Which way is the dancer spinning… clockwise or counter-clockwise?
Most people will see her turning counter-clockwise, which apparently means you’re more left brained (logical). I see her spinning that way, and it’s at first almost impossible to imagine her going clockwise. But it happens, usually by focusing or when something unexpectedly alters your perception.
Here’s the typical run down on left versus right brain:
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
Many people associate the right brain with creativity and lateral thinking, and there’s certainly something to that. Our left brains create structures that can act as barriers to alternative solutions and perspectives.
But your left brain plays a crucial role in creativity as well. Seeing logical associations between seemingly unrelated things is a hallmark of creativity. And the critical-thinking skills necessary to tell a good idea from a bad one are pretty important too.
So… tell us which way your dancer spins for you in the comments. And weigh in with your opinion about the right brain versus left brain for creativity… isn’t it a really a “whole mind” thing?
P.S. Want to know how this optical illusion works? Read this.
About the Author: Brian Clark is a new media entrepreneur and co-founder of Lateral Action. Subscribe today to get free updates by email or RSS.
wait. how did you do that?
Want hear something weird?
Each time I see this it changes for me.
Though, so does my L/R brain, so it’s actually,
accurate.
I could have sworn that I was left brained, but I don’t know how you could convince me that she is spinning counter clockwise.
Geez… i can see her both ways. Not at the same time, but going down in text, when i come back up, she’s spinning the other way. And then I go back, and going up again and she’s spinning the first way again.
And over, and over.
I see her spinning clockwise. I’m staring at her, trying to make myself see her spin the other way, but I can’t do it. I’m super-right-brained 🙂
I believe, I appreciate, I imagine. Yeah, the clockwise-ness makes sense.
Wow, I see her spinning clockwise. I am still trying to get her spin the other way.
I am INTP (MBTI) – which says my strength is logic. I would have thought I am left brained. I am confused :0
I think every single person is creative, in very very different ways. But we all harness our creativity in very different ways. People who think they are special because they are creative do not like this definition, since it has been believed for many years that creativity creates an exclusive “brand” … but it is amazing to see what even the most boring people come up with when they get in the “flow” – aka – use whole-brain!
I am left-brained all the way and she is spinning clockwise. Tell me I am not insane.
Thanks,
– jason
I see her spinning clockwise. If I really really work at it, I can see counterclockwise for a second or two before she goes back to clockwise.
Wonder if this has any relationship with the fact I’m left-handed?
I too can see her both ways. Apparently my mind is on overdrive!! What a cool and creative test!
I’d like to know – who is surprised by their results? Thought you were left-brained and found out that you’re really right-brained? Or vice-versa? Please let us know!
Clockwise – no matter what I do I never see her spinning the other way. I guess this means I’m right-brained, which I already knew.
No way she is spinning counter-clockwise! I can’t see it. She is spinning clockwise for me no matter how hard I try to alter it. Fascinating and it the right-brain functions line up perfectly for me as well.
just stare at her long enough and you’ll see her going the other way.
Clockwise all day. I dont think the left hemisphere of my brain even works at all.
I saw her spinning clockwise first, then afterwards counter-clockwise. I would gather that I lead with my right brain and follow up with my left brain. Great observation on how we view things. Self examination is always great if it helps us bring to light how we do things, especially if theyre done in an automatic unknowing way. Shed light upon that which had none.
@damienbasile
I am wholly convinced she is turning clockwise. The more I look and analyze and interpret what I see logically, the more I am absolutely certain of it. I think anyone who sees it as counterclockwise is just gullible: the article says people see it that way, and so some people believe it.
It’s easy to tell whether she is facing forwards or backwards, and the rotation between those extremes is straightforward to see as well, because of the ponytail and the shape of her face.
So what is this, an attempt at a hoax, or a test of public perception and gullibility?
Ok, this is just cool and weird. I spend so much of my day doing left-brained stuff. But I can’t see her going counter-clockwise at all, as hard as I try. It’s freaking me out to read that most see it the moving counter-clockwise.
Great find….I’m gotta go test some others with this.
Mostly, it’s clockwise, but she switches back and forth.
Is there any correlation to the fact that everything I draw faces left? Does anyone have insight on what that says about our brains (if anything)?
No way is she spinning counter-clockwise. All I see is her going right, right, right. I have even refreshed the browser to see if this is some sort of a mind-trick. I am right-brained. That’s it. I guess as a wedding photographer, that’s a very good thing.
