Sep
10
Are you artistic or logic - Maybe both…
September 10, 2007 by Roy Pessis
Look at the dancer below. What do you see? Is she turning clockwise or counter-clockwise? You just can’t help but love these optical illusions.
If you see her turning clockwise (right) then your left side of the brain is doing most of the work, which means you are more of a logic/analyzing person.
If you see the dancer turning counter-clockwise (left) then your right side of the brain is in charge, this means you are the artistic/intuition person.
You control the way the dancer turns. Try looking at this with a few more people and see how everyone sees it different.
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292 Comments so far
I have seen this illusion several times, but I have never heard of this right-brain / left-brain explanation, and frankly, I I have my doubts. Can you provide any references to support it?
Here is an interesting article i found regarding the Left VS Right brain hemisphere processing.
http://www.web-us.com/brain/LRBrain.html
Its rubbish.. If we look upper side..its rotating anti-clockwise.. if we look down.. its rotating clockwise..
So the question is what if you are able to see her rotating in both directions? As I look at it I see her at first rotating counter clockwise. Then with a simple change of thought I see her rotating clockwise and can move back and forth between the two with little or no effort.
I used to ‘trick’ my mind into thinking a spinning radar boom was going the opposite way and it worked. people used to think I was high or something coz I’d sit and stare at a radar boom for ages!
turns out I can do it with this too!
thats another 15mins staring at a web page that I’ll never get back! :-/
I see her going both ways. At first (before I read the post) I thought she supposed to be alternating between the two. What does that mean for me?
I can’t stop looking at her nipples. HOT!!!
This is stupid, she is rotating clockwise, cant you see?
well i just can see the clockwise effect:/
If you see her spinning both ways it means you are a neurotic, you’re brain is flitting back and forth.
Awesome graphic. First I saw counter, then clockwise for a long time; then back to counter again. I guess I a neurotic.
Try this: Once you decide which way it is spinning, either turn your head or your monitor (if you have a laptop) 90 degrees in the opposite direction to her spin for 10 to 15 seconds. Once you set her upright, you should find she has reversed direction. Can you explain that?
Be damned — that 90 degree deal worked, albeit briefly. I’d been seeing it as clearly clockwise; immediately upon turned, it ‘flickered’ and was ‘clearly’ counter clockwise…and then back to clockwise. Wonder if one side ’sees, recognizes, processes’ and the other side ’sees, groups the shape, processes’?
Yeah mine spun Clockwise until I started doing something creative, planning out a senior prank, and then it switched while I was planning it out, then switched back after I was done planning.
Just a random thought… Does anyone think that the sex of the dancer has any connection to how we see them turning? For example, men and women might look at different parts of the body…
[…] great link from Ed. Check out if your brain is more arty-farty or logical. (I am actually not sure if that rotation test is enough, but try it for […]
I’ve looked, blinked, pondered. If you look long enough you will see the woman turning on her left leg for a while, then her right. Tricks abound!
What if I see her standing still and the entire universe spinning around?
I’ve very logical/math oriented, no creative skills, but no matter how hard I try I cannot see her as turning clockwise.
I can get her to spin counter-clockwise easily but if I relax it reverts to clockwise. What does that mean?!?
Only a numptie would fall for this!
Nice prank :))))
WOW…
was very frustrated as could only see her spinning right… tried turning my head left and almost instantly she spun left, then- within a few rotations spun right again!!!
its crazzzzyyyyy!!!!!
This HAS to be a prank… I can only see the clockwise rotation, no matter what I do…
there are two simple tricks i learned to get the direction to switch. If the girl is going clockwise, which is always the case for me on first viewing, you can easily get her to switch to CC. Just focus solely on the shadow of her foot that is going round in circles. Just looking at that shadow for a few seconds, let your eye follow it around and and around, then quickly look back at the figure. She should be spinning the other way now.
It’s harder ( for me ) to reverse it the other way. But a trick i learned is to squint quite hard and focus on just the upper legs of the figure. If you narrow your focus, you should just see the thighs, and without the cues of foot shadow or tracing hand, they should appear as not rotating at all, but simply swishing back and forth. When you see it swishing back and forth, you should be able to easily trick your mind into seeing it rotate clockwise again, then unsquint your eyes and voila!
She is rotating clockwise for me..
I can see her spinning both ways as long as I think about her going one way. And I agree with Frank!
I saw her turning clockwise.
it starts out cw and will stay that way, unless i blink and that makes it go ccw? does that mean i looks touch with the blink of an eye?
Can get her to spin both left and right, guess I’m either completely psychotic or both artistic and logical ;).
turn your head 90 degress and blink a few times very quickly (7 or
whilst looking at her feet and the image should switch for you. it seems to be the brain switches perception only at certain points in the rotation, namely when the legs cross over and at that instance it allows the brain to re-assign what it considers the edges of the body, and consequently allows the brain to determine rotational direction.
Keep watching her hips and see which leg extends to the floor from there. Her legs change, I tell you!
Keep watching her hips and see which leg extends to the floor from there. Her legs change, I tell you! It takes from 60 to 80 bounces or eve more, but watch.
When I first look she is turning clockwise and for no apparent reason starts turning counter-clockwise. Then I took my curser, left clicked around the ankle area, and she moved in the opposite direction. This works to restart the original rotation. Try making circles in the direction you want her to turn. Am I seeing things?
Judi, I think you are seeing things. If I look at the shape of her body, she turns CCW, which merans I am artistic, however, if I also look at the whole page, including the printed part next to the picture, she turns CW. I tried moving the mouse pointer around like Judi says, and it really made no difference. Debbie, the legs might change for you, but they don’t for me, no matter which way she is turning.
