Whitney's tongue a quiver

I have nothing

At different points in the video I get a good look at Whitney's tongue. When I fist saw her hitting some of the beautiful notes and watch her tongue quivering on both sides I could not imagine how that was done. My own tongue seemed so undefined and unrefined.  Singing to a CD in the car tonight I could actually feel the left tongue a quiver. The sound emitting from my piehole was probably more akin to the sounds of anguish than a song but there is a tremendous difference in my movement image of my tongue than years ago.

Holes in my thinking

There are still some holes in my thinking. I do not completely understand the right left relationship. I suppose that the left side computes the best way for one to achieve the immediate task of let'say getting food in ones mouth is to make the movements of the right side easier.  Using the example of eating with my left hand I need to reverse the usual habits of the shoulder complexes to make it somewhat coordinated.  Many (most) people can do it easily without thought. For me it was a bit of achievement for as the fork would get closer to my mouth I would run into more resistance as the shoulder complexes were doing the habitual movement. I am coordinated in one sense. To make the task easier for the right side.

However in life there are many tasks that need both hands to do complex tasks such as typing this sentence. Both hands and fingers coordinate almost without thought and the more I think the more I mistype. It would seem to me both sides of the brain have knowledge of the words being typed otherwise they would not be able to coordinate the movements. Each side of the brain must be coordinating based on it's understanding of the task.

One of the factors that still amazes me is that I would not really see the left side of someone's face as what I communicated with. If there was flaw or something outstanding I might make note of it but not something to read as they expressed themselves either verbally of non-verbally. I would imagine my learning of expressions came before the understanding of words. My right eye habitually drifts to the other person's right eye if in view. In a sense I talk right eye to right eye. When I switch my habitual to my left eye and try to make contact with another's left eye I can not do it as nearly as easy as it should be. I do not want to find the eye immediately. Somehow the scan of the left side of the face becomes incomplete. I can hear the words being said but with less comprehension as I try to maintain the attention in my left eye connection.  Some people look to have close to equal expressive ability in both sides of their faces others not so much.

Another factor that I find amazing is now that I am using and feeling the musculature sub-lingually on the left I cannot imagine how I could not feel the force and strength that they have. I believe that I kept them always contracted to a degree to make the complicated movements on the right side easier. Yet I could swallow, talk, breathe and make an ass of myself quite easily.

I have read that there is no little man inside our heads that previews our conscious thought. However I can focus my attention on my left hand ,eye or tongue. Once a new movement understanding takes place there is a greater ease in repeating if my attention has been focused on the subtle change in completing the task. Learning seems to happen more when I pay attention but there are times when things have just seemed to have soaked in.

Just a link

Opening my mouth

Just paying attention on how I open my mouth. My habitual is to do it from the right side perspective. It was impossible for me to sense that until relatively recently. My movement 'image' only included the right side.When I include an active image of the left side in that image there is a much different feel of the left jaw. It is almost as if I opening against more resistance but somehow more 'correct'.  There is a cooperation in the muscles and structures.  

I do not know what other people do but I imagine there is a wide spectrum of movement 'images'.

Left eye head dominance

Playing with the left eye and what I believe to be the left tongue I am getting a different feel of the use of my head. The left eye position feels to be different than my habitual. I think I tend to let the left eye drift out to the left and now somehow it seems more centered when it appears to take over my heads postural musculature. There is a tightness that spreads over the left side of the face, neck,throat and tongue with a different activation of the muscles related to the left clavicle and shoulder blade.

It is easier for the left eye to achieve the above when I close my right eye but it is far more involved than just closing the right eye. I don't feel like I have it completely 'left' yet.

The amount of information

Watching the talking heads on the tube and shifting back and forth between the left and right half of people I am viewing, I get much more information from the right side of their heads than the left.  My habitual is to see the right side as the side that is talking to me.  My right eye crosses my midline easily to make the connection with their right eye. When I make the conscious shift to put my attention in my left eye and cross my midline and shift it to their left eye my tendency is to check back to their right eye to gain more clues.

Putting my attention in my left eye and letting it cross my midline feels to give an immediate subtle difference in the musculature engaged in head posture.  I am trying consciously to accentuate that feel. On occasion it feels like I am switching from right side musculature dominated mode to a left side dominated use of my head.

Give a man a remote

Functional illusion

I grew up with a TV. In order to change the channels one had to get up and turn the prominent knobs below the tube.  My dad often sat three feet away from the TV to be able to change the channel frequently.  As remotes have evolved the sets have changed appearance. I no longer have to leave the couch to change the channel unless I can not find the remote.  The TV knobs no longer exist.  Disappeared by their functional irrelevance.

Functional Illusion

It was more functional for me to perceive just one tongue instead of two tongues.  Not being that intelligent it has taken me a long time to come to this conclusion. In order to feel the left tongue I first had to differentiate the left tongue from the right tongue.
Try this

I was at the time just trying to find the cause of  why there was a discrepancy in the way my head rolled to the left than the right. It is difficult to learn on how to use the left tongue,throat,eye,face and lips in the task of speech but they each have a contribution. Why would have I needed to learn the same tasks twice in life?

However it is still an illusion that the right side needs to dominate with the left subordinate. The left side can be the originator of the muscular pattern of my speech.

Why do elephants have trunks?

Unconditional Love

Unconditional Love

Some connections but nothing on suggesting left right division.  Earlier link to Harlow

Your left eye

Proximal distal rehash

In physical rehab therapy often a discussion centers around proximal and distal neuromuscular function. In my attempts to eat with the left hand using a fork the difficult part for me is when I get the fork near my mouth. It is not the left hand that is the problem.  The way I habitually use my shoulder girdle is reversed. The closer I get to my mouth with the food the more I do the opposite of what I intend. In order to get the fork to my mouth with the left I need retract the right scapular to a more stabilized position and protract (extend) the left scapular. That is the opposite of what I do habitually.

hyoid tongue musculature

It feels more and more that the hyoid moves the deep musculature for the tongue. The sensation of that area lies at the origin of the airway in my throat.  It's not that I am relearning the distal movements of the left tongue so much as the proximal origins.

Time Article There is no brain divison.

there is no right brain left brain divide

Stepping back a minute if one has a stroke one can clearly see divisions in the brain based on deficits presented. Often when a person has a stroke they are often unable to use an effected limb based on the contralateral brain injury. It seems more pertinent to me to say there is a dominant subordinate relationship that is expressed as one functionally.

In throwing a ball with my non dominant left arm what I have found it is not so much what the left arm needs to do to coordinate the throw but what the right arm needs to give up. Both sides work together to throw with the right arm but the final distal element of wrist hand fingers have a fine motor control role that is not comparable with the left hand. In throwing with the left arm I have to reverse the stabilization of my left shoulder to my right side allowing more freedom of scapular movement on the left. The fine motor control seems comparatively easier to achieve than the giving up of the habitual.

