faces a patient, their right side is located on the left side of the patient.

Therefore, the precise distinction of the left and right side of the patient also involves the function of the spatial memory of images in the mind.

Mistake in surgery

On a trip, if you turn in the wrong direction, of course the world will not be destroyed, but there are many situations where confusion in right-to-left distinction can have serious consequences. Some of the most tragic mistakes in medicine are surgery on the wrong side of the patient: taking the wrong kidney or cutting the leg bone incorrectly.

Many people get confused when distinguishing right and left.(Photo: Gerry Gormley).

Although we have a balance and control system to predict and mitigate these mistakes, when they occur, human error is often the root cause of the problem.

Errors are an inherent characteristic of human behavior - sometimes we simply make a mistake - but the mistake in distinguishing right and left is not merely an accident. There is much evidence that women often confuse the left and the right. Researchers say that men seem to have better imagery space.

'Distraction effect'

Embarrassed when distinguishing to the right, the left rarely appears in a quiet environment. Hospitals and health facilities are busy and complicated places, so this happens more often. Doctors often lose focus during work: receive phone calls, monitor heart rate monitors, answer questions from colleagues, patients and their relatives. It can be said that such a working environment is very distracting.

In a study published in Medical Education, the researchers discovered the effect of external disturbances on the left and right discrimination of medical students.

Scientists conducted experiments with 234 medical students. They were asked to distinguish right and left while hearing the noise from the surrounding environment as well as being interrupted by medical questions.

The team's findings are surprising. Even the noise echoing from afar is enough to confuse some students when giving answers. Even disturbing them with questions brings greater impact.This "distraction effect" has more influence on female students and older people.

The fact that a person evaluates his or her right to discriminate right is often inaccurate. Many students think that they are good at distinguishing left and right, but when experimented objectively, the results are not as they were thought.

Many medical mistakes involve confusing right and left.(Photo: Internet).

Developing 'strategy'

People who have difficulty distinguishing right, often think of ways to help them in this. For example, put the left thumb perpendicular to the index finger to create the "L" - symbolizing the left.

However, it seems that these ways still make them wrong and cannot be applied to every case. During the training process - starting at the university level - note that medical students about possible problems while distinguishing right and left during surgery and the consequences of making a decision wrong on this issue.

We need to find ways to mitigate situations that cause such errors and raise awareness of students and teachers about the fact that some individuals tend to be easily confused on the left and right.

Because people at risk do not often think they have problems, they can provide students with a way to test their ability to distinguish - for example, using online psychological tests. .

Thus, those who are supposed to have problems distinguishing right and left can at least know their deficiencies and will watch out for caution when making important decisions regarding right distinction left.

Minimizing neglect is also very important. In some important stages of the flight, pilots must avoid any unnecessary conversations to avoid distraction.