This is an old trick… the dancer actualy is rotating in both directions, it (or she)rotates to the right for about 30secs and then to the left…..look at it aagain.
Ah! I think I understand. *Spoilers* She’s not actually rotating in one direction at all. If you watch her legs closely, you will see that it all depends on whether you see the leg that is up higher as in front of or behind the other leg. Since her entire figure is black, it’s open to interpretation. Try staring at her legs for while, and try to switch in your mind which one you think is passing in front of or behind the other. Blink a few times! Very tricky.
I see it both ways. Directly Clockwise and out of my peripheral vision counter-clockwise but naturally clockwise…
I can see it turn both ways. Stare at her feet and you can get it to change.
I actually see both. But my first instinct was that she was going clockwise.
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/angular_momentum.jpg
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I saw her as CCW. Looking at the shadow, she is obviously lit from above and behind. The shadow on the lower leg remains in view. The shadow of the raised leg appears only when the leg is behind her. That being the case, the direction of motion is CCW.
I’m dyslexic and find turning her one way then the other quite easy, don’t know if the two are related!
ppl don’t you get it this is a prank! the dancer turns clockwise on her left leg…and the she goes anti-clockwise. someone challenge me if they think otherwise ;P ie. the picture is controlling itsefl and has nothing to do with your brain! lol
The whole “right brained” versus “left brained” dichotomy is at best an over simplification and at worst, pseudo-science.
Except in some rather unusual brain injury cases cases, we are all full brained. We just happen to have our brains organized in different ways. Left-handedness tends to coincide (note I did not say cause) with certain organizational features; right-handedness with other features; Male brains are predisposed to a certain organizational structure; female brains are to another.
The point is that these are at best, predispositions. There is no way to discern a person’s brain structure from a single outward characteristic.
She spun ccw for me the first time while I was thinking of the ballet class I took last night. When I looked a second time, she spun cw after I started thinking about how silly the right vs. left brain dichotomy was.
This is MY theory:
It’s just a shadow. You can’t really tell if the image is facing forward or backward, but since we are used to people looking at us, our first impression is that the dancer is looking at us. The dancer’s leg is moving left, stops, right, stops etc. If on the split-second your eyes saw the image, the dancer’s leg was moving left - you would think that she was spinning clockwise. If it was moving right - you would think that she was spinning counter-clockwise. From that point, your brain had already decided which direction the dancer was spinning and it would be very difficult to change your mind without looking away. It is NOT about whether you are logic or artistic, but the exact split-second your eyes first saw the image.
How’s my theory?
ahhhh wierd…… I can see it spin both ways…
Does it matter if I can see her spinning clockwise faster & faster? I don’t see her turning counterclockwise though. Maybe I’m too analytical.
The Olympic Blogger
Watch her head and not the rest of her body. That’s all I’m saying.
Well, I personally see her spin in both directions… so for those of you who insist it is a prank because we’re being brain washed by the powers of persuasion, well, you don’t know what you’re talking about. But, as I AM skeptical, I tested the “she changes directions every 30 seconds” theory by having someone else look at he picture at the same time and having both of us call out the times when she changed direction. Result: we BOTH saw her switch directions at different times. Thus proof this is NOT a prank, but rather, a clever optical illusion. Well done.
I have watched the rotation of her ponytail, hips, feet, knees, nipples, legs… I only see her turning clockwise. I’ll try to look again tomorrow.
CAN’T SEE A DAMN THING?
wHAT’S WRONG?
Hey i’m not right minded!! Every test i make says i’m left minded!!
I think the real question is: which way IS the 3D model actually rotating?
Anyhow, I can switch back and forth by force of will, but it sticks to whatever direction I told it to spin last unless I concentrate again.
Eu consigo ve-la a rodar para os 2 lados, basta olhar para os pes durnate uns segundos e imaginar o lado para onde quero que rode e já está…
I can see it turn both ways, i just have to stare to her feet for a while and imagine the side i want her to turn and its done…
I cannot believe people actually fall for things like this.
Kind of garbage. That would mean i can freely change the side of my brain controlling my thoughts and actions, because i can see the - gorgeous - dancer turning avery side i want to with a slight conscious effort. ¿Does that make some kind of a genius? Doubt so.
I think she is turning sometimes clockwise and sometimes counter-clockwise… I am using both parts of my brian!!! jeje.
I first saw her spinning anti-clockwise but everytime I blink the direction changes!
I normally hate people saying it’s a fake but…this is. Old trick, the image clearly turns both ways after a good amount of time. You can view the foot and see it clearly changes direction in a way that is no an illusion. Sorry guys
I don’t think its a fake, Robert. After a few minutes of trying, I discovered that if I look down, off the screen, and watch while my eyes are focused on my desk, she switches to counterclockwise. this effect was 100% repeatable, and also the opposite, if I looked up above the screen, she went back to clockwise.
The shadow of her outward-pointing foot is always rotating clockwise, so the graphic isn’t changing direction.
This was a fun post, thanks!
She is rotating both ways. When she switches the direction of rotation, she stops for a few milliseconds; you will notice it if you just stare at her and don’t look anywhere else. She might be switching to rotating in clockwise and counter-clockwise randomly between 20 seconds and 90 seconds.
Also when she is rotating clockwise, right foot and right hand are pointing outward. When she is rotating counter-clockwise, left foot and left hand are pointing outward.
