Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Are you right brain or left brain?

You may have seen this before, but my friend Heather sent this along. Check out this link here and let me know if you see the girl rotating clockwise or counterclockwise.

At first all I could see was her turning clockwise, which I guess means I use more of my right brain. This was interesting for me to know, because I never thought of myself as particularly a right brain thinker. But I guess if some of the qualities of a right-brain thinker include "big picture oriented," "can 'get it' (i.e. meaning)," "presents possibilities," and "risk taking," then it makes sense. (Although of course I associate with many of the left-brain qualities, too! Like "words and language," "acknowledges," "forms strategies," and "practical.")

I wasn't able to get her to switch directions until Heather suggested looking unfocused at her feet, and then she switched. So weird! Some of my friends were convinced that it was some technical trick, but yet when we looked at the same screen at the same time, I would see her turning clockwise, while another person would see her continually switching. I'm baffled as to how it works.

So, which part of your brain do you use the most?

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clockwise for me! I can't see her going the other way at all.

Anonymous said...

Ha! That's so interesting. She kept switching back and forth for me. At first she was all clockwise until I tried your unfocusing trick, then she would switch.

Karen McQuestion said...

How fascinating! It was all clockwise for me, even though I tried your unfocusing trick. I've already sent this link to eight people and can't wait to find out what my engineer husband sees.

Thanks for posting this!

Anonymous said...

A friend sent this link to me and my whole family looked at it at the same time. I only saw her going clockwise. I got her to switch one time, by looking at her feet, like you said, but just for a second. My one son saw her switch a lot. My husband saw her counter-clockwise. :)

Maria Mercado said...

This is so cool! I saw her turn clockwise initially and thought it was strange that other people would see her turning the other way-she was CLEARLY turning clockwise. Then I looked at the feet and she switched direction. Bizarre! She switches a lot now, especially when I take my eyes off her for a second and then look back again. Maybe my brain constantly switches too.

Rita said...

We've been completely obsessed. Damon almost convinced me it was an Emperor's New Clothes scam, but I just couldn't believe all my other friends would participate. All that day, D and I could only see clockwise. I followed everyone's tips, but they didn't work.

Toward the end of that night, with serious mind-over-matter effort, I switched it a couple times. (The first time, it happened to me and D for the exact same 2 seconds, and he tried to say the Web site had switched, not us.) My brain hurt, after.

I used to test pretty even on this stuff. A huge debate started over email about whether this actually tested right-brain/left-brain at all. (All the people who could do it said it didn't mean anything. All the people who couldn't, were just confused.)

Last night, while my mind was on all kinds of non-writing-related things, I went back and looked. For the first time ever, the default was counter-clockwise!

What really amazes me is how much I can keep getting into this--and how listening to everyone else hasn't gotten old. This thing is cool. :D

r

Disco Mermaids said...

What are you all talking about? She was definitely going counterclockwise.

I checked it out before I read the comments, and now I feel like a total freak.

- Jay

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that men seem to see it more turning counter while women seem to see it more clockwise. Are women generally more right-brained and men more left-brained???

Anonymous said...

initially counterclockwise for me. After 5 minutes I got her to finally turn clockwise, and was stuck with it going clockwise for even frustratingly longer, until I'm now basically able to make her go back and forth! interesting.

Anonymous said...

Mine kept switching back and forth. Weird.

coll

yamster said...

I had clockwise yesterday, then counterclockwise after a few minutes (stayed ccw for the rest of the time). Then today, it started clockwise again, but switched back and forth. Bizarro.

Anonymous said...

She's dancing in the wind for me.
AT switched.com someone put it into Adobe ImageReady expecting to find funny business if they freeze framed it, but no funny business found. So, I stil l would love this explained. It's hurting my brain (in a good way). topangamaria

Disco Mermaids said...

That's really freaky. For me, she is clearly going counter-clockwise. I tried (really hard!) but I can't get the girl to go the other way!!
I've ALWAYS considered myself right-brained. Oh well...guess I'm off to do some algebra.

Thanks, Alvina!

-Robin

Jenny Han said...

SOOO weird. She was going clockwise for me, and then I tried your trick and she was going counter-clockwise, and I couldn't get her to go back to clockwise!

the fruitfemme said...

I saw her going counterclockwise but I was distracted because why exactly was it important to have a clear outline of her erect and perky nipples?

janeyolen said...

Totally clockwise and fast. Trying to