Seat Selection and Handedness (12-28-09)

Where we sit in a space, at least for a potentially emotional experience, seems linked to our dominant hand, and since most people are right handed, this complicates the design of public places. New research by Okubo has found that when right handed people (but not left-handers or mixed hand people) are motivated to watch a film, because of a positive recommendation, for example, they are more likely to choose a seat on the right side of the theater than on the left side.  Brain functions are more localized in right handed people but more balanced across both brain hemispheres in left and mixed handed people.

Matia Okubo.  2010.  “Right Movies on the Right Seat:  Laterality and Seat Choice.” Applied Cognitive Psychology, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 90-99.