To use my left tongue musculature proximal to the hyoid bone I first have differentiate it  from the muscles on the right. Playing with them now I do not feel there is a comparable fine motor control on the left and right side, I think the left side can at least partially gain the fine motor control that will be expressed in speech with the left tongue.

It  feels to me that I never made left eye to left eye contact but would use the right eye to establish contact with another's right eye (Easy test -close your right eye and use your left eye to see another's left eye. Switch back and forth between your eyes taking time to feel what you do normally as you converse. On a simpler level interlock your fingers in a folded position then switch so the opposing index finger is on the outside. Which is more familiar? Can you feel a connection to your shoulders' position?) Where I think I used my left eye normally was in an unfocused way to the right side of a person's head. Now using my left eye to connect with someone else's left eye often gives me another perspective on that person. It is again harder to give up the habitual than it would seem. It feels almost if I am blind to a certain extent of seeing that person expressed on the left side of their head. I have to work hard at maintaining eye contact and even harder to understand what I see.

I am not saying lefties or righties are more creative or analytic but that there is a difference in perspective on how my I use my left and right side. I suspect that my discrepancy lies within a broad spectrum as compared to others.

Left tongue too recap

I learned to use my head growing up in a right sided dominant way. My impression of the left side is that it took a subordinate passive role. I am unclear if it learned to be that way to support the right side dominance or just never developed. Might be a combination of both. Like a elephant's trunk lateralization the complex task of communication which is much more than words was dominated by the right side. This includes the ability to see, read and mimic the facial musculature control of others. I feel this was so dominant in me the left side ability did not develop to recognize the cues of communication and adopted the subordinate role to the right. After being introduced to the The Feldenkrais Method I pursued the discrepancy of my left and right sides and came up with the conclusion that my right tongue dominates my perception so much that I do not perceive the left tongue as existing. Instead my learned understanding up to recently was that I have one tongue with two sides as opposed to two tongues with a shared middle side. I feel the lack of my ability to perceive and read the left side of others faces is the main contributing factor of the right side of face/head/tongue/neck/eye dominance which has a great influence on the rest of the right side body dominance.

I believe my left tongue/ face/ throat/ head can develop but it is a case of first differentiating the left and right sides and also the ability to perceive that I see a persona on other's left side to communicate to.

re link

http://mylefttonguetoo.blogspot.com/2012/12/differentiating-head-and-jaw.html

The musculature on the left side of my head is acquiring a different feel. Possibly the ability to relax. Inhibition of not needed contraction is often a higher state of learning than always engaged musculature. To be able turn on and off when needed defines coordination. It is obvious that my left side as a whole is not coordinated as my right. I always assumed that I controlled and coordinated the left side of my head. It is becoming more apparent that my assumption was not right. I may never equalize the two but I may be able to improve on what I am already doing.

Functional pyschopath and dysfunctional empath

the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath

Interesting article. I have never had a brain scan but I imagine I tend toward the dysfunctional empath as opposed to the functional sociopath.  Or maybe just completely Bozo

the-hardwired-difference-between-male-and-female-brains-could-explain-why-men-are-better-at-map-reading-8978248.html


neurosexism?

Postural shift

In order for me to connect left eye to left eye and see the persona manifested in the other person on the left there is a subtle postural shift that seems to happen. Instead of my usual left side slightly pulled back and contracted to allow the right side of my head, face, eye, tongue and trunk more freedom the opposite is beginning to show. It feels to originate in my left eye position.  In trying to establish the left eye connection as people are coming down the path at me I often cannot imagine the persona existing on the left side of their head. It feels like I almost switch a lens and once I see/recognize a persona a spontaneous smile can break out on the left side of my face. It seems that the recognition of a personality allows the relaxation. When I check my posture at that time I get the feeling that my left side is put in the slight position of advantage (greater freedom of movement) and the right side more contracted (greater stabilization platform).

smile

Tjeerd Andringa, Associate Professor in Auditory Cognition Interview with James Corbett

Tjeerd Andringa, Associate Professor in Auditory Cognition Interview

Authority and Agency as concepts

Left and right brain hemisphere debate from a geopolitical perspective. It ties in to my thinking but I am not willing to make the jump to geopolitics yet. I do agree with many of the issues discussed. I am mainly focused on getting my left tongue to cross the midline as easily as my right tongue which I feel links in how I perceive others.

Initiating communication with the left side of my head

I am trying to initiate communication with the left side of my head as I talk. The usual way my left side seems to operate is in a passive subordinate way to the right side of my head. It feels like there is some action on the facial muscles on the left but initiated and more pronounced on the right. I can make the facial expressions start on the left but it appears to fatigue easily and it is like I am trying push the musculature through mush. When I try to initiate communication with the left side of my head (tongue,face and eye) I can do it poorly but the right side is held in a almost flaccid position. It suggests a couple of things to me. In normal right sided speech my left side has learned a little but is largely subordinate. In the left sided speech the only way I can do it is for the right side to give up it's dominant pattern at this point.

Tight jaw mussels

I am getting the feeling that I do not know how to operate my jaw. I have always had a borderline TMJ problem. My jaw has often locked, popped and with some minor bouts of pain on the left. It feels like when I try to operate my jaw (open my mouth) I do it from the right side perspective. The left side is operated poorly. Almost like it does not really understand how to open.

I am just starting to get a different perspective where I include an active engagement and relaxation of the left as I open it. Watching Sinead sing Sweet Molly Malone I am focusing on the left side of her face. Often when she sings the words 'alive alive o' she emphasizes the tongue movement. Trying to get my left tongue to follow her movements seems be influencing how I am perceiving to open my jaw on the left. There is a relaxation of the 'mussels' on the left side that I appear to carry unnecessarily tight.  They lay outside of my usual movement awareness picture.

Most people do not have TMJ so it seems reasonable if I am correct that most people do not have my problem. They include in their image of how to open their jaws a more 'normal' bilateral action

After playing with my left tongue sometimes there is a moderate amount of discomfort which can last for awhile. Ibuprofen often helps

Squinching?

Squinching

If I tried to squinch I think more people would feel that I had to go to the bathroom than any deep sultry emotion. Some of the results in the photos are impressive. It is amazing what I read in others eyes. It is subjective and I make it a point to look at the left eye first so I am unclear of how I would see the pictures normally. What I think I would have done is mainly focus on the right eye and the left eye kept somewhat on my periphery. Seen but unfocused on.

Danny & Molly

Been watching Sinnead O Connor sing in Danny Boy & Molly Malone. I have been focusing on the area of the lips/tongue/cheek on the left and trying to have my left lips/tongue/cheek initiate the movement. If I try to initiate the movement on my left side it is not the same as how I usually pronounce words. In fact I do not know how but it is interesting to watch my attempts. There is an almost reflective contraction in my musculature on the left as I watch her. (I watch with my right eye closed)

It again suggests to me the discrepancy of left and right is not completely innate but more learned behavior.