Qrystal, what an interesting comment! You could only see her going clockwise, yet you gave such a left-brain analytical reason for doing so. Hmm…
To answer your question, a test of perception – yes. Of gullibility or hoax – wow, such powerful words. Anyone else feel this strongly?
Definitely spinning clockwise, can’t see it any other way! I’m not too surprised (as I daydream about writing and music and arts and crafts).
Just imagine that her left leg is actually her right, and she will begin spinning the other way. I saw Clockwise originally, and made myself see counter-clockwise with effort.
Weird. At first she was spinning clockwise for me, now she is spinning anti-clockwise and I can’t see how she was spinning clockwise in the first place.. :S
I can see her doing whatever I want! Yes. I can make her go clockwise and counter clockwise… Cool. Last time I tried this (couple of years ago) I only saw her moving counter clockwise.
This years I’ve been working on to become more creative…
However, I know I’m mostly left-brained…
I’m not convinced that the animation doesn’t switch just to mess with people, but apparently I am right-brained, for the most part. The page load delay causes the picture to turn one way then another, leading to my skepticism about whether it is actually a “mind” perception or just a fancy hoax. Either way, it’s interesting and spreading around the web like wildfire.
Whoa, is that cool. I see her spinning both ways, too, first clockwise then counterclockwise. Does that mean I’m schizophrenic? And wherever did you find that graphic?
This is clearly a silhouette of a 3D model of a woman spinning clockwise (from a top-down perspective). All you have to do is measure the lengths of the legs and arms at different points in the animation to prove this. The shadow of her feet also proves this (notice how the shadow of her foot is moving to the left, and appears *below* her other spinning foot (meaning that it’s in the air and is closer to you, not further away).
Nonetheless, for what it’s worth, I can trick my brain at will into thinking she’s spinning either right or left. The way I do it is by focusing on her foot’s shadow and thinking right or left, then looking up.
Hmmm. I see her turning clockwise — how does she go counter? I don’t see it.
I particularly like this quote taken from the essay on poetic meter titled, “The Neural Lyre,”
There are strong logical objections to the popular and prevailing view that the right brain is emotional while the left brain is rational, and that artistic capacities, being emotional, are located in the right brain. Both sides of the brain are capable of rational calculation: it is surely just as rational to “see” a geometric proof-which is the function of the right brain-as to analyze a logical proposition-which would be done on the left. And both sides of the brain respond to the presence of brain chemicals, and thus both must be said to be “emotional” in this crude sense. The right brain may be better able to recognize and report emotions, but this capacity is surely a cognitive one in itself, and does not necessarily imply a judgment about whether it feels emotions more or less than the left. Above all, art is quite as much a rational activity as it is an emotional one: so the location of art on the “emotional” right is surely the result of a misunderstanding of the nature of art. More plausible is the position of Jerre Levy, who characterizes the relationship between right and left as a complementarity of cognitive capacities5. She has stated in a brilliant aphorism that the left brain maps spatial information into a temporal order, while the right brain maps temporal information onto a spatial order. In a sense understanding largely consists in the translation of information to and fro between a temporal ordering and a spatial one-resulting in a sort of stereoscopic depth-cognition. In Levy’s view, the two “brains” alternate in the treatment of information, according to a rhythm determined by the general brain state, and pass, each time, their accumulated findings on to each other. The fact that experienced musicians use their left brain just as much as their right in listening to music shows that their higher understanding of music is the result of the collaboration of both “brains,” the music having been translated first from temporal sequence to spatial pattern, and then “read,” as it were, back into a temporal movement. The neurobiologist Gunther Baumgartner suggests that the forebrain acts as the integrating agent between specialized left and right functions, and it is in this integrative process that we would locate the essentially creative capacities of the brain, whether artistic or scientific. The apparent superiority of the isolated right brain in emotional matters may well reflect simply the fact that emotions, like music, are temporal in nature and their articulation requires the sort of temporal-on-spatial mapping that is the specialty of the right.
Read more of it here:
http://www.cosmoetica.com/B22-FT2.htm
– Jeff
Left-handed and (so I thought) right brained but no amount of staring will make her go clockwise =(
If you’re having trouble switching the rotation in your head, here’s a trick.
Follow her extended leg until it goes to one side. Imagine that she hits a glass wall and bounces in the opposite direction. Making your eyes/brain expect this change will force the effect. It works best if you move your eyes just ahead of the foot.
Do it again on the other side.
Soon, you’ll have something of a metronome effect with your dancer.
Jeff, that is exactly on point. Thanks for sharing.
