Ineke van der Ham at BBC on why adults confuse left from right
It can seem like an almost childish mistake, but a surprising number of adults confuse left from right. Neuroscientists are only just starting to know more about directional and navigation and understand why it is so difficult to distinguish left from right . Ineke van der Ham is an expert on navigation. Her research has attracted attention from several media sources such as BBC.
BBC
While for some people, telling left from right is as easy as telling up from down, a significant minority – around one in six people – struggle with the distinction. 'Nobody has difficulty in saying [something is] front and back, or top and bottom,' says Ineke van der Ham at BBC. But telling left from right is different, she says. 'It's because of the symmetry, and because when you turn around, it's the other way around, and that makes it so confusing.' Why some people can't tell left from right (13th January 2023).
Read more in Dutch about Ineke van der Ham on navigation.