Danny boy

Anticipation

I am getting better at seeing a persona on the left side of a person. It feels like my usual is to anticipate the persona I relate too is right sided. They may be left handed/sided but there is a postural adjustment as if they are right handed/sided. If I anticipate a persona as being left handed /sided there is a postural shift within myself. I never could feel any of this until recently. It happened below my level of awareness.

The evil left eye

Often I try to see a newscaster's on TV left eye with my left eye. It is not as easy as it sounds for me as often I look at forehead first then below the eye next then by the nose and finally the eye. I am trying to get to the eye but it is almost as if I do not want to see it. There is something scary to me about the left eye to left eye connection..

A couple of clips. the first is from the movie The Natural at the 29 second mark Darren McGavin's character uses his left eye to see the future/present in a supernatural way.

Gus Sand the gambler's left eye

In the Harry Potter series Mad Moody's eye is not as scary because of it's over artificiality but still I am reluctant to make the connection especially with my left eye.

Mad Moody's left eye

Playing with my left eye in a way where I try to connect with another's left eye and then including my left tongue I get a stronger feel that I can use the left side of my head in a non-subordinated way to my right side. It is not my normal use of my head.


Darren McGavin head crop

Left nostril smells bull

Nick Brown smelled bull

I still cannot control my left tongue which always makes me wonder if I am bullshitting myself. I feel like I can talk and sing with it. It changes the dynamics of how I use my head musculature in a way I never felt before becoming aware of it.  I am seeing the left eye and face of people when I talk to them while using my left eye to make the connection and see on occasion a persona on the left. It is very easy for me to see a persona on the right side of others that I can read and relate to but on the left I almost have to imagine a persona before I can see it. There are many time I just see the left eye devoid of a personality. I am not clear whether I don't see a persona or many have a deficit of their own on the left.

Maybe I should just work on my sense of smell with my left nostril.

Mirror twins

Mirror twins

Played golf  with a guy who has a mirror identical twin. I never heard of it before but it is fairly common. It would seem to tend to indicate a different cause of handedness than I am suggesting. His features are a mirror to his brother. From the link

• 20% of all identical twin pairs have one right handed twin and one left handed.

DNA double take

Worth a read but different idea

Old friends I never met

I have had recently two one occasions where I have run into people after my connecting with my left eye to their left eye have thought I was someone else. They have started talking to me as if we were old friends. On the first occasion there seem to be a need to correct the person that she did not know me. She stared in surprise at me for a minute then realized she was mistaken. Another gentleman also started a conversation as we were old friends.  There seem to be no immediate cause  to interrupt and in a way it felt rude of me to correct his misperception.  I let the conversation go on longer than it should but it was very friendly so hopefully no major faux pas was committed.

I think in both cases they were other factors than the left eye connection in their misidentification but my sense is it that it helped seal the deal.

Differences in the wag of a dog

tail wagging the dog?

"The direction of tail wagging does in fact matter, and it matters in a way that matches hemispheric activation," says Giorgio Vallortigara of the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences of the University of Trento. "In other words, a dog looking to a dog wagging with a bias to the right side—and thus showing left-hemisphere activation as if it was experiencing some sort of positive/approach response—would also produce relaxed responses. In contrast, a dog looking to a dog wagging with a bias to the left—and thus showing right-hemisphere activation as if it was experiencing some sort of negative/withdrawal response—would also produce anxious and targeting responses as well as increased cardiac frequency. That is amazing, I think."

dogs-familiar-images

Follow up article LA Times

Lefties More Likely To Suffer Schizophrenia?

Abstract

The human brain develops asymmetrically, such that certain cognitive processes arise predominantly from the left or right side. It has been proposed that variations in this laterality contribute to certain forms of mental illness, such as schizophrenia. A convenient measure of brain laterality is hand dominance, and prior work has found that patients with schizophrenia are more likely to be left-handed than the general population. This finding is not consistent, however, and fewer studies have directly compared handedness between psychiatric diagnoses. We assessed hand dominance in 107 patients presenting to an outpatient psychiatric clinic with diagnoses of a mood or psychotic disorder. The prevalence of left-handedness was 11% for mood disorders, which is similar to the rate in the general population. It was 40% in those with psychotic disorders (adjusted odds ratio = 7.9, p < .001). The prevalence of left-handedness was much higher in psychotic disorders compared with mood disorders in this community mental health sample.

Just a link. 

Unactivated left side of my face.

Walking the bike path today again with my wife. It is becoming more and more clear that my normal way I use the left side of my head (face.eye,tongue,etc) is to keep it passive and subservient to the right side of my head. I can now allow a softening of my left eye as it meets another persons left eye. I believe I can activate my left tongue in speech. My left side of head and neck was essentially undifferentiated from my right side in normal use. My use of the left side of my head face and tongue is still no where near the competence that I use the right but I am now aware of the discrepancy. Years ago I was not even aware there was a discrepancy. I believed this was how I used my head and it was the only way possible to use it..

My sense is this developed from how I perceived and mimicked others as I grew up.

Defining where my left tongue is

It feels more and more where I identify where my tongue is in my mouth is by the right side of the tongue. The left side of the tongue appears to be determined by the right side in a negative sense. Part of my difficulty of getting the left tongue to move may be is that I am not identifying the left tongue accurately in my attempts to move it. My play with the left tongue left eye "synergy"  (I tend to dislike that word) seems to be getting stronger. I can see the left side of another's face with the sense that there is a persona behind the left eye/face.  It is a new skill something that was impossible for me in the past. It seems to bring changes in how I able to communicate and my perception of the left tongue.

Anxiously reading faces

Study Anxiety,Face reading and Trusting

I am high on the anxiety type guy  however when I try to relate with my left eye to other's left eye I am often surprised by the seemingly "niceness" of the people I make contact with. There have been occasions I make contact with the dominant male type on their left with my left eye and get a very friendly smile. My feeling is that I would not have been able to make that contact with my right eye. My sense it has a great deal to due with my own anxiety. I perceive the dominant male types as potential threats when they are probably not.

I am still playing with the left tongue and trying to see a person on the left side of face. There are actually a few times where I see/imagine a persona on the left side of others. It is more difficult than it would seem as my overwhelming tendency is to identify the persona on the right side then switch to the left consciously and try to identify what I see.

Conception

It feels like the act of seeing a persona on their left eye/face leaves an echo that conceives the process in me. I am a reflection of my conception of others.

Shaking hands with the wrong eye

The feeling that I am using the musculature of the left tongue and side of face in a new way continues but not so significant where I am sure I am not misinterpreting things.  Often when walking on trail I am continuing to try to connect left eye to left eye with others as they pass in a very positive way.  Some people just stare stonily ahead. Others connect with the left eye. Many seem to notice with the left eye and then switch to make the connection with the right eye.  As if that is not the left eye'e job and if they are going to say'hello' the right eye (left hemisphere) needs to be charge.  My offering of my left eye is almost like offering the left hand to shake. It is simply not done that way unless one's right hand is carrying something.

It tends to reinforce my belief the eye/tongue connection is related to the development of the speech lateralization of the hemispheres.

