Cool test: Left VS Right brain....

eltrip · Sep 12, 2008

I can see both clockwise as well as counterclockwise...it seems that I can cause it to switch directions rapidly, as I read from either column. If it's not a fake, then this is interesting & I seem to be using both sides of my brain.

Rhone · Sep 12, 2008

That's a great illusion--it's funny that people are actually convinced that she's "switching legs" or that the animation is changing every 15 or 30 seconds or whatever.

Look, it's a 2-dimensional animation on a 2-dimensional surface... it is not actually "spinning" (that would, of course, imply a 3rd dimension), the spinning is just your brain sort of "filling in the blanks" to make some 3-dimensional sense out of the 2-dimensional animation.

The two sides are mirror images of each other... e.g. the extended arm and leg extend out on one side and then, in the exact same way extend out on the other side. There is no background or foreground to see her limbs swing into, there is no way to even tell if she is facing you or away from you--your brain just makes an interpretation to make sense of it.

The mirrored animation is easiest to spot, IMO, if you focus on the shadow of her foot. That's also, IMO, the easiest way to change your perception of her direction at will.

annaedRN, RN · Sep 12, 2008

Pretty cool. Took me awhile. I too could first "switch" her when looking away/reading. But once I did it once I could almost visualize it and do it at will!

Keysnurse2008 · Sep 12, 2008

wow...very cool. Was initially going counter clock wise, but then suddenly switched to clockwise....

I love my cat! · Sep 12, 2008

That's a great illusion--it's funny that people are actually convinced that she's "switching legs" or that the animation is changing every 15 or 30 seconds or whatever.
Look, it's a 2-dimensional animation on a 2-dimensional surface... it is not actually "spinning" (that would, of course, imply a 3rd dimension), the spinning is just your brain sort of "filling in the blanks" to make some 3-dimensional sense out of the 2-dimensional animation.
The two sides are mirror images of each other... e.g. the extended arm and leg extend out on one side and then, in the exact same way extend out on the other side. There is no background or foreground to see her limbs swing into, there is no way to even tell if she is facing you or away from you--your brain just makes an interpretation to make sense of it.
The mirrored animation is easiest to spot, IMO, if you focus on the shadow of her foot. That's also, IMO, the easiest way to change your perception of her direction at will.

THANK YOU!!! Great explanation. You are right...she is not switching directions (meaning spinning around 360 degrees)...your mind is filling in what we think she should be doing.

That is the beauty of optical illusions.

Explanation from another article:

So what does the spinning dancer tell us? The whole test is more of an optical illusion than anything else, according to Steven Novella, an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine who blogs on NeuroLogica. When our brains process visual images to make some order or sense of the world, they have to make assumptions. The dancer is just a two dimensional image switching back and forth, but our brains process it as a three dimensional spinning object.

spuropathy · Sep 12, 2008

That's a great illusion--it's funny that people are actually convinced that she's "switching legs" or that the animation is changing every 15 or 30 seconds or whatever.
Look, it's a 2-dimensional animation on a 2-dimensional surface... it is not actually "spinning" (that would, of course, imply a 3rd dimension), the spinning is just your brain sort of "filling in the blanks" to make some 3-dimensional sense out of the 2-dimensional animation.
The two sides are mirror images of each other... e.g. the extended arm and leg extend out on one side and then, in the exact same way extend out on the other side. There is no background or foreground to see her limbs swing into, there is no way to even tell if she is facing you or away from you--your brain just makes an interpretation to make sense of it.
The mirrored animation is easiest to spot, IMO, if you focus on the shadow of her foot. That's also, IMO, the easiest way to change your perception of her direction at will.

Then why do I see the buttocks? Is that some kind of illusion as well?

Very great analysis though, you're a genius for figuring this out.

mcubed45 · Sep 12, 2008

Then why do I see the buttocks? Is that some kind of illusion as well?

i see boobies

Rhone · Sep 13, 2008

Then why do I see the buttocks? Is that some kind of illusion as well?

Yep. You can see, from the outline, when she is facing right or facing left; however, there is no real foreground or background, and whether she is turning/facing toward you or away from you is entirely ambiguous. Because your brain has filled in that blank to make sense of it, you think there is a spot where she is facing toward you and you see her pelvis and a spot where she is facing away and you see her butt.

But if you take a closer look, you'll see that the pelvic/butt area looks exactly the same on one side as it does on the other... you'll interpret it as being either one, depending on which way your mind decided she is spinning.

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Sep 13, 2008

Neat! I saw it counter clockwise. Then I took a rest and it was going clockwise and I couldn't get her to go the other way again. :coollook:

spuropathy · Sep 13, 2008

Yep. You can see, from the outline, when she is facing right or facing left; however, there is no real foreground or background, and whether she is turning/facing toward you or away from you is entirely ambiguous. Because your brain has filled in that blank to make sense of it, you think there is a spot where she is facing toward you and you see her pelvis and a spot where she is facing away and you see her butt.
But if you take a closer look, you'll see that the pelvic/butt area looks exactly the same on one side as it does on the other... you'll interpret it as being either one, depending on which way your mind decided she is spinning.

Amazing, that's exactly right.

Dang illusions. :coollook:

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Sep 13, 2008

i see her turning clockwise,
however, when i start reading the content on the left, she starts spinning counter clockwise, but only while i'm reading. cool! my husband sees the same as well, when he is reading content she changes direction.

ok, i am really weird. i see clockwise until i read stuff on the left and then she turns. if i read just the far left column she swings back and forth 180 degrees from about the 3oclock position to the 9 oclock position. i am not kidding - back and forth until i look away from the far left side of the page.

RN1982 · Sep 13, 2008

For me I saw her going clockwise. When I started reading she didn't change direction and I didn't see her switch her leg. What a freaky test.