Here's a test to see which part of the brain you use most, which way is this dancer turning? It's not a dancer though, it's the siloutte of a naked chick spinning but I'm sure you won't nitpick on that.
I'd like to know your answer in the comments. I can venture a guess though. I can't make it spin in another direction even though the article says that you can if you just focus enough. Can you?
Right brain all the way! All such test should be this enjoyable to watch. 😛
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PermalinkMe too. I can't make it spin the other way no matter how hard I try and focus.
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PermalinkYou spin me right round baby, right round, Like a record baby, right round, round round. Clockwise round round baby.
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PermalinkClockwise. Definitely.
I briefly got her going the other way.
The best way to try is to scroll down, so all you can see is the lower legs and feet. Concentrate on the foot that's on the floor. As the foot gets "smaller", tell yourself which way the toes are going -- in front or behind. With some concentration, you can get the foot spinning anti-clockwise. Scroll up slowly, and the rest of the body will follow the foot.
It sometimes helps to pay more attention to the shadow than the foot.
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PermalinkThis is too cool and I just found it this morning on another site. Me and my wife argued in a fun manner about which way she was going. Now I know those that can not do it will think I am nuts but I figured out how to control it and even got my wife to do it. Do not look directly at the figure at first, focus on the shadow at the very bottom of her foot that is pointed out as it passes by and imagine that she is going the opposite direction (using your peripheral vision to see her go the opposite direction) then look at her and she will be going the other way. If you can get your mind to change the directions you can actually make her alternate from left to right and back without going in a circle.
It works and it is all a mind game.
Good luck!!
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Permalink*focuses so hard my head might assplode*
No, I canni do it. I might get the shadow to go counter-clockwise but scrolling back up the woman is dancing clockwise all the way again. arrrgh!
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PermalinkIt's official. I am missing the left half of my brain. Or you are all playing a trick on me. Or both.
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PermalinkI'm lost and confused. She changes direction frequently as I look at the animation. She is going one way, and then suddenly she is going the other way. Anti-clockwise, clockwise, anti-clockwise, clockwise... I don't understand.
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PermalinkIf I cut off the 'dancer', and just show her shadow, I can see the SHADOW turn counter-clockwise for a few turns.
I can't make the body (silloutte?) do anything but clockwise. (BTW, maybe they call her a dancer because she hops every so often).
Of course, I can't make any of those complex gray tone 3-D images pop out. I tried for literally 4 hours one afternoon (they were selling a couple of dozen large framed and matted 3-D pictures at that mall - and I was determined), and I ended up with a headache, and my eyes crossed for several hours afterward.
I can sort of make out where and what the image is in the 3-D things, but I do so with great difficultly, and it doesn't seem 3-D to me. In addition, what I see looks nothing like what the image is supposed to look like to you (based on 'results' images that sometime accompany these things).
[The fact that I had muscle correction surgery on my eyes when I was 3 years old, and that my normal depth perception is off just a hair... (photos of craters sometimes reverse their direction while I look at them)... may have had something to do with it]. ;-.
Allan...
"Remember, no matter where you go... There you are." (Buckaroo Banzai).
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PermalinkIt's sort of a variation on the Ames trapezoid window illusion: here.
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PermalinkThat window gave me a huge headache. It can't possibly be going all the way around.
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PermalinkI guess my brain is ambibextrous because she spins one way, and then the other, when I look at her...
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PermalinkI got another one. But this one just gives me a headache to look at after a while....
rotating mask
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PermalinkI can only see here spin clockwise no matter how hard I try to get her to switch direction. Ugh! My girlfriend says she can get her to switch direction at will.
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PermalinkI need to take some tylenol after trying to get her to change direction. No go.
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PermalinkIf I imagine that I'm looking down on the girl from above, then she appears to be spinning clockwise.
If I imagine that I'm looking up at the girl from below, then she appears to be spinning counterclockwise.
It's hard to make the switch at will, though.
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