Evidently, this is an optical test which helps to indicate if you perceive things predominantly with the right side of your brain or the left side of your brain.
If you see the girl spinning clock-wise, then you are perceiving things from a more right-brained dominant viewpoint, and vice-versa.
Evidently, most people see the above picture spinning counter-clock-wise, but I myself see her spinning clockwise. Bizarre.
I suppose its especially bizarre for me since my primary career is in the sciences and engineering, and they are known for their left-brained dominance. Maybe my seeing her spin clock-wise is an indication that I should go write something literary. Oh wait – I have. Never mind.
So evidently, here is a break-down of the right-brain vs. left-brain dominant dominant attributes:
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
- uses logic
- detail oriented
- facts rule
- words and language
- present and past
- math and science
- can comprehend
- knowing
- acknowledges
- order/pattern perception
- knows object name
- reality based
- forms strategies
- practical
- safe
RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
- uses feeling
- “big picture” oriented
- imagination rules
- symbols and images
- present and future
- philosophy & religion
- can “get it” (i.e. meaning)
- believes
- appreciates
- spatial perception
- knows object function
- fantasy based
- presents possibilities
- impetuous
- risk taking
With a bit of self evaluation, I feel like I am somewhat a mix of both – but that spinning lady is still taunting me with her clock-wise spinning. I don’t believe she can spin in another direction. Does she for you?
[I first saw this article referenced here].
Thanks,
Mike Rothman
I’ve seen this before! She spins clockwise for me as well, but with a good amount of staring and letting myself lose focus, I’ve gotten her to spin counter clockwise. It only happens for a split second though, because the moment I get her to change, I start thinking about the fact that she changed, and she snaps right back to clockwise. Illusions are interesting!
At first I ONLY saw it turn clockwise and then hours later I looked again and while staring at it she started going counter clockwise!!!! Oh my!!!!
My results are inconsistent. When I first visited the page, I perceived the image as turning clockwise. After I started typing the response I scrolled back up the page, at which point I perceived it to be spinning counter-clockwise. I can also make it switch if I concentrate, but it generally goes back to clockwise if I lose focus, suggesting right-brain dominance.
However, this is at odds with how I would describe myself in terms of brain function, as I identify far more strongly with the list of left brain functions. Whether or not have an accurate perception of myself is, I suppose, open to debate.
Scrolling back up one final time, it’s turning counter-clockwise for me now. Maybe I’m a left-brain typist?
She keeps switching directions for me, without any prompting on my part. But then, I have been ambidextrous since birth, so that could explain it.
I’ve seen this one before, and could get it to switch directions pretty easily.
When I read this post for the first time however, I could only see her spinning one way (clockwise i think). I’d spent the entire day working with a developer on-site, you know, that place up north.
Now that it’s Saturday, i can see it spinning either direction again.
I can make her change directions just by relaxing and purposefully forgetting which direction I thought she was going. I’ve had a massive argument with a friend about this, saying that it IS possible that she can go both ways, because it’s a 2D silhouette. I couldn’t convince him it worked both ways until – amazingly – it suddenly switched for him!
That image is so cool! I love figuring out optical illusions and usually do it in moments. This one took me awhile to figure out. At first, I was extremely convinced there was no way anyone could perceive this as going anything other than counter-clockwise. Then the image did a subtle skip and for a brief moment she went clockwise at a 30 degree angle, then back to counter-clockwise.
Then I started talking to my husband about it, slumped to the right and looked back and suddenly she was clockwise. At this point, I suspected the image animation might be a trick rather than an illusion and thought perhaps it flipped at erratic intervals. (A lot of science lately is saying there’s nothing at all really in the idea of right brained vs. left brained because so many tasks use both at the same time).
However, my husband came to watch too and it did an about face turn for him in the opposite direction I was still seeing it at.
I think I’ve pinned it down to the perception depending on which leg you perceive as being on top while she turns. I still can’t reliably get her to switch directions while looking directly at her, but when she does I get a little thrill (does that make me nerdy? hehe). So cool! It’s more reliable if I keep her in peripheral vision while attempting to switch her direction, watch her from the corner of my eye until I notice the direction blurring then seize the opposite direction and look at her. Sometimes I have to switch to a different corner of my monitor to stare at though
Very nifty. Interesting blog post with it too, although each brain-dominant task you listed has research showing that pieces of it are found in opposite side of the brain too and that no one complete task is done without both sides.
Some recent things I’ve been reading about the brain suggest to me that watching an image like this and purposefully trying to make her switch directions may actually be an awesome exercise for making our brains more flexible and enriching our perceptions and neural pathways. I now want to see a study examining that!
I probably shouldn’t add to my already-long reply, but yeah…still going back to get more looks at her. My brain wants to do this switching thing at will so much ><
I realized that if I scroll the screen down to just her feet at about knee-level it's much much easier to change her direction at will. I figure this is because I am not also filtering out the perception of her head tilt, hip rotation, and arm layering (which is top which is bottom). I noted my perceptions in both by hand while seeing her turn that way, everything is opposite when I do. Which makes sense, but makes it so much neater at the same time!
When she spins clockwise, her head is tilted right, her right toe is pointed, and her right elbow bent, when she spins counter-clockwise, all of those details occur on the left instead. I'm pretty sure it's about which layer to the dimensions you perceive as being top or bottom at any time, in which case, your preception might be triggered as much by her starting position when you begin viewing her as which side of your brain you use most. For that matter, her starting cycle might also be triggered by which side of your brain you were using most just before hand as well.
In other words, even if you do more right-brain heavy tasks on average, you may perceive her in opposition to that if you were doing a more left-brain heavy task just beforehand. In fact, if you were reading words just before looking, you may be using the part of the brain most associated with reading comprehension and thus view her direction accordingly, rather than by which side you use most. Just some random thoughts.
Sorry I wrote books on your page, it's just so fascinating for me to think about
That’s really neat! I saw her going clockwise. Of course, being left-handed, I typically get that result with such tests!
I myself at first saw her spinning clockwise but I had to concentrate to get her to go the other way but once I did all I had to do was blink a couple times and she’d go back the other way. I too am ambidextrous and wonder if that affects us like facial expressions do. Curious. Thanks for sharing.
Lady Angelo Havoc