One other thought occurred to me as I looked through Coren's book. In addition to
a dominant hand and a dominant foot, people have a dominant eye, which may be
involved in the direction a person spins when skating. Furthermore, "eyedness" is
correlated with handedness:

"Like handedness, eyedness is mostly a right-sided matter in human beings. Our
survey showed that 71 percent of the population is right-eyed. Also, 74 percent
of human beings have their dominant hand and their dominant eye on the same
side...." (p. 30)

The idea that eyedness is important for the direction of spin is supported by the
following observation:

"Judgements of direction are also affected by eyedness. When asked to locate a
position in space that they think is 'straight ahead' of them, people tend to
pick a position shifted toward the side of their dominant eye. The visual system
seems to interpret 'straight ahead' to mean 'straight ahead of your dominant
eye'." (p. 31)

Jeff

Reference:

Coren, S. (1993) The Left-hander syndrome: The causes and consequences of
left-handedness. New York: Vintage.


--
Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D.          Office Phone:  (480) 423-6213
9000 E. Chaparral Rd.            FAX Number: (480) 423-6298
Psychology Department            [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ  85256-2626

Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically (PESTS)
http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/pests/index.html

The Psychology Student: Learning About The Science Of Psychology
http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/psychscience/index.html



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