A silly little trick has been circulating throughout the cyber world

for some time, similar to trying to pat your head and rub your

stomach, but this one involves the coordinating movements of your

hands and feet. The foot trick goes something like this: While sitting

upright in a chair, lift your right foot off the floor and make

clockwise circles. Then, while making clockwise circles with your

right foot, draw the number 6 in the air with your right hand. The

catch is to try to keep your right foot moving in a clockwise

direction while drawing the ‘6’ in the air. It is very difficult, if

not impossible for some. So, what’s the deal? Read on. This

psychological article will explain.

There is a plausible explanation for the challenge to move your foot

in a clockwise direction while making a counter-clockwise motion with

your hand. The difficulty is not limited to hand/foot coordination.

Try this other little muscle coordination test (this one is off the

cuff): hold both arms out in front of you, bent at the elbow (hand

should be pointed up, palms facing one another). First, move your

right arm in forward circle. Once you have your right arm moving

forward, move your left arm in backward circles simultaneously. Can

you do it? Accurately? Keeping your movements in circles? (Yeah,

right. No one was looking as you were reading this psychological

article explanation, so who is going to challenge you?)

If you cannot, no matter how hard you try, make your arms and legs

move in opposite directions you are not alone. According to a

psychological article by David Rosenbaum, Penn State University,

published in November/December Journal of Experimental Psychology,

your brain is programmed a certain way. The psychological article

explains that the brain is the sophisticated wiring that controls our

muscle movements. Because of how we are programmed, the brain

naturally has more trouble coordinating movements that are in

different directions, or non-isodirectional. Why? you ask. Give that

question some thought. Do you more often need to use your limbs in

conjunction with one another or in contradiction to one another? Here

are a few activities that you may have participated in recently, or at

least observed, that will demonstrate coordinated muscle movements: 1)

riding a bicycle. Do your legs move in the same direction or opposite

directions? If they moved in opposite directions you would never move

from square one; 2) swinging a bat. Both arms must move together; 3)

folding clothes. The actions are mirror images, but are still in the

same direction. Also, do not confuse ‘opposite’ with ‘alternating’.

Although some of our movements may alternate, they are still in the

same direction. It came on our respective mental hard-drives, luckily.

And why does all of this matter? There have been numerous

psychological articles that have reported studies that tested the

effects of stroke on motor coordination. The general consensus is that

non-isodirectional movements are difficult under normal circumstances.

For stroke patients, both isodirectional and non-isodirectional

movements are compromised not only on the lesioned brain hemisphere

but also on the "unaffected" hemisphere. The conclusion is that both

the left and right hemispheres are needed for coordinated muscle

movements. When a person suffers a stroke, regardless of the side in

which the stroke occurred, the synchronization of motor control

movements is negatively affected.