Monday, February 25, 2008

Right Brain, Left Brain


Here is an amusing little exercise: Click on the image, and see if it spins. Which way? Clockwise, or counter-clockwise?

Go here, and see what -- and maybe -- how you think ...

11 comments:

Irene said...

What does it signify if you can make her change directions at will?

Steve Perry said...

I'm not sure, She starts out going clockwise for me every time, but I can change that by concentrating on her.

Daniel Keys Moran said...

I've seen this before -- it varies clockwise/counter-clockwise for me -- I don't know what causes it to change direction.

Anonymous said...

I'm having a hard time believing she'll go counter-clockwise.

Delilah

Steve Perry said...

Oh, yeah. Until you get the hang of it, shift your gaze to the shadow just below her foot, and then think of her going the other way.

The theory is that right brain thinking makes her go one way, and left brain the other; by shifting the way you think -- literally -- you can change the spin.

I dunno how valid it it, but the link to the article offers some explanation.

Tiel Aisha Ansari said...

Clockwise for me, it's an effort to make her go counter.

I wonder if you'd get a different distribution of responses with an abstract shape instead of a human figure, though. Seems like a person's initial response to the figure might influence how the brain is working at that moment.

Steve Perry said...

I don't think the figure makes the difference. You can draw a box with two sets of squares joined by angled lines and make the same visual swap if you want.

It's also easier to look at the still image to see the shift. In both cases, the spinner's foot is pointing toes up, but in one, the toes are pointing away from the viewer, and in the other, toward you.

Kai Jones said...

Maybe it would work better for me if it were a naked man.

Daniel Keys Moran said...

Interesting ... as some of you may know, the vision went off in my right eye a couple years back, and in the last few months has completely flamed out....

She used to go clockwise and counterclockwise for me -- now she goes clockwise, and never goes counterclockwise no matter what. The left eye feeds the right side of the brain directly ... maybe this means I'll be getting more creative now the left side of my brain's getting no meaningful visual input ...

Hey, lemonade. :-)

Dan Gambiera said...

Clockwise but easy to switch.

J.D. Ray said...

I did my best, but couldn't make her go counter-clockwise. Of course, I kept getting distracted by her nakedness. Dammit, I'm a cheap date.