Prove me wrong!
all i see is clockwise. call me dumb. but really, i dun see it turning counter-clockwise
aung:she is not switching at a time interval!:D I can do the switch at any moment. You can too. Just focus on the shadow. It’s easier to make your mind think that it rotates in the needed direction, if you just watch the shadow. Watch (only) the shadow, choose a direction, and voila.
try being creative.. paint.. then look
then be logic focused… math .. she switches depending on which side is dominating at that time!
try being creative.. paint.. then look
then be logic focused… math .. she switches depending on which side is dominating at that time!
after realizing the truth i can just laugh at the law how human mind starts giving explanation . its a clear pendulum in oscillation. that means neither clockwise nor anticlockwise.
if u put two fingers on the two extremities of the leg movement and just see the moving leg and not the rest of the body you will clearly see it.
Get your eyes to focus behind the dancer for a few seconds and you’ll “see” her go the opposite way.
I only see it going clockwise. I watched it for a long time and now I’m dizzy. Not sure what that says about my brain, but the best part of this is everyone’s comments, lol.
well i opened this image in adobe imageready and the animation shows it changes direction after each full turn..illusion?? i think not
well…after a few full turns
What you see is not what you THINK you see. That’s the purpose of optical illusions: to trick the brain, no more, no less…
this is gay
This is a simple trick, an optical illusion, not a brain structure or inclination test. Indeed, you can see the dancer spinning clockwise and counter-clockwise. This is because, she is not really fully rotating, she is just moving like a pendulum, like Gaurav and Andrew Carothers noticed (see above). People have said that they can see she switching direction at time intervals, or depending of what they think. Actually, the animated dancer switches direction every half turn. When the leg that is risen reaches an edge, it switches direction. Why we don’t realize this? Obviously, once our brain have “decided” which direction she is rotating, it tends to stick with that decision. So, Uri Kalish got it all: “The dancer’s leg is moving left, stops, right, stops etc. If on the split-second your eyes saw the image, the dancer’s leg was moving left - you would think that she was spinning clockwise. If it was moving right - you would think that she was spinning counter-clockwise. From that point, your brain had already decided which direction the dancer was spinning and it would be very difficult to change your mind without looking away. It is NOT about whether you are logic or artistic, but the exact split-second your eyes first saw the image.” Also, once we have decided which direction she is spinning, we tend to focus our attention on the upper part of the figure (especially men!). To notice the trick, you must look at the risen foot. Not a natural thing to do. So, that is: a nice trick, but just that!
I’m just wondering why the model has nipples!
It took me a while to see her going counterclockwise until I realized the trick is to visualize the extended leg as either her left or right leg. Once you decide it’s her right, after a few seconds you have no choice but see her going clockwise. To see her do it the other way, just focus on the extended leg being the left one.
Voila.
It’s a trick - the animation changes itself from clockwise to counterclockwise after a time.
Sorry, I was wrong about that, it doesn’t change itself. You really can make the direction change, even going half way one way and half way the other every time! Weird perceptual stuff here!!!
Come on folks it goes both ways silly silly
It’s her feet .
Look at her feet and decide which way you want her to go. Use the feet.
For you that can’t see that the figure can appear as rotating in both directions, I say: sorry guys, try again.
“we look upper side… its rotating anti-clockwise… if we look down… its rotating clockwise…
No. The upper side is always ambiguous with respect of direction, implying no direction (or both directions if you prefer), allowing you choose what direction you want. The down side is ambiguous too, but reveals some inconsistencies that a real object would not. If this was a real 3D object, lightened by a near light source, the shadow of the risen foot would change shape and size depending on the distance between the foot and the light source. This does not occur (because, of course, is a graphic). If we try to interpret the image assuming that the light source is distant, the brain would expect that the shadow of the risen foot should exhibit changes in sharpness according to the distance between the foot and the surface where the shadow is being projected. This does not occur too. (Because, the trick of this illusion is to play the same the sequence of the images twice, one time in one direction and then in reverse order). I think these inconsistencies (that reveal the trick!) in the lower part is the reason why the graphic author has chosen a naked woman figure. The intention, besides leading us to think of rotation as “natural”, is to attract our eyes to the upper part of the image. Since the risen foot size and shape does not vary as expected, a clever observer of the lower part would say that, based on the information provided by this foot, the dancer changes direction every half turn. So, that is all: the figure really moves like a pendulum, as some people have noticed. Again, helps build the illusion that the figure is a naked woman. If it were a mechanical apparatus, we would think of this “pendulum-like” movement as natural.
“The shadow of her outward-pointing foot is always rotating clockwise, so the graphic isn’t changing direction.”
“I saw her as CCW. Looking at the shadow, she is obviously lit from above and behind. The shadow on the lower leg remains in view. The shadow of the raised leg appears only when the leg is behind her. That being the case, the direction of motion is CCW.”
No. The shadow, as all the rest of this image, can be interpreted as rotating clockwise or counter- clockwise. The upper part of the graphic provides no clue with respect of direction. Think of the shadow of a rotating cylinder; then think the cylinder has a needle (or an arm) in its side. You can see it is rotating looking at the shadow, but you wouldn’t be able to tell in which direction. Same thing! The down side provides both ambiguous and conflicting information about direction (the only “clue” is that the figure changes direction at each half turn), so the brain decides the dancer is rotating (this is natural!), pick one direction and sticks with that. This, for me, is most of the time totally random, like Uri above said. Although, I can think of a couple of reasons for we, westerns, notice the clockwise movement first: we read left-to-right and top-to-bottom, so we would notice the left-to-right movement of the risen foot first. That would not be the case for arabs.
“Old trick, the image clearly turns both ways after a good amount of time.”
“She might be switching to rotating in clockwise and counter-clockwise randomly between 20 seconds and 90 seconds.”
No. The only “clue” for the brain to notice this “turn” is the risen foot. Based on that, the image turns direction at each half cicle!
