Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls The Right Brain vs the Left Brain

While I watched it load up it started going clockwise for me, but when I scrolled down to read the posts and then scrolled back, it was going counter clockwise. It also shifted direction a couple of times. It seems, though, that when I go away and come back, it's always going counter clockwise. Then it shifts back and forth randomly. Don't know what that means. <shrug>

Nan

I can only see it going clockwise, I can't make it go the other way at all! Odd, because when I was in Critical Thinking at school, I'm sure I took a test which indicated that I used the left side of my brain slightly more than my right.

Gaah, I can't see her going counter-clockwise at all. Clockwise and purely clockwise for me.

Looking at the descriptions, I'd say I'm a bit of both, but, well. Whatever it says.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

I clicked on 'it switches between the two', but I'm not sure that's actually the right answer.

When I first saw the dancer, she was going anticlockwise then, after about half a minute or a minute, she switched direction. Now, no matter how hard I try, I can't get her to do anything other than go clockwise.

How do you get her to switch at will?

Chris

I clicked I can change it at will. It started out clockwise for me but after reading some of the posts I went back up and looked at it again. I found by starring at the whole picture I could make it go counter clockwise. Then I could change it back by blinking hard.

Although I always considered myself right handed because I write with that hand in a pinch and can write very badly with my left. I also count money, drain pots when cooking and several other things as a left handed person would.

I have a left handed nephew and found out from his mother (my older sister) that our father was right handed but back then they forced you to learn everything right handed. She like me is either right or left handed depending on the task she is performing. So I guess we use both sides of our brains more equally than most.

I just looked at her again, and suddenly she went ani-clockwise! But then I closed my eyes for a second, and she's back to clockwise. *sigh* I don't know how I did it, but at least I know it's possible now.

Saskia

She started anti-clockwise for me, but I quickly learned how to change her direction at will. That's a cool trick on the eyes/mind...whatever you want to call it!

When I first looked at it, it was spinning clockwise, but when I scrolled down and looked away and then came back, it was spinning counter-clockwise. I tried changing it while I looked at it, but it didn't work. However, if I looked away and pictured it going the other direction, that was the direction it would be going when I looked back. I noticed that when she appears to be going clockwise, her heel touches her shadow with her toe facing away from us, but when she's going counter-clockwise, her toe is toward us when her heel touches down, so it's obviously a matter of perception.

How do you change it at will? One direction, she appears to be extending her left leg, and the other direction, she appears to be extending her right, so think about changing her to the opposite leg. My grand-daughter saw her swiveling back and forth for a moment, rather than making complete circles, so she reached the point where she saw the dancer going either way, which is what I have noticed on other silhouettes where you can't tell if the figure is facing you or facing away.

BTW, I'm right-handed in most gross motor activities and left-handed in most fine motor, and whenever I've taken a right-left-brain test, I've always tested almost dead even. Probably why I love English AND math.

I'm seriously tripping myself out on this picture. Two days ago I had no trouble switching between counter clockwise and clockwise, now all I see is clockwise. The picture is refusing to switch.

Hmm...Seeing clockwise means you use your right side of the brain, huh? Well I have been immersed in creating a new vid.

Maybe there is something to all of this.

Ha! Got it going anti-clockwise again.

2 minutes later and we're back the other way. Rats!

This is fun! Thanks Saskia, for pointing this out to me.

All I see is clockwise. The dancer is refusing to switch! Maybe my brain is too befuddled right now, I really should go to bed. I'll try again tomorrow.

Ursie

I started seeing it clock-wise, then it turned the other way. I can get it to switch in either direction but it takes several seconds before my mind will switch it.

I have always been very left-brained and pretty much exclusively left-brained and I work in a left-brained world, so it surprises me that I saw it going clock-wise first.

Clockwise

I can make it change sometimes, but then I hafta try and change it back.

Does anyone else find it funny that the original article claimed that most of us see this spinning counter-clockwise and yet we seem to be emphatically clockwise?

Maybe the majority of people have no imagination, and it's kind of a rquirement for these boards...

I peek at every once in a while and about the half the time, she goes in a different direction.

So half an imagination then? Or an organized imagination? Or... a chaotic orderliness? No wonder I can never get anything done.

I'm like that guy who jumped on his horse and rode off in all four directions.

btw, does anyone find the time of day makes a difference?

c.

Could be, Carol. Last night when I first looked at the image it was past midnight and I was very tired. But now the dancer goes into all directions! Amazing!

Ursie

Well, at first it only went clockwise for me. After staring at her feet for about five minutes, I got my first change to counter-clockwise. When I look at it for the first time (each time I try this), I see it rotating clockwise, but I can make it change. If I made the change to counter-clockwise just before looking away and back again, I still see her spinning counter-clockwise. Anyway, I can easily change direction to clockwise, but it's much harder the other way round.

EDIT:

GAH! Now she's turning counter-clockwise, and I can't make her change anymore. But then, when I first got here, I was on a site with lots of patterns and images which sparked my imagination and creativity (right brain function). When I came back (after posting), I used my (foreign!) language skills for typing (left brain function). I wonder if there is a connection?

Hmm... I think I agree. I’ve seen her go both ways.

I don’t think right handedness or left handedness has to do with left brained or right brained so to say. I’m right handed AND I’m right brained (or so I’ve been told). I’m mostly seeing her going clockwise, but I’ve also see her go the other way. I’m like great shades... I think they are trying to fool us. I think I can get the dancer to change directions, but I’m not sure if I’m doing it... or it’s just a coincidence.

Hey, that’s it!

Well, at first, I seemed to be able to make her change quite quickly. Now she’s firmly stuck on clockwise.

Creative people here...

I think you may have a good point, Mellie.

I can't completely control it, but for awhile, by blinking at the right time and convincing myself of which way she was going, I started switching every half turn. I think there are two places where it can be done. At the point where her legs cross and when her leg is pointing straight out. Because it is really 2D even though it seems 3D to me, I can't see something switching directions (left vs. right) but when her leg points straight out, I choose what's going back and what's coming forward.

I'm starting to get where I can switch each half-turn and she never faces me.

Edit: I think I'm just plain out of my mind, but that's another story.