By default, she spins counterclockwise for me.
I stared at the image for the longest time and couldn’t see it otherwise. Then something hit me.
If you’ve ever tried (while seated) to rotate your foot clockwise while drawing the number 6 in the air with your hand, you know how hard it is (if not impossible – I’ve never done it).
I tried to apply this to the dancer as well by holding up my index finger next to her and rotating it clockwise (since that’s the way I wanted to “make” her spin).
Sure enough, after watching both my finger and the dancer simultaneously for a bit, she switched directions. And when I switched my finger to rotating counterclockwise, she switched right back.
Curious to see if that works for anyone else.
I see a Counter Clockwise movement and my life’s struggle it to become more right-brained. I agree that one of my left brained strengths is seeing connections between concepts which others can not imagine exist, until I explain it to them.
Sometimes to the left, sometimes right; but you got to admit she’s kinda hot.
I guess we can see what I’m thinking with 🙂
What the… I see her clockwise and I can’t see her counter clockwise. Which makes sense to me and then doesn’t. I’m both a create person but I’m also a programmer and I study computer science.. which is logical stuff.
Does that make any sense?. 😛
LOL. When I first saw this I didn’t read what it was about and she was going counter-clockwise, then I looked away and she was going clockwise. I though to myself what is this a hoax. Then I had my mom look at it and we both saw different things. I guess I’m a combo in my opinion. I tried to make it move on my own back and forth but it wouldn’t work until I used my finger to follow her twirling. Which helped to make her twirl either way. Very interesting.
I can make her change direction whenever I want to about 50% of the time. I just unfocused my eyes, then I refocused my eyes. That makes her switch for me. It’s all in fun.
She’s turning clock-wise at first, second and third impressions.
Staring at her longer than I should distracts my attention to her beautiful body 🙂 to be honest. She has shape, that I can say.
Whew, I am indeed right-brained.
I see her spinning clockwise… but I am so NOT right-brained… I am experiencing vertigo recently… I wonder if that has something to do with how I’m seeing her?
First time I see her, she’s turning clockwise. But if I want to change her turning anti-clockwise, I can do it straight away.
Activate right brain. Then activate left brain.
I’m sure that’s what most of creative writers do…
Write with right brain. Then edit with left brain.
Cheers,
Patsy
I think this is flawed. She is spinning both ways. She stops and spins the other way after a while. There is a little lag when she switches. Or am I just such a brain that I am using both hemispheres? ; )
First of all she’s got a great bod!
Secondly, I’ve been a Songwriter, Poet and now work in IT and Computers so I seem to using both sides of the brain, I’d highly recommend it, otherwise its a waste!
Thirdly, the image is programmed to automatically switch rotation randomly, you can’t make it, if you think you can, you’ve been watching too long!
Just to be clear, this is an optical illusion and their are no “tricks” or “hoaxes” going on… this particular animated GIF has been discussed for over a year, notably by the Freakonomics blog on the New York Times site. Google it for plenty of coverage.
Those of you who trust your own perception as “real” do so at your own peril.
The real question is… does it have anything to do with right brain versus left brain? And the deeper question is… even if it does, does that have anything to do with creativity?
That’s where I would start looking for the “hoax.” 🙂
I can only see her spinning clockwise. I’ve even tried closing my eyes and performing massive long division problems for a while, then opening my eyes–and she’s still spinning clockwise. I guess I’m in the camp that cannot fathom her spinning counter-clockwise!
Clockwise, most definitely. Unless I close my left eye, in which case she can spin counter-clockwise with no problem. Pretty cool, or pretty weird, depending on which eye you use!
Clockwise. I’ve looked at it 10+ times, over a few hours, and it’s always clockwise.
The right-brained also fits me … pefectly.
Thanks for the “learnin’s”.
Definitely accurate. I see her going both left and right as I stare at it long enough and in life, business, ect. I do the same thing. Sometimes I’m really really creative, and other times I’m all about the structure. So I would assume it works.
Try covering up everything but her foot with your hand, and looking away and back until the foot changes directions. This illusion is special because even once you “figure it out” its still hard to switch back and forth with ease.
I saw this illusion a couple of months ago on an artists’ website. Most of the time the girl spins clockwise for me.
But if I stare at the spinning girl and start blinking very fast for about 10 seconds she reverses. The reversal lasts until I blink again or I lose my concentration. I can do the reversal for several times before I just get tired.
Hmmm…. Using my left brain & being logical makes me tired?