“try being creative.. paint.. then look… then be logic focused… math .. she switches depending on which side is dominating at that time!”
No. She switches randomly! She switches also based on our decision! She switches when the brain decides to make adjustments when he becomes aware of the only clue about direction that the image gives. Again, for me, this is totally random. As someone said above, prove me wrong! “;0)
The dancer is turning in both directions. She starts her dance clockwise and does so for some time, but then she starts turning counter-clockwise and that goes so for some time till next change in direction.
so when i first saw it clockwise then read then saw it counter. then I was able to make it go back and forth by changing the way I looked at it, kind of re focusing my eyes. freaky, man, freaky.
I see her doing flips! What does that mean for my brain?
I see only clockwise, no matter what…I just want somebody to turn on the lights!!!!
If I see it in my left peripheral vision, she is spinning counter clockwise, but straight on, she appears to be spinning clockwise. In most tests, I’ve been right brained, and happen to be an artist by trade, so I wonder if this truly does indicate whether you are logical or artistic. My husband, who is very logical and not the least artistic, can see it both ways, too, but first say it as counter clockwise. It sure is interesting.
dam the spin thing what’s up with the head it looks like a space monster ” OH MY GOD RUN FOR YOUR LIFE “
she keeps spinning counter-clockwise and clockwise over and over for me? So do i have any problem with it?
[…] Are you artistic or logic? […]
This is NOT a trick.
I can switch her direction by concentrating at the point her heel hits the ground.
I can demonstrate that it isn’t a trick by setting in advance a variable number of turns I will allow her in each direction then flipping her at the right time.
Hey,I was wondering if it’s really my brain that is flipping left and right or is it really the dancer is doing the little trick slightly altering the movement of the legs and the posture of the upper body?Because if you really watch the picture carefully you could actually see it switching with no effort of a change of thought.
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article o.us poetry, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
Antonio Luz got this right (I had the same conclusion). Halfway right, halfway left. It’s an optical illusion
Shot, are you a homophobic? Whats this has to do anything with being gay or not?
she’s hot…I’d totally do her if I was a digital clock-wise spinning dude
Just keep repeating, forward, back, each turn, as you look at the lower shadow. It is annoying to say the least, but interesting. The gender is distracting. I was able to cycle many times this way, turn for turn, to discount any trick, but I would have to spend an hour to be sure, that ain’t happening. Nice! I saw it turn clockwise at first. I am a bit of an artist, and left handed.
at first, it was always her left arm bent, then after i read the article, it switched.
then after kinda blurring my eyes and flicking them around, it would switch back and forth.
if you look at it out of the corner of your eye, it looks kinda like a speed skater coming at you. when it’s doing that, choose one way or the other for it to be. as you look at the picture again, it’ll be that.
if i unfocus my eyes i just looks like her leg is wriggling back and forth so i can convince myself shes spinning either way…
i dont think the question is which way is she actually spinning but how you see her spinning
but i agree with the whole being a neurotic thing if you have to see her spnning both ways
at first i saw her rotating left. now that i now the trick i cand see her spinning in the direction that i want. easy.
it is very frustratingly difficult for me to “change directions”, but i managed it…
this is so bizarre.. its not even funny
At first i saw her rotating clock-wise, but when i looked at the shadow on the floor out of the corner of my eye she started rotating counter-clock-wise.
I took a look at the shadow again and she switched again, i can see her switch direction by simply looking at the shadow on the floor, i don’t know why. Does that mean i’m both ?
I thought i would be locked into clockwise, but watching the feet intensly did the trick.
Damn, nice picture!
Why the hell are the nipples showing? This is so gratuitous. Dancers wear clothes, call her a stripper, or dress her up. Way to objectify women.
The dancer is just a series of flat images but because of the profile details (nose, nipples general frilly edge bits at the extreme left and right pictures) the brain has to fill in the gaps / jump to conclusions and decides this is a 3D rotating object. That’s when it depends which side of the brain dominates.
Like Andrew I have to look at the legs and view them as a pendulum swinging against a flat page, to switch the imaginary rotation one way to the other, but I guess that still makes most of us very mentally balanced if neither hemisphere truly dominates? Ambi-something?
hey,,,i dunno about any one else, but i’d like to mention “Robert”: it’s not fake it’s just that it takes a little while to ger used to it…i used that 90 degree approach as mentioned by chrisJ, and it seemed to work for sometime…..it’s just mind taking it…if u can see enough u’d be able to see her rotating which ever way u want to see, and that too as frequent as u want to change her direction, even more than 2 directions/sec….u can change the direction of her rotation with every blink, and that can be as fast as u can blink…it’s a good optical illusion…believe me!
I had difficulty changing it from clockwise to ccw, but I knew it had to be possible, because it is a twodimensional silhouette, which by definition doesn’t contain information to define te direction of rotation. Think about this for simple shapes and you know this is true.
So your brain has to fill in that blank, and therefore automatically does. When I finally found ‘the route’ to make the flip it was simple to choose how to perceive the rotation, although my first assumption remains the default whenever I look back at it. Whether the initially perceived direction says anything about the way my mind works I’m not sure.
Every time I look it changes, how do you classify me then?
Its not your brain the dancer spins both ways with a ultra quick change of direction
You being fooled
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Wow, that is amazing how the mind works. At first i did see her going clockwise, and then i thought about something totally unrelated and for a split second when i looked back she was going counter clockwise. i found that by focusing on her foot (the one closest to the center) i could switch the illusion and get her to rotate counter clockwise, but every time i look back thinking about her she is rotating clockwise, until i stare at her for a few seconds.