Mood enhancement

Did the morning trail after a week off this morning. I did not feel like pushing it hard but I am walking a little faster.  The weekends are when the crowds are there training for marathons.  I am trying to connect on the left side with my left side of face and eye as we walk by the runners and walkers coming in the opposite direction.. I am trying to be empathetic, accepting and good willed with the musculature on the left side of my face. In so doing my mood improves.

There is a difference with initiating the musculature on my left side of face than my right. It has a connection to the way I use my whole left side.

Nothing new

Still playing with what I feel to be the 'left tongue' even though it may not be the 'left tongue'.

Nothing new

Leftistic

Just watched a interview on TV with a Mom of a autistic child.  I was watching both sides of her face and in comparison to many people in my view she was remarkably expressive on both sides.. She made a point that autism is mostly about communication deficits. That the child does not make the connection to the parents or others.

Creating autistic monkeys

I am wondering if my left side is somewhat similar to autism. I cannot easily imagine/connect to the persona of a person on the left side. I think I fall in the normal range and the issue is undoubtedly far more complex than I am suggesting. If my sense of the Mom above is correct then that further weakens my ideas. However I believe my favoritism of my right side to the neglect of my left is that it is connected in the way I relate to others.

Danny boy

Danny boy

Nice version of Danny boy by Sinead O Connor.  As I tend not to relate to the left side of the face with right side of her face in the dark I think I tend to listen to the sound of her voice more than if the right side of her face was lit.

However it is a good video for me to watch if I am trying to see the left side as part of someone to relate to. There is a different feel on the left side of my face as I try to read her left side of face. It takes effort on my part to imagine a personality behind the beauty of her face and song while I watch.

PS

After watching some more with my right eye shut and looking for the persona on the left I am struck by the size of my deficit in being able to see her manifested in the left side of her face.

Sweet Molly Malone

Another song with a nice close up where on a few occasions I can actually imagine a persona on the left that I relate to. Almost like for my left side to develop I need the perception of another person on their left side for it to start.

Am I wrong about the 'left tongue'?

I feel the musculature under the tongue which I believe to be the extrinsic muscles in a way that I never did before.  There is a differentiation between the left and right musculature and I can ask one side to contract and the other to relax. It feels like I usually keep the left side more contracted than the right. Feeling these muscles move and relax independently may have given me the feeling of having a 'left tongue' but when I move to the intrinsic tongue musculature and surface of the tongue,  I am not as clear with the differentiation of the left and right. In other words I may be wrong about the idea of the 'left tongue'. I still cannot get what I feel to be the left tongue to move in a way that says I am doing what I think I am doing. I have delayed posting this as it is somewhat embarrassing even though there is a high possibility that the only person reading this is myself.  I keep playing with what feels to be the left tongue but when I check it by moving the tongue normally the locations do not line up. I am not totally convinced I am wrong. I am planning on to keep on playing with my possible non existent 'left tongue' and see where it leads.

Eye to eye

Walking on the trails again. I have been observing the left eye and face of others as we pass on the right. The feeling that I do not really see the left side of face spontaneously or even relate to that side as being a person seems more and more self evident. On the surface it would seem easy to differentiate what I am doing. The assumption I always have had was of course I relate to a person as a left and right side. The reality is I do not. I see the right side as the person I relate to.  I do not think this is true of everyone but again I think I fall in a normal range. I may look at the left side of ten people's face and only get the gestalt of one as a individual personality. Even though I am looking at the left my prejudice is that right side is the "person". It is much harder for me than it would seem to be.

It feels like this is the basis for my right handedness and the dominance of the right tongue. There is a strong connection of my left tongue and left eye but I am unclear to the origin or mechanics. Spontaneous movement of one feels to be reflected in the other. The movements feel foreign, somewhat spastic, limited in control but more powerful in the limited range than would seem possible because if I switch back to the normal 'right' side control they cease to exist.

I'm the bigggest clown

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2013/08/the-only-thing-youll-ever-need/

Full of bunk

One half the brain not stronger than the other

The report in the news of the study does suggest some lateralization in speech. However the tone of the report is somewhat at odds with what I think I am feeling and saying. The way I use the left tongue face and eye feels dramatically different than I do with the right.  My guess is the study's author would suggest that I am full of bunk at best

For the dogs a smile

I grew up without a dog in the family. Dogs to me as a kid were things that went psycho as I tried to deliver the paper. Many people used dogs to guard their property and some let them run wild in the neighborhood. I liked the dogs that were friendly but was afraid of most. I learned to relate to dogs better after we got one for our daughter.

Many people walking on the trails have the dogs on leash. I find myself looking and smiling at the dogs from a distance. Somehow after looking at the left side of peoples faces I tend to relate to the dogs better. I see them as individuals with distinct personalities instead of just a dog.  Smiling at other people's dog often engages the people walking them. It goes unsaid but somehow a revelation to me the almost unconscious signals that I send other people influences how they relate to me.

Dufnering

In homage

How to sit correctly

How to hit correctly

Do I keep posting?

Do I give up on the left tongue?

Went for a walk on the trail again last night.  Trying to connect and read the left side of the people we (wife and I) met coming down the trail. At a long distance I have very little clue by observing the left eye and face who they are or what they are feeling. My sense by observing the right side I can come to some sort of conclusion even though I may be wrong. At a certain point some people react to my 'left smile' and then I see them in a sense come alive for me on the left side of their face.

Many people are exercising, talking or engrossed in their own thoughts so it is difficult/useless to make generalizations about others but I can observe my own perceptions and easily jump to the not 'right' conclusion. The way I relate to others has an immense influence on my posture and the use of my head, spine etc..  I am in a sense one sided because I see others as one sided.

I do not know of anyone else talking about this. I may be wrong but I will keep exploring it, playing with my 'left tongue' while wandering down the 'sinister' path of life.

Serious doubt

Still cannot move the 'left tongue' across the midline. It is creating serious doubt about my ideas and thinking.
There is a great possibility I am simply wrong about everything. .

Back to back

Back of tongues

In the view of the tongue linked above I am looking at the root or back of tongue looking forward. The tongue lies above the epiglottis. It is always surprising to me how thick it is.  I can see the greater cornu of the hyoid peaking out on the left side at the same height as mid epiglottis in this view.  My understanding is that when I swallow the hyoid elevates and the epiglottis closes over the glottis preventing food from entering the airway.

I am trying to have the left tongue move forward relax and hollow while having the right tongue harden and come back. In doing so I feel the musculature and structures of the anterior throat trying to mirror the action. In the back I can feel changes all the way down the posterior spine to the pelvis. It feels like the use of my spine is a reflection of my tongues.

Left side face discount

Walking on the bike path today. Weather was great. I am trying to see other peoples and relate to other people's left side of face from a fairly good distance away. Even though I am deliberately trying to look only at the left side of people's face, my tendency is to see only the right side. A person may be thirty yards out and I am already reading who they are based on what I see only on their right side. I discount the left side almost if it is not human or that it does not exist. I relate to others only as a half person. I have to deliberately try and scan the left side and almost guess what I do naturally in seeing the right.

