Dominant eye: What is it?
Your dominant eye is the one that provides a slightly (in most cases) greater degree of input to the visual part of your brain and more accurately relays information about the location of objects.
Most of the time, the term “dominant eye” is used when describing the normal visual condition where the two eyes function well as a team and have relatively equal visual acuity, and one eye is simply the “leading” or preferred eye.
But sometimes, “dominant eye” is used to describe the normally sighted and functioning eye in dysfunctional cases of amblyopia and strabismus.
Dominant eye in shooting.
So what’s the practical importance of performing a dominant eye test?
Knowing which eye is your dominant eye can help you perform better in a variety of activities. Here are just a few common examples:
If you are right-handed but your dominant eye is your left eye, this cross-dominance can pose challenges for shooting accuracy.
Dominant eye in shooting. Having trouble hitting moving targets with your rifle? It could be that you have crossed dominance — meaning, your dominant eye and dominant hand are on opposite sides of your body.
For example, if you are a right-handed (and therefore right-shouldered) shooter but have a dominant left eye, you may find yourself shooting behind a left-to-right moving target and in front of a right-to-left moving target. Being aware of this will let you make the correct adjustments to improve your shooting accuracy.
Another option to compensate for cross-dominance is to keep both eyes open until just before you take your shot. Keeping both eyes open enables you to use 100% of your peripheral vision and depth perception to get ready for the shot. Closing your cross-dominant left eye just before the shot lets you make the last-second adjustment to better align the barrel of your rifle with the moving target.
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