Try to imagine that you are inlove with Angelina Jolie and the dancer will move counter-clockerwise. Then start to count some numbers. For example 2+6+8+20 and the dancer will move clockerwise. Explanation: the left part of the brain helps us beeing logical, rational and the right side is related with imagination, creativity.
Life is so interesting…
you crazy bastards.
So many little tricks to make her flip. My favorite was when I could see here just rotation from side to side, not in full rotations. Best thing ever; however it works, whatever it means.
I don’t get it. It couldn’t be more obvious to me that it’s counter-clockwise, and i’ve been staring at it for at least 30 minutes. When she’s facing you (not open to interpretation, mind you) the extended arm and leg are on the right side of the screen. When she’s facing away, they’re on the left side. How could this be anything other than counter-clockwise? Counter-clockwise from above, that is — it would be clockwise if you were looking from below. If you were the dancer, you would feel as though you were moving to the left.
What am I missing? I wish it would change for me just once, but it hasn’t.
The first time I looked at it it looked to be going clockwise. I was kind of startled because I am an artist, after all. But, after I stared at it for awhile, the woman suddenly started spinning counter clockwise.
So, I guess I must have a bit of both??
Kind of like when you wiggle a pencil to make it looks like it bends.
I was watching for a long time and had a sudden pain in my left eyt and now I can’t see out of it. Anybody else had this happen?
I agree with the commenter Antonio Luz. It does change directions…and everything else he says.
This sort of thing does my head in, frankly! I don’t need a nude rotating woman to tell me if I’m artistic or logical, what a load of balls.
I’m confused. I know I’m not crazy. At first I only saw her go clockwise, and I watched for several minutes. Then I went on to actually read the text and when I went back to looking at the image it was then moving counter-clockwise? *Confused*
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its all about depth perception. because the dancer is a silhouette, you never know if the spinning leg is in front or behind her. if you dont get it, focus on the shadow and you should be able to flipflop back and forth between the two directions because a shadow never has depth so the concept may be easier to grasp.
this is a hoax, you fools!!
the gif image starts to turn to the other side by itself if you wait enough. it has nothing to do with the perception, it is just the code in it.
i agree that it’s a hoax. it has nothing at all to do with which part of your brain’s hemisphere you are using. she rotates both clockwise and counter-clockwise. try moving your mouse up and down and you will see that when the screen moves the dancing girl also changes direction.
The trick is in the fact that it’s actually a 2 dimensional image, it’s an illusion that she’s turning either way as that would require 3 dimensions. But, if you want to play with it, just change your focus so you’re imagining looking behind her, and you’ll see the leg swinging around behind her (counter clockwise) Then focus in front of her and you’ll see the swinging leg crossing in front (clockwise) If want to take more of a reality trip, see it 2 dimensionally… oohhh, feels like waking up. Spoiler Alert - TV will never be the same.
very interesting, at first i saw her move anti-clockwise then after looking away from the screen for a fraction of a second she was moving clockwise, impressive!
[…] And by far one of the trippiest illusions I’ve encountered. It’s so trippy, it can tell you how you think. I can see both ways, but it seems impossible for both ways to be possible [link] […]
Who creates these things. It can’t be a lucky shot. You have to know how things work. What do they know.
What does it mean if you see it flip part way through?
this one is cool!
At first counter clockwise, then clockwise. Also it’ll change direction if you click the scroll button- up or down. Marci
it’s a trick, the model is spinning, but the perspective is not accelerated, so you can’t actually tell which is the right direction, everything is about prejudices.
I personally feel hard to make it spin counterclockwise, however, i did managed to see it this way too, it’s all about guessing. Does nothing to do with the brain. I believe that all algorithmically thinkers will see the left 2 right (clockwise) movement first. However this is not a rule.
she is NOT rotating at all. Merely going back and forth 180 degrees or so before the animated graphic refreshes. Your perception wants to complete the animation in a rotation and has a tendency to do so either left or right. neither of which means you are anything. just my opinion.
She spins both ways because the animation SWITCHES IN THE MIDDLE. You can clearly make out which way she is spinning by looking at the shape of her hips and buttocks (without being a perv); you can KNOW which way she is facing, and thus which way her hips go.
Now…keep watching, and you’ll see this all flip, because the graphic has CHANGED.
It’s a trick, that so many have fallen victim to…
If you use one hand to cover her torso and the other hand to cover her feet (so you can only see her legs) you can see one leg oscillating like a pendulum and the other leg’s knee turning to the left then to the right, then to the left, then to the right. Nothing is rotating.
My husband and I are watching this at the same time and we see different things. We can both make her switch but not at the same time.
its going clockwise 100% sure
Clockwise, my Dears. Be the dancer! You turn towards your right hand; only the space -then-
seems to turn counter clockwise.
Nice try but she actually changes the direction of rotation every once in a while…. to easy!
[…] via […]
Hi, i have not read all the comments here. I think that according to the shadow the spinning should be anti-clockwise all the time but the illusion of the body itself is very nice
she rotate in two side
According to the shadow of her left leg, she turns counter-clockwise(right->left). I can`t see no illusion here, and I`m not artistic.
wow! its true.. Initially I couldn’t see it happening clockwise.. but in some comment below i learnt the trick to see it in the other way- by focussing only on the foot and the reflection first than the whole image.. Pretty cool..
hey!.. not true!! It does change after some time its rotation direction
Pretty cool 
I think the animation chages its direction occasionally
if you watch the gray shadow of her foot and her foot you can see her go from left to right and back left and not rotate at all
It is all an illusion guys.There is no movement at all. Look in the GIF.