I believe I am originating a 'left' smile better than I ever have and it occasionally shocks me how much better some people relate to it. More than once I have been surprised at the friendliness of a person that I do not think I would have made a connection with before if I was only showing my usual 'right' smile.

Unintelligent that's what I am

Unforgettable again

When I look at Nat's face his left side appears to me to be the better looking more expressive side when he sings. When he talks in the beginning I get a sense that it is right side dominated and he starts to move into his left with the song.  All very subjective and speculative on my part. However to say there is a discrepancy in the sides of his face is less speculative. In my own face I have difficulty in using the left side in a differentiated pattern from the right. I cannot use the musculature of the left side of face without paying much more attention.  I do not think it is just a matter of habit. My left side of face in expressing emotion is in a sense not as intelligent as my right side (opposite cerebral hemisphere).  I think this under use can be improved.and has a larger impact on posture than can be appreciated than just by a non-active understanding.

One sided

A major problem with my idea that my tongue is right side dominated is that I can move it normally and that I feel the left side. My tongue does not deviate but would if there was a lesion in either the innervation or the brain. It leaves me to conclude that there is something in the tongue structure that allows it to be dominated by one side though it needs the other side to be innevated normally with the abilty to contract and relax.

Elephant trunks, monkey tails seem to have those characteristics and when they specialize with complex tasks one side of the brain seems to dominate.

http://mylefttonguetoo.blogspot.com/2013/07/of-trunks-tails-and-tongues.html

So what?

Even if I am speaking with two tongues or both hemispheres of my brain so what?  For the amount of effort and time there seems to be remarkably little benefit.  There may be specific areas in physical and rehab therapy that have a slight possibility of translating to someone else but it seems impossible for most to pay attention to the minutiae that I have played with.  Adding to that the large possibility it is a wild goose chase why would anyone in their right mind persist?

I do think I am correct. Playing with the left tongue this morning the left side of my neck relaxed briefly in a way that it has never done before. It felt like both the anterior and posterior sides were balanced including the right left components. By relaxing the left tongue the engagement of musculature not needed in the neck paused.

However, so what?

Can I be bi-hemispheric in speech?

I think I can. I believe I am. I believe I am using the left tongue to talk when I want. The right tongue is my normal and habitual but I feel I can switch between the two fairly rapidly,  I am unclear where the ideas for the words are originated. I may mechanically be using the left tongue but unable to generate the thinking in words in my right hemisphere.  If I had to bet on it I would say that I can speak without the left hemispheric input..

I feel my speech was largely learned through mimicking from the connections I made with my parents. I learned to connect to the right eye with the feedback of them talking mainly to my right eye. However once the process was started my left tongue became undifferentiated from my right tongue. By the time I started talking I feel I only perceived I had one tongue' one chin,one throat, my right side dominating with my left side subordinate. 

How did Michelle's brain learn to switch the speech centers to her right hemisphere? If Michelle can learn to use the right hemisphere why can't I? I believe the answer lies in my perception of how I relate to others and the sense of having a separate left tongue/face/throat to use. 

Pretty wacky ideas from a guy who barely communicate normally.

The sissy bar in my throat

I am trying to have the left side of the hyoid bone come forward as I stick out my left tongue. It is an interesting area to play with as it seems so intimate.  I am trying to ask for a lengthening and relaxation of the area between the left side of throat and under chin as I push out my 'left' tongue. It feels like I keep the right side more lengthened and relaxed while the the left contracted and small.  I am trying to have the right side contract while the left lengthens but my tendency seems to be engage the left side first in a stabilization kind of feeling that negates the right side contraction.

Or it all just may be a cognitive bias on my part with no reference to reality.

The sissy bar in my throat

Hyoid bone

Twisted to the left

In recent play with my left tongue there is increased cooperation with the musculature of the left side of head, face, neck and throat.  It feels like I 'fixed' these structures in place so that I would be able to express and read emotions with my right side. The right eye was in a slight position of dominance with my left eye almost held out to the left. It feels like my head was twisted slightly to the left in order to facilitate the right sided dominance. The slight twist of the head is immediately translated to the spine and then pelvis with slight engagement backwards on the left. There is a nice sense of relaxation on the left erector spinae when I let my left tongue relax/ push? forward. It is not something that I can maintain as I tend to go back into my familiar right side dominated mode with a slight drop in my attention to my left tongue. My right side moves into the position of dominance very quickly as it is who I am. It is how I related to the world for over a half century and most likely will to continue be the more natural way I engage my environment.

Brain lateralization.

http://mimh.edu/Portals/0/SampleChapterLateralizationofCerebralFunctions.pdf

No talk of a left tongue or relating to the right eye but a good read on brain lateralization. A quick excerpt.

"Equipotentiality, most clearly attributed to Lenneberg (1967), portrays the cerebral hemispheres of the brain as having equal potential in the development of functional specialization for language. Although this is an appealing notion, neurophysiological differences between hemispheres (Molfese et al., 1975; Wada et al., 1975) and early neuroanatomical differences limit its explanatory power. Of course, rejection of the notion of early equal potential of hemispheres does not rule out the possibility that functional lateralization is a progressive, developmental process.

The extent to which functions are progressively lateralized to cerebral hemispheres is still a matter of controversy (Kinsbourne, 1975; Satz, 1976). Cerebral lateralization has been portrayed to follow patterns similar to that for the development of numerous psychological functions (Bruner, 1974; Piaget, 1952). From this point of view, the functional lateralization of hemispheres is seen to follow a progressive pattern of consolidation of functions corresponding to the child’s neurological development (e.g., Dean, 1985a; Satz et al., 1975). Although arguments favoring early specific specialization continue (Kinsbourne, 1975), a large corpus of data exists supporting developmental progression in the lateralization of functions (see Dean, 1985a). While left hemisphericasymmetries related to language are present at birth, further research has demonstrated that language may still develop normally in children who sustain a unilateral lesion in the left hemisphere (Dean &Anderson, 1997). Neuroimaging studies have postulated two sides to the development or presence of functional lateralization such that language is either bilaterally organized at birth and becomes specializedto the left hemisphere or language is localized to the left hemisphere at birth (Balsamo et al., 2002; Booth et al., 2001)."

Half a brain

Rewired Link is gone

Rewired same story without video

Nice short video of a gal who probably had a stroke in the womb which led to a major impairments.
It is incredible what she was able to accomplish. The family support was probably the key to her gaining the function that she has.

Her gait does not seem that abnormal. On the stairs it is more pronounced.  I do not know if she uses orthotics. What I find amazing is that she can walk at all. It is interesting that the Doc suggested that she may have gained certain functions at the expense of others.  There may have been a trade off between analytic/movement functions and emotional/understanding control.

