Page 17 - (DK) How to be a GENIUS?

E Eye s ee you Trick your brain
To discove This exercise reveals how your brain sometimes tricks you
o
er which is your dominant
e ye, hold up your index finger into taking shortcuts. First, draw this upside-down picture of
to eye level and look past it a face. Then turn the face the right way up and draw it again.
t
i nto the distance. Then close When you compare the two pictures, you may be surprised
ea ach eye, one at a time. You to find that the upside-down version is the most accurate.
w ill see that with your weaker
ey ye, your finger will appear
ump, whereas with your
to ju
stron ger eye, it will stay in place.
Your st tronger eye figures out the
position
n of things, while the weaker
ps with depth perception.
eye help

ro
H a vi n g o n e h a n d a s s tr n g a s t h e o t h er
tro
Having one hand as strong as the other er
vi
ve
ag
va
c a n g i ve y o u a n a d va n t ag e i n s o m
can give you an advantage in some e
eb
s p o rt . I n b a s eb a l l , fo r ex a m p l e, a n
sports. In baseball, for example, an
fo
e,
ex
rts
ts
rt
er
ds
tt
tt
xtr
ro
a m b i d ex tro u s h i tt er c a n s w i t c h h a n ds
ext
ambidextrous hitter can switch hands
m
e.
t
e.
ro
to strike the ball from the best side. The left side of your brain assigns simple shapes
s
o
d
es
i
es
es
t
h
b
e
ri
h
e
a
k
e
t
l
l
fr
b
to to
s
tri
tr
fr
fr
to common objects—for example, an almond shape for
an eye. So if you draw a face the right way up, you
probably draw the features based on what you think they
look like rather than what you see. When you look
Handy test at a face upside down, however, the right side of your
Ambidexterity is the ability to use both hands equally well. To brain works harder to understand the unfamiliar image
see if you are ambidextrous try the exercise below. Take a pencil and you draw the shapes and lines you actually see.
in your right hand and ask a friend to time you for 15 seconds.
Starting top right, work your way along the line, putting as many
dots as you can in the white circles. Then do the same on the
other side with your left hand and compare the results.
Left hand
start
Right hand
start
You will get the farthest
along the line with your
dominant hand, but you may
surprise yourself by just how
well you did with your
weaker hand. If you found
that you got just as far
with each hand, you are
probably ambidextrous.
15
(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.