God I cannot believe everyone was tricked in such a way. The image is just designed so that it changes the direction ist spins. look at the right arm - once it spins cockwise and then counterclockwise. this is complete bulshit.And does not tell anything about your logistic or artistic capabilities. hahahaha
You are very stupid! The lady fist turns counter clockwise and than clockwise but the change is in the flash-picture not in your brain!!! After a minute or two it turns again counter-clockwise!!!
It’s great!
it’s nothing, just a 3d model spinning clockwise, download the .gif file run it with Adobe Image ready - this will show you the whole 34 frames of it. It’s spinning CLOCKWISE. If you see the woman turns counter-clockwise it’s not because you’re using your right side of the brain, it’s because you’re not using it at all!!!
Hei, Steve! We also have Image Ready and other nice software. What stays beyond this software is the absolutely beautiful observation of the author of this illusion: Every frame in this animated gif represents 2 symmetric positions of the woman’s body (of course without the side positions - they are unique). So for every frame you cannot say if the woman is with her’s face forwards or backwards … or with other words - every silhouette represents two body position turned in 180 degrees. So comes the illusion. Compliments to the author who observed that!
Oh … and I’m not saying that I use my brain at all
If you’ve got the idea, then it will be easy for you to “learn” yourself to change the turning directions.
Best regards
This dancer is phenomenal! I can make her swing from side to side without going through a whole turn. I can change her at will. Wow!!
I can get her to dance back and forth. A half turn in one direction, and half in the other at will. you have to relax. Its like Chinese handcuffs. The harder you try, the less you are able to change her direction. The more you try to “follow” her and “make” her turn the less you’re able to do so.
Look at the foot thats on the ground, when it gets to where the middle would be look at it. RELAX. Just let it be and see it go left, right, left, right. Let your eyes then travel to the rest of her body.
When you try hard Your left brain is fighting for superiority. Its trying to “understand” whats going on and trying to “perform” a task in a “logical” manner. This is the very thing that keeps it from happening. The right brain, on the other hand, is not “thinking” at all, its just observing. You need both sides to make it change back and forth. The brain needs to be balanced.
Hey, all you disbelievers. This is a process that allows you to exercise your gray matter. As I said in my first post, I can make her turn side to side without completing a whole spin all the way around. So… focus on her feet or lower legs. When you want her to change, imagine it ahead of it happening. At that moment is when your focus switches from left to right brain or vice-versa. It’s done by your thoughts. Think visually, see it happen. When you make the change INSIDE YOUR MIND, she then turns the way you think about. The fact that you will see her change direction is the shift that goes from your left brain to your right brain or back again. It’s all a process of the mind and allows you to experience a teeny, teeny bit of what the brain is capable of doing. If you want to exercise and use both sides of your brain more fully, this is one of the best points of focus I’ve ever seen.
Amazing how some people are so negative - if they don’t see it or get it they dismiss it as being a prank - even though several others confirm they can see it go either one way or the other.
In my experience - she goes left, then right - simply backwards and forwards each turn and as someone else says - your brain lets you decided to continue on the direction that you first see. I only concentrated on the shadow below her feet after a while and could very simply see it go left, then right, then left - it is a very clever optical illusion - not a brain test so don’t stress about what kind of person you are through this test - it is just a trick for the eyes and a great one I think!
One more tip - only watch the shadow of the foot furthest away from the ground - don’t watch the shadow of the foot on the ground and you will see the image go right - then left, then right - but if you look up to her body your brain will allow it to see the continuation of whichever direction it saw first and you will find it hard to see it change once you believe this is the direction that she is going in. So - look away and just look at that shadow of the raised foot and you will see the secret…
I can see her turn both directons
She is changing her legs..so you can see her turn both directions..this don’t depends on your look..it depends when you see her..
the trick is to turn your screen 90 degrees to the right.if she is still moving to the left then take her from behind.
that will teach her
I have the answer.
If you look at the image first with the foot on the left side, it goes CCW.
If you look at the image first with the foot on the right side, it goes CW.
it’s def a trick..she is spinning both ways, and I think it’s preset..we’re not changing her with our minds. I looked long enough…
I really doubt whether this has anything to do with left brain vs right brain. It’s more to do with where you assume you’re watching from - like the cube illusion or seeing moon craters as hills if they’re illuminated from the ‘wrong’ direction. Note that the swinging foot goes high over the bouncing foot in one direction (L-R) and skims low over it in the other (R-L). I think our brain takes that as a cue as to whether the swinging leg is behind the jumping leg or in front of it at each pass - if it crosses in front as she jumps, she’s going clockwise, it we see it go behind as she jumps, anticlockwise.
I honestly don’t know if I’m just strange, but I can’t tell what side minded I am. I first saw it going counter-clockwise then I did some serious thinking and it led to it going clockwise. It much just be a coincidence but when I thought of the topic of religion and art…it went counter-clockwise, when I thought about my desired scientific fact thoughts it started turning clockwise…they are right when they say you can control the way it turns, however is it possible to be centre minded and if so, I think I am (or just a complete nut job which seems possible)
CCW is all I see after watching for several minutes.
THIS IS STUPID, SHE GOES BOTH WAYS, AT FIRST SHE GOES CLOCKWISE THEN SHE GOES COUNTER CLOCKWISE, THEN SHE GOES CLOCKWISE AGAIN SO THIS IS STUPID, ANY1 THAT BELIEVES THIS SHIT IS DUMB
The direction she spins depends on which foot ( right or left) you think she has touching the ground. If you can’t see her spin but one way, you need to force yourself to see her with the oppisite foot touching the ground. You can do this by only looking at her feet and forcing your eyes to see the other foot down. She will then rotate the other way.