Her speech seems only slightly impaired. She is missing her left cortex where usually the speech centers are. She appears to be using her the left side and mirroring the movements partially with the right when she talks. I feel when I talk my right side dominates with my left badly imitating. As far as I know I do not have only a half a brain but I am wondering if my left hemisphere is asserting more control in the function of speech than a strict wiring to the right side of my face,tongue, throat, and eye. In essence does the function of speech dominate my structures over time?

Efficient dominatrix communication

Have been playing with my left tongue and even though I cannot control it well,  it feels as if the one sided lateralization is an adaptation to my environment. I have linked these articles below several times.  They do not say what I am feeling or come close to my conclusion.  I believe I picked up the traits of a rightie in my lifetime from my relatively recent play with my left tongue.  I do not think I will be ever achieve a parity in the use of my left and right side or even come close. However my paying attention to the movements of my left side face, throat, eye and tongue suggest to me it is underuse and non differentiation more than something innate. The under representation of left side(right hemisphere) is more due to the efficiency of right sided dominance in our society. I believe it comes from how I learned to connect and communicate with others.

Lefties

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Lefties have always been a bit of a puzzle. Representing only 10 percent of the general human population, left-handers have been viewed with suspicion and persecuted across history. The word “sinister” even derives from “left or left-hand.”

Two Northwestern University researchers now report that a high degree of cooperation, not something odd or sinister, plays a key role in the rarity of left-handedness. They developed a mathematical model that shows the low percentage of lefties is a result of the balance between cooperation and competition in human evolution.

Trunk to mouth

Of trunks, tails and tongues

Grew up in New York. One had to talk fast or was considered slow. First job in Oregon after college had to learn to talk a little slower so not to appear as rude. My left tongue is currently much slower than my right tongue in trying to shape the sounds for words. Was my right dominated tongue 100 percent lateralized in speech previously?  I believe so, I am feeling movements in the left tongue that I never did before.

trunk to mouth

In a subsequent analysis, Martin and Niemitz timed the elephants' feeding and found that those who preferred to reach and retrieve from one side of their mouths were up to 0.7 seconds faster at eating than more ambidextrous animals....

The only other study from the literature of comparative psychology or biology looking at an unpaired grasping organ, says Martin, reported an even stronger side preference in a very different animal: spider monkeys. The research, conducted by Laska and published in Cortex (Vol. 34, No. 1), found that when captive adult monkeys reach for raisins with their tails, they curl their tails around the food in the same direction 100 percent of the time.

"We found some of the strongest lateralization ever recorded" in monkeys, Laska notes.

Why do elephants have trunks?

A: Because they would look silly with glove compartments.

Used to love elephant jokes as a kid.

If we specialize with our hands do we with our tongues?  The intricacies of communication probably match anything out there in terms of specialization. Cut to video of cute baby elephant.

How do I drink with this thing


Trunk to mouth

"There should be no advantage at all for preferring one hand or one foot because our world demands from us that both sides should be able to perform manipulations equally well," says Matthias Konstantin Laska, PhD, a biologist at the University of Munich who studies side preferences in new world monkeys. For example, a monkey grabbing for a banana would benefit from being able to choose the hand closest to the food, he notes. Additionally, localization of an ability to a particular area of the brain means an animal is more vulnerable to having that skill knocked out by a stroke or brain damage, notes Franziska Martin, PhD, a biologist at the Free University in Berlin.

Such apparent disadvantages to side preferences, notwithstanding, new research on elephants by Martin suggests there are also some benefits. She finds that limiting precise movements to one side of the body--and subsequently one-half of the brain--may lead to better muscular control, leaving the ambidextrous with less dexterity than animals who specialize.

Yeah Phil

Phil wins the British open

After last month's lost to a Brit in the US Open Phil takes the Open Championship after winning the Scottish Open last week. It was a tough loss and now a great win.

Phil

PaRTY ON gARTH

Cheerfully left

I am trying to do a little more exercise and increase the distance that I walk on the bike trails. The trails are being used heavily which is good.  Many running clubs have sprung up to help people train for marathons. They try and make it a positive experience for all in the group.  It looks like a great way to train as everyone wants the best for everyone else. Most of the runners are very friendly saying hello cheerfully.  I have been working on initiating a smile with my left eye/face and trying to connect with the runners left eye as I say hello.

I seem to be a little better on being able to express emotion with left eye /face than before.  I believe the right eye/face was always my normal way in connecting with someone else.   I still have a lack of coordination/intelligence in my use of musculature in the left eye/face.  I can read the cheerfulness in other peoples left eye//face fairly well but it is still weird to me that it has been a blind spot my whole life. There is a difference in the feeling of saying hello with the left side.  I believe the association of the left eye is related to the use of my left tongue. The inability to use my the musculature of the left eye/face/tongue is reflected throughout my body. I have a strong suspicion that it is the origin of the dominance of the right side in comparison to the left.  Almost like the conscious control never had a chance on the left side of myself to develop parity to the right side by how I related to others.

Harm 2

Working in a hospital I would on the rare occasion run into a family member who gave me the feeling that they were drowning. The implication was from the staff that the problem was either of the patients doing or the family.  I felt there was a different dynamic than the usual sorrow, grief, anger and overwelmededness. The sense they did not know where to turn because what they were saying was not believed. The interventions instead of helping often made the problems worse. Most of the time the hospital gets it right and by far the vast majority tries to do the best even if misguided but once started on the wrong path it is hard to correct.

Harm 1 Link may not be working

http://www.propublica.org/article/when-harm-in-the-hospital-follows-you-home

http://mylefttonguetoo.blogspot.com/2013/03/ot-post-when-harm-follows-you-home-from.html

From my wife's yearly letter from her endo

'She had classic lupus with rash..as well as probable lupus cerebritus...In retrospect I think her lymphocytic hypohysitis is part of this autoimmunity' 

Head to port and crabbing to starboard

My left tongue seems to continue to develop some more form.  Yesterday I had a increased sense that the hydrostatic nature of the tongue is important in being able to get my left tongue to move. My movements of my left tongue are still very tiny and spastic in comparison of what I can do normally in what I believe is in the right tongue dominated mode. There seems to be some spontaneous speech using the left tongue in which I am not trying to use it so much as it is used. However I am usually playing with it to some degree so it may be just that I was not paying attention to which tongue I was playing with at the time. In the left tongue mode there is an immediate sense of using my head and spine in a different way from my normal use. There is a hint of vulnerability as I am not getting everything correct. The musculature that connects to my left cervical spinal lateral processes feels somewhat confused in what to do. I think I am usually pulling back on the left so the right eye/side of face is more in the dominant forward position.

When I piloted a seagoing hopper dredge in a past lifetime I often had to point the bow ten to 15 degrees over to one side as the ship crabbed sideways down the channel to adjust for the current. It was important to not set down on the pipes that were on the bottom of the channel as the body of the ship could get over the draghead and damage the pipe. The ship would travel at only 1-2 knots while dredging. With a strong current that did not come straight down the channel on occasion I would have the opposite buoy on the wrong side of the ship's heading as I crabbed past it. It was usually a tricky situation with constant small adjustments to speed and heading compared to be able to dredge straight down the channel.  Playing with the left tongue feels like I am pointing my head directly ahead instead of slightly to port. Hopefully I will be able to head down my channel without crabbing to starboard (bow headed somewhat to port) as much as I often do.