At first I only saw her moving clockwise. But I found out that if I focus on the image, its clockwise all the way, but if I look from my perifiral vision its only counter-clockwise… I wonder how much personal beliefs figure in the perception.
She is spinning clockwise for me as well and I had a hard time making her go the other way.
On your last point in the article you are absolutely right, it is a whole mind thing.
I am doing a thesis on my university based on this left brain-right brain thing and we are using a questionnaire which people have to answer online and then see their results superimposed on a circle. Although it is not a contest the best result you can get is to have a balanced result, meaning using both the right and left sides of your brain in equal amounts.
There are other test out there which prove that if you could, hypothetically, measure all the people of the world the result would be perfectly balanced, meaning that all the people of the world form a “whole mind”.
Both poetic and true I think…
I saw her spinning clockwise. As a matter of fact, I tried to go back and imagine her spinning counter clock wise and couldn’t see it at all.
I’m all Right. I see numbers and freeze.
Thanks for this! Interesting.
Odd. It was spinning clockwise when I first got on the page but as I read the posts and comments, I looked back up and it was going counter clockwise. Strang.
clockwise. couldn’t get her to spin counter-clockwise no matter how I tried.
what if you can make her go either way on command?
When I first watched the figure, I thought, “What a clever little program, the figures keeps reversing!”
Then after I read the information I realized it must be me. I cannot keep the figure spinning in the same direction for more than a few seconds, no matter how much I concentrate.
Very clever. Fun! jb
I can only seem to be able to see her spinning clockwise, which I wasnt expected, what with being a Chemistry student, I should be left brained? Explains why I’m so bad at maths though =P
When I first open the page she is going Counter Clock wise. Once I read that she is normally going Clockwise then she does.
Not sure what to think other than I am just a bit “off”. Hmm, all my life I have been told I need to learn to slow down my thinking maybe this is a sign. LOL!
I think most people can make her change direction if they want to. Or does it mean I need Dr. Phil?
The shadow is the critical point here, though I have to disagree with Tom Chaplin. I initially saw her spinning clockwise, but the light source is slightly above & behind the model – the supporting leg shadow shows this.
The rotatating leg shows a shadow that approaches the light source as it travels from right to left, ie that foot is on the far side of the model from our perspective as it is travelling form right to left. Hence she is turning anti clockwise.
It is a shame that any shadow is show, otherwise the picture would be unarguably ambiguous.
I saw her spinning right (clockwise). Suddenly saw her turning left 😉 For a while I thought it’s a fake or some clever animation but when my wife told me something opposite I saw at the same time … It is curious 😉
It’s certainly not a hoax. For me, I couldn’t get her to turn anti-clockwise until I started blinking rapidly, as one of the above commenters tried. Once I did that, I could suddenly see her going the other way. Now I can see both depending on what I want to see.
So no, it’s not a clever program that reverses its spin, and it’s not a test to try and get people to say they see anti-clockwise when it’s clockwise. I agree with Brian: it’s unwise to trust your own perception so strongly. Your brain is merely a device that *interprets* reality, and it can often get things wrong. 🙂
When i first looked at it it was going clockwise then i read the article and looked again, when i concentrate hard it’s spinning counter-clockwise. Trippy
Nice :]
I can make her switch on (almost) command by crossing my eyes and staring at the background.
weird! i can only see the woman moving clockwise.
if you focus on the point where her swining leg crosses the stationary leg, your perceotion will chage each time it crosses it. Atleast mine did
It switches for me. What’s up ith that
I naturally saw the dancer going Counter clockwise as I know I’m more logical in thinking. but I know that everything is perception. I can change the direction with some mental thought and concentration. I can imagine it’s possible to make her rotate either way on any rotation with enough concentration and training.
I see the spin going in either direction seemingly willingly!
Yeah I’m in the same boat – it’s completely up to me which way she goes.
Same for me, it keeps changing on me every time I see it.
I originally see her going clockwise, but if I focus on her head or foot or something, it’s fairly easy for her to switch. She either almost seems to stop and then go the other way or just flip over. It’s sort of weird.
i think it has something to do with the upper body. Try covering above her waist with your hand and then blinking a lot.
going clockwise for me, but im extremely left brained, so i dont think this works very well.
I can make her change direction whenever I want, although she usually does 180* spins and switches.