[…] you artistic or logic - Maybe both Original Site Look at the dancer below. What do you see? Is she turning clockwise or counter-clockwise? You just […]
[…] turns. Try looking at this with a few more people and see how everyone sees it different. Source I can only see her spin CW…. Apparently some folks can switch between her spinning CW & […]
It took my wife a half hour to see it change direction and I had it change within a second and one time I got it to switch from CCW to CW back to CCW in the blink of an eye, that fast.. so I do not believe its a preset amount like half a turn. Until she finally saw it change she thought I was crazy.
Easy way to change it on the fly!
Look at JUST shadow beneath her feet. Then back up.
I actually thought that this was a trick animated gif just to play with everyone, but had a friend next to me telling me completely different directions that I was seeing.
Interesting.
You are screwing with my mind! I used the hemispheric dominance test in one of my lectures and a lot of people I know hadn’t heard of the left/right distinction. I scored a 5.96 which indicates a preference for the right brain. If you search google for it there is a basic test out there.
I can control how she is spinning. It’s easy if you concentrate on her leg, you will see it going from left to right and returning to left and so on. If you choose a moment when her leg is going from left to right, look at her body and she will spin counter-clockwise. Else, if you choose a moment when her leg is going from right to left,she will spin clockwise!!
She will turn left or right depending how you look at it. Nothing to do with left or right brainedness.As the originator suggested, I tried looking at this with ‘a few more peope’ to find out whether, as claimed, they all see it different. Of course they didn’t all see it differently. About half saw it one way, half saw it the other way. For them all to see it differently (there were nine of us) there would need to be at least nine variations.
Mr Pedant with too much times on his hands.
Thank you.
I can only see she spinning counter-closkwise all the time , I have tried all the solution some of u has given above but all the results are still the same … what’s wrong with me >_>
Sorry. She is not moving counter-clockwise no matter how you look at it.
If you look at the leading leg, there’s no way to get it mixed up!
OMG! what a great post to attract so many comments, long live SU!
http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/images/lady-hag.gif
What do you see? An old lady or a young lady?
Same ting
I see her turning clockwise. I’ve done this before and frankly, I can’t even imagine how anyone can see her as turning counter-clockwise.
I’d love to know where you got this from… You seem to be the first place to have posted the loop that I could find. In later revisions, the direction of spin and side of the brain has been switched!!!
I only see her going clockwise no matter which way I look at it and I am an artist…go figure. Plus been tested before and I am more right brained. Also I saw this on another website and it said clockwise is right brained so which is it?
The other websites that show this dancer say that if you see her rotating clockwise, you are right brained and not left brained as it states above. So clockwise is artistic and anti-clockwise is logical. Any thoughts on that?
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html
Guys, she is really rotating in both directions. When she is rotating clockwise she is standing on her left leg and when she is rotating counter-clockwise she is standing on her right. So this is just a trick. If you watch for 5 min you will all see her spinning in both directions.
The girl is spinning in both direction! this is definitely not the work of the brain but the intelligence and detail of the observer!
All that you need to do to see this is an optical illusion is have someone else look at with you. I thought the same as everyone else that it was just switching back and forth. I still don’t understand how it works because I can make it switch back and forth anytime and when I do the legs switch. But I had another co worker looking at it with me and we were looking at the same picture and it was going different ways. This is how I can get it to move back and forth. Watch only the extended foot. As soon as it gets to the edge of the screen blink and then you will see it start to change direction with the other leg. I don’t know how it works, but it does
OMG I’m getting so frustrated that I can’t get it to turn counter-clockwise!!! =@ I think my brain is 100% logic. Grr. For once I wish it wasn’t.
Btw, is it REALLY necessary to have the dancer so detailed?
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22535838-5012895,00.html
ya, I even observe that she is rotating in both the directions. Now I want to know hoe this is related in analyzing the brain work…
Шо ви таки смотрите на куда она крутицца ? У этой деффки цыцки и попа зачотные !!! Отвечаю !!!
Ohhh, she is just changing the directions
There are 34 frames in this animation. The figure herself is in fact animated, (following the sequence of frames from left to right), initially in a clockwise direction. There is no ambiguity in the first dozen frames but it is on frame #11 - #12 that the reflection of the outstretched foot first appears. It emerges from the right and swings around to the left i.e. anti-clockwise. If you have a good sense of 3D visualization then you will understand that for this to happen the the foot needs to be moving away from the viewer…and as it first appears on the right and moves to the left, this means it is rotating anti-clockwise. Again you need to be able see this in your mind as 3D. The figure herself is also now in an “ambiguous” state at this point and as a static image you can see the image as both a front and back view. What that simply means is that the perceived direction of rotation of the figure can now be correctly viewed as both anti-clockwise and clockwise. That is the point where the brain can potentially make the transition, the switch from seeing the spin change from one direction to the other.
However, I maintain that when viewed in motion, an anticlockwise spin is in fact the only direction at this point that would make sense in terms of the behavior and look of the reflection. For her foot reflection to appear in the image from left and disappear on the right as it does, an anti-clockwise rotation can be the only true representation of what would REALLY happen in a real-world situation.
What I’m saying here has nothing to do with whether one can see it spin in both directions, or whether one direction can more easily be witness than the other. What I am saying is that of the two possible ways to view the spin direction only one of those directions mimics what would actually happen in reality, and it all comes down to the behavior and look of the reflection.
The assumption I make is that this is a 2D representation of a 3D figure that is spinning on a reflective mirror-like surface. I use the word reflection because I don’t believe a shadow could be produced like this without using a light source that also rotated with the figure. Again, you need to be able to accurately visualize this in 3D to understand.