Left me fix it for you

In walking during stance phase I stabilize on one leg so that the other leg can move through swing phase. It is not that all of the muscle groups in stance are fully contracted but if some are not fixed the gait is impaired. One muscle group is the hip abductors. If one side abductors do not contract one gets a fall of the pelvis on the opposing side.  Trendelenburg gait pattern.


During the stance phase, the weakened abductor muscles allow the pelvis to tilt down on the opposite side. To compensate, the trunk lurches to the weakened side to attempt to maintain a level pelvis throughout the gait cycle. 


In order to be able to clear the leg during swing on the strong side excessive movement has to be made to the weakened side in the trendelenburg gait.  During normal gait  I fix one set of hip abductors so the other leg can move.

If I am kicking a soccer ball ball I do not usuallly pay attention to the stance leg fixed muscualture but I am focused on the contact with the swing foot.  I position my body to get the best contact with the foot hitting the ball.  I feel something similar is going on in my tongues. I fix my left tongue/jaw/throat so my right tongue/etc has a better chance of sounding right. In order for me to talk my left tongue/etc knows it's job is to contract and to put the right in a better position. My left tongue plays a more subordinate fixed role for my right tongue.

Neoleftistic tongue

Neologism

In psychiatry, the term neologism is used to describe the use of words that have meaning only to the person who uses them, independent of their common meaning.^[7] This tendency is considered normal in children, but in adults can be a symptom of psychopathy^[8] or a thought disorder (indicative of a psychotic mental illness, such as schizophrenia).^[9] People with autism also may create neologisms.^[10] Additionally, use of neologisms may be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from a stroke or head injury

Why have I perceived I only have one tongue my whole life?  I think it is because that I use it as one tongue instead of two tongues co joined. The dominant right side became the proxy for the movement with the left adopting a subordinate passive role. If I think of my tongue as two hands clasped (as it must be as it is innervated that way) I can begin to ask the question, "am I moving the left tongue independent of the right?" My habitual is that I do not.

The bit between our teeth

Why would I develop the right side as the dominant tongue? Is it because I have to use the musculature of the right tongue in the dynamic patterns of speech? I can write with my left hand badly. I never attempt it because there is no need too. I write better with my right. It's a pain in the ass to write with the left hand. Can I speak with my left tongue badly? Before I can speak with it I have to differentiate it as my left tongue. Then I have to learn use my left tongue in a new way.

Is it a matter of consequence? Perhaps only to the twisted.

Habitually right

I am getting a strong sense that the use of my left tongue and my left eye are linked somehow. I do not understand the reason. However my left tongue feels like it depends on movement all the way down my left throat. As I try to get the left tongue to cross the midline my left throat and my left eye get involved. I can understand the muscles in the left throat region being involved but the left eye does not have the same physical connections. I am assuming it is more a habitual linking but that reasoning seems weak because I never knew I had a left tongue to move as far as my memory goes back. However the whole left side of my face can get involved with trying to move the left tongue as well. It points to a use of my left side that is foreign to the way I normally use it. That it can be equal to the right but is underdeveloped. I doubt that with my current age, intellect and habits that I can ever achieve a near parity, maybe some more symmetry at best. However it makes me doubt the idea of being "right handed". It feels more to be an adaptation of habits in response to the world.

Chaplin's Smile

I do not express or receive communication on the left side of my face the way I do the right. I think the right side initiates the movement and the left tries somewhat to reflect what the right is doing. When I try to smile my awareness is right side dominated and the left passive and not as complete in the movement. It is the lack of awareness and perception of the left that seems to be reflected in the way I use my left side of the rest of my body. I think it starts with the communication aspect and is reflected by the decreased functional use on the left along with the right side dominance.

Next time my left lower back hurts I will work on my left sided smile. Tongues firmly planted in cheeks.

Wingnut jackass flying in stormy weather

I cannot manipulate the left tongue as I do the right. Looking for reasons. Highest probability is that I am a wingnut jackass who is wrong about most things including my tongue. However I do feel I am getting some movement and believe I can use the left tongue in speech. The musculature of the left throat, tongue, face and jaw are moving in different patterns which they never did before.

Don't know why? I may need to take a Holiday from it.

Buy tongues

I have grown up with the view that I was right handed. It now appears to me that it is a false view. I could have been left handed also but the way I interacted with feedback from society led to my right handedness. I think I am not right handed as much as right tongued.

It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks because of the multitude of habitual responses. However  I believe  that I could become 'left tongued or at least bi-tongued if I keep at it. The feel of the left tongue gets stronger and stronger easier to access and I  perceive that I can use it in speech at will..

Still cannot move it across the midline without switching back to my normal right tongue mode. I have a sense it plays in with the dominant eye thingy. The difficulty may lie in the right giving up the position of dominance as much as the left acquiring it.

Seek and I shall find a headache

I had another splitting headache last night that I attributed to my play with the tongues. I have fifty years plus of moving the musculature one way with things in my head and now I am trying to do it in a different way. I believe there are many fascial structures throughout the skull that have been built up to support the habitual use of the muscular patterns in a right side dominated way.  I am now asking the left side to gain some independence and it is often not the most pleasant feeling in the world. Of course there could be other reasons for the headaches and there is a very probable chance I am wrong.

I can feel the left side musculature under the chin, throat, tongue, jaw and face in a way I never have. It feels like it is moving though mush with pulls on structures away from the point of movement. In a positive sense it is giving me a much different equal sense in the use of my spine. It feels like I have a more symmetrical sense of both sides instead of one back twisted in it's function.

Wearing out my left shoe

Just ate some toast. No problem using my tongue in my normal way. I can move the bolus around just like everyone else does. So I must have being using the musculature of the left side of the tongue my whole life. I don't know why there would be this discrepancy now in the feel of control when food is not present. It is more than that.  It is like the left side does not exist in terms of movement control in my understanding of the tongue. In a way similar to the way I see other peoples faces. The left side of their face is there but I don't see it unless I look for it but with the left tongue it had to be found.

The control of the left tongue immediately gives me as different sense in the feel of my spine. It becomes accessible for me on the left which is not my usual.  Almost if I did not develop a higher conscious control of my left side.  My right dominating so much that my movement picture is distorted. I not only go through life only seeing the right side of others but moving as though I have one side that tries to be in control of both. I have trouble maintaining a beat with my left hand, could not go to the left in basketball, but did have a decent left foot in soccer. I walk with a distinct inward rotation of my left hip with an excessive pronation of the ankle. I tend to go through shoes quickly with the left medial side breaking down often. I have worked on trying to correct it from both the ankle and hip perspective but it feels bigger than both. I doubt playing with the left tongue will correct it either but it points to a more systemic use of the left right relationship within myself.