I must be a genius. 😀
Started out spinning clockwise… took me a while to get her going the other way but now i can switch at will. It just takes practice.
by looking at the shadow on the floor and telling urself when it appears from her leg whenits in front that its at the back you can make her change direction
I see her spinning clockwise too…
I swear I’m left brained though. Maybe the author can’t tell which way is clockwise and which way is counter-clockwise.
this is crazy… It seemed like their was no way I could make her stop spinning counter clock wise… then finally it changed and I see her spinning clock wise… If you look long enough she will probably change for you too!
I see her as spinning clockwise, and for the life of me cannot see her spinning counter-clockwise. But I am definitely a right-brained person, though my left brain is not dormant!
What if this is a trick… and every so often it really changes direction???
Most of the time i see her going clockwise, but i can make it switch directions pretty easily. This is really neat to watch when your stoned :D. By the way, we share the same name… isnt that strange? 😀
can’t see her clockwise ever.
She’s leading with her left shoulder, backwards.
OK, try to adopt that pose and spin clockwise. Look over your left shoulder, extend your left hand, put your weight on your right heel — it’s completely unnatural. That’s how’d you’d stand spinning counter-clockwise.
Michael, Ian et. al, I was sure of the same thing, that the thing was tricking me by flipping randomly. But I can now make her change direction when I like, and I can see her going the same direction as long as I like.
Amazing how powerful the illusion is.
I’m very cross-hemispherish, but I’m skeptical that this tells you anything about which hemisphere is dominant. Still a fun brain-bender, though.
Clockwise. Nevertheless, all my characteristics are those of the left brained group.
Well I just spent another 5 minutes trying to see anything but clockwise.
I do notice that the shadows do not make sense.
Come on. if you watch it long enough she just switches position. Its a trick.
She switches at some moment for everybody, just like us every day. We don’t see it because we already decided how we would like to be: logical or creative.
This is an optical illusion. Of course, all people can see both spin directions given the time.
This has nothing to do with the deeply exaggerated (to the point of pseudoscientific) notion of brain laterality or ‘dominance’.
here’s a trick:
if you see her only spinning clockwise, cover up her body and stare at the shadow of her foot on the ground.
soon enough, she will change to counter clockwise.
Aha! That’s cool.. and I just noticed that i can go both ways 😀
It’s really cool, one minute, I see her spinning anti-clockwise, the next, clockwise. What would that put me down as?
Well. I like to think that whichever way I see her spin has no bearing on how creative I am or how I use my brain to do what I’d like it to do, be that a calculus function or a blog post.
How quick we are to find ways to say, “YES! I’m like THIS! See? I knew it all along…” We seek out justifications all the time to reinforce how we see ourselves. A spinning vector image determines what type of person we are?
Not for me, thanks. I need both sides of my brain, and who I am is shaped by much more than just what I see.
The way the brain processes stimuli and information in the right or left side is different, sure. But it’s just a part in the whole. We’re not so sliced that we can say, “My left brain doesn’t work,” or “I’m right all the way.”
We’re people, people. We have to use both sides of our brains to accomplish millions of the tiniest tasks. It takes our WHOLE brain to do what we need to do.
Our eyes process what we see and our brain translates that into data. So it is with our ears and what we hear, our skin and what we sense, our nose and what we smell, and more, and more.
Anyways, apparantly my thoughts have been fueled with really strong coffee…
I can only see her turning clockwise no matter how hard i try
Rotated clockwise for me on first try – took about 15 seconds to get her to reverse. But I am *very” “left-brained” by the standards you give – science grad, computer programmer, unemotional (externally at least), tend to pedantry, impatient with philosophy and “spiritual” concepts.
I see her turning clockwise and also the other way but more easy clockwise.is it good or not?
this is really interesting at first i saw it going clockwise but now if i stare at her foot on the ground i can actually turn her in any direction i like i can even have her go in semi circles alternating between the two pretty easily now. Great site very fun!
counterclockwise..can’t get it to swiitch for anything.
It seems to me it all depends on which way her foot is facing when you look at her the first time. I notice this because initially, i always see her spinning clockwise, but if i stare at her reflection on the floor and then look at her again, sometimes she switches to counter clockwise.
I noticed then that if i stop looking at her foot (the one planted on the ground not the one spinning) remove my focus off the direction she is spinning and then uncover her foot again the direction she spins is based on which was the foot was facing… left, she spins clockwise, right she spins counter clockwise.
Someone try it and see if you get the same result, but remember to remove your focus off the way she is spinning before uncovering her foot
DUDE! Mine went from counter-clockwise to clockwise and back and then back to clockwise. Each time it took about 10 sec! Are you sure it doesn’t change on it’s own?