So, to summarize; yes, she can be seen to rotate both clockwise and anti-clockwise in this animation, but for those with a good sense of 3D visualization it will be clear that the reflection is only ever correct, and a true representation of what would be witnessed if a real woman were spinning on a mirror, IF she was spinning anti-clockwise.
the girl changes directions if you watch closely her shadow will go the opposite way and she will eventually turn direction fron cw to ccw
At first I saw the image turning clockwise, then in a snap it changes direction. I forced my mind into humming a song and snap it turns anti-clockwise. when i start thinking about philosophy it turns back to clockwise spinning. interesting!
OOh It’s cool!Eeverybody sees different!!!
a reason to fight with couple of friends…no doubt we see it different …
Actually she turns both ways at different times. My wife saw it from the first glance, it took a while for me to see it.
Actually the question is for us who see both directions changing, is this done on purpose or is it our brains that are the twetchewers twickters?
My roommates and I just stared at it for a few minutes, and we ALL saw her switch to counter clockwise at the same moment, and then back. The image is changing. Watch her feet. I can see how it would be tricky if you stare at her butt, but if you watch the foot that it sticking out you will clearly see it switch directions.
I tried reloading a few times. It is clockwise at first, and then counter for a few seconds, and then goes back and stays clockwise. That explains why most people see it as clockwise.
Now, the question is, where did this site come from and who set that up?
Do not look at anything except her face. She goes both ways and all the rest is hogwash about the brain.
Matt - “Just a random thought… Does anyone think that the sex of the dancer has any connection to how we see them turning? For example, men and women might look at different parts of the body…”
That’s not a random thought - that is a well thought out proposition clearly connected to this article.
This is a random thought:
privit hedge
Try to start this GIF twice. Then what if I turn left dancer CW and right dancer CCW or left dancere CCW and right dancer CW.
It’s cool
It changes direction when you mouse over
At last!!! After 20mins of staring i finally can control the way she spins! Its all about concentration on her feet but i think that if i concentrate a little bit more on a picture, that girl will surely come to life. For the protocol .. her boobs are far more impressive then the way she spins
I can see her turning in both sides.. what now?
you people are crazy, she changes after a few minutes….your not looking at it in different ways, it just changes….geez
Has anyone bothered recreating the .gif file frame by frame to ensure no hidden reversal of directions was added? It’s the only way to be sure for yourself that none were added by a software timer of sorts (as opposed to adding more frames in reversed order.) IMO, having forward and reverse frames like this .gif does is suspicious. Also suspicious are the shadows. If you look at the first half of the frames, the girl clearly moves cw. Shouldn’t we be able to see the effect even if there were no frames in reverse order included in the .gif?
That aside, what if the object was a symmetrical double helix (with or without) a shadow? You would definitely see the same illusion. Just imagine if you’ve seen (in real life with no software trickery involved) one of those double helix-shaped wind ornaments or even ever seen the illusion of a car’s wheel spinning backward as you’re driving next to it, spinners aside. A double helix could appear to be spinning either cw or ccw, depending on whether you focus on either the top or the bottom surface of any partial elliptical curve on either side of it.
The critical issue in all of this I think is whether any illusion like this really determines which side of your brain you use predominantly. As Steve said, and I have to agree, it is a matter of using your logical left side to make an initial assumption of which way the model is moving vs. getting confused by the visual cues which are inconsistent, so seeing the image switch direction would seem to be your brain trying to decide which direction the cues point toward- in essence, and as Steve said, whether or not you’re using your brain, not whether your using your right or left half. By saying that, insulting anyone is not my intent. What I do mean is that thinking she switches directions despite the visual cues would make it seem to be the case that you are confused because of conflicting visual cues. Thoughts?
it’s clockwise though!
Opened it in Animation Shop 3 and it’s only 34 frames at 0.03 fps, nothing sneaky.
The Associated Press article where this .gif appeared lists these brain characteristics:
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
Most people consistently see the dancer spinning counter-clockwise even though the visual clues are constantly reversing. The direction of the spinning comes down to how our brain processes what are eyes are seeing. Once our brains have settled on a direction we perceive a change in direction only once our brains have recognised that within this very short loop the dancer is not spinning but turning from one direction to the other.
Is this a hoax? No.
A trick? Yes, because it plays on the fact that our brains interpret the inconsistencies of the animation in various ways.
That is the fun of illusions.
Who ever made this illusion first is a genius.
All these naysayers are fucking retards. I’ve opened the GIF up and gone through it frame by frame. There are ONLY enough frames for ONE rotation. There is NO trick change of direction built in. This is NOT a prank.
If it were, you would not have people saying they could watch all day and still only see one direction. If it were, everyone would be able to easily tell because of the consistent time interval upon which it would change. There is no time interval. This is real.
Curiously enough though, the dancer does appear to change legs along with rotation. I don’t understand how the image would be constructed in such a way that the brain would accept different legs as the pivot leg…
Was lookin’ for this… I might even
have to throw down a bookmark.
Nickster
_____________________________
Iphone Picture
All those who are seeing her spinning in both directions have to work with their perspective thinking
There is no illusion, you could trink water and beleive it’s a juise with a good bit of imagination
If you focus your eyes on her feets and then “rotate” your eyes counter-clockwize you’ll see her spinning counter-clockwize and vice versa. Probably related to the 90 degree trick. But I guess you’re not supposed to use tricks, just look at it. Unless you’re crunching numbers, then maybee you’d like to try “rotating” you’re eyes clockwize.
Blooming eck she just changes direction! Had a laugh reading everyones comments tho! Next one please!!
“you could trink water and believe it’s a juise with a good bit of imagination”
“she just changes direction”
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No!
It isn’t a simple change within the image, but whatever it is, it IS a very elaborate trick that has more to do with the brain than just imagination