I am making the assumption that many people do not have as large a left/right as discrepancy as me. That they could actually see the both sides of someone else's face and have developed a better use of their left side and may have a left tongue without looking for it. I could never curl my tongue (still can not). However I feel I am well in the range of normal in a right side dominated world. I am wondering if  the number of shoes I wear out if is more the factor of higher control of the left and not a matter of muscle imbalances in the hip and ankle.

Playing in way out right field

I do not feel I manipulate the shape of the left tongue as I do the right in speech. I think I maneuver the tongue as a whole based on the right in a positive sense (where it is) the left in a negative sense (will it get hurt there). When I am in left tongue mode I have very little sense of the right's position. Lingual experts are aware of Left Right asymmetries in the use of the tongue but seem to view the tongue as one tongue with two sides instead of two tongues co-joined. What I am saying does not make sense conventionally. I do not know what others are doing inside their mouths. I am making many unsupported assertions based on the discrepancies I feel in my left tongue/throat/face and right tongue/throat/face muscular use. There are times in playing with the left tongue the movements are very strong powerful and very strangely unfamiliar.


Left right asymmetry in use of the tongue


Lingual asymmetry is common in static postures (cf., Story et al., 1996, Stone and 
Lundberg, 1996) and in movements (Stone, 1990). LR asymmetry in tongue movement is 
especially apparent in repetitive tasks such as syllable repetition. Two reasons for LR asymmetry 
are biomechanical imprecision and purposeful rotation. We believe both effects occurred here as a result of rapid repetitive motion and coarticulatory accommodation. 

Tasting the sweetness of the sun

Even though I think I developed the right tongue to the exclusion of the left I do not think that has to be the case for everyone. Like plants growing towards the sun things are tendencies more than absolutes.

buy caramel

Did I ever see the left side of others faces? I do not think I ever did. Does that mean everyone else does the same? No I do not think so but I do not think I am alone either. Seeing the left side of other peoples faces affects the posture of how I use my head. There is a subtle shift where my head is oriented too.

I see your right

70% of right handed patients show preference in viewing emotion expressed on the right side of the face (in the left field of view) according to studies using chimeric faces produced using right-right or left-left mirrored faces.^[9] 

I think I developed my right side almost to the exclusion of the left.  It has been an eye opener for me to differentiate the left and right side of other people's faces.  I do not know anyone talking about a left tongue

Tongues remains the same

I am still stuck on trying to get the left tongue to cross the midline. Watched a little kid at dinner last night. He was moving the tongue rapidly from side to side. Playing and learning while eating, crying and being a one year old plus or so.

The problem I feel I have is that I switch back to the normal right tongue mode with any slight sensory input, so even if I am moving my tongue where I want I am not moving it how I want. I don't know if the problem is a lack of control by the left or too much dominance by the right or I am barking madly up the wrong tree.

Head change

At times today I had a very strong feeling that in my left tongue mode I had a completely different use of my head as I turned it form side to side. It is hard to explain but there was an equality between the left and right side musculature running down the posterior spine and under my chin of all places. There is a feeling of a positive tension throughout but the balance of the head seems to recruit both sides instead of tension on the left with the right more free. It feels a little more difficult to use the left tongue but also more defined.

Out of Left Field?

How can you write with both hands in different languages?

President Garfield

• Garfield taught himself to write with both hands. He also knew Latin and Greek. He sometimes would show off and write with both hands at the same time, each in a different language!

Do you need to be a leftie to be a president?

5 out of 7

In middle school I was taught that in order to be president of the United States, you had to be native-born and at least 35 years of age. My teachers left out the requirement that you be left handed. While not formally a requirement, lately being a lefty has been pretty helpful for becoming president: five of the last seven presidents have been left handed.

But which tongue are they using?

Handedness and lateralization

The same chap that identified a region of the brain specialized for language Paul Broca (Paul Broca) also suggested that a person's handedness was opposite from the specialized hemisphere (so a right-handed person probably has a left-hemispheric language specialization). But the kick is: this is not a mirror correlation (that is, a majority of left-handers also seem to have a left-hemispheric brain specialization for language abilities). Tricky business, eh? For over 150 years, many researchers have been trying to figure out this robust-but-imperfect correlation between handedness and brain lateralization. We are still trying.

II

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa

Nice edition of Nat King Cole singing about da Vinci's Mona Lisa.  Leonardo often wrote in script with his left hand right to left (mirror writing). I have tried it and it is surprisingly easy and more natural to write this way with the left hand. My sense is that it may be the natural direction for the right cerebral hemisphere is to track and anticipate to the left. When I try to see Nat king Cole's eye with my left eye only even though his face is lit on his left my tendency is not to go there. In order for my left eye to track his left eye it has to relax and cross my midline.  In writing and reading right to left I first need to relax the left side so that I can extend over to the right and then expresses or read in a graduated way to the left. This inhibition or initial relaxation allows the lengthening of the left side musculature. Inhibition is a vital cognitive element in movement. To coordinate movement is both and active and inhibitory process.

Mirror writing

Mirror writing in children with “mental retardation”, learning disabilities or dyslexia Over a century ago it was observed that “imbeciles” and children with learning disabilities often mirror wrote, and many of these children were left handed.

I am that which I perceive you are

I am you

"There is no difference between you and me. He is speaking and He is listening, and that is maya. If you understand this maya, you will understand this whole truth. He is speaking to me. He is listening to you, because He is the giver of the breath. He gives me breath to speak and He gives you breath to listen. If you understand this secret, you understand everything.” Yogi Bhajan from The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan, p. 156, #616"

I do not understand secret above but I believe I am right tongued because my parents are right tongued. I think that their communication with me through their right eye to the my right eye increased the tendency to develop my speech centers in my left cerebral hemisphere. Does our society as a whole passes on and reinforces this tendency?  Are we right because of what we see in others?

Left sided fear

monkey's uncle

I think my left side is a lot like the monkey that runs away in the clip above. Never having the feeling that it was wanted and loved it remains guarded and undifferentiated in it's movements.  The left eye of others somehow unseen throughout my life. I knew it was there but I did not look at it for visual input in communication. My right eye made the connection with my parents right eye. By learning to cross my midline it became the dominant eye. That small movement and connection I believe set up my right side dominance of my tongues. My left tongue taking a passive subordinate role giving me the sense I just have one tongue. Body parts distal to my midline could learn to be differentiated from left and right while the more proximal parts remained undifferentiated.

I have a left hand and a right hand. I have a left tongue and a right tongue. I cannot use the musculature of the left tongue that is comparable to my right tongue even though I never had any problems talking, swallowing, or breathing. I am beginning to be able to sense my left tongue as independent as my left hand is from my right. I can also make eye contact with my left eye to another person's left eye which does not seem remarkable but remains remarkable in the sense that it is something new after reaching my half century mark. I believe I learned to be right handed but could as well have learned to be left handed. I do not know if I will ever completely extinguish the habitual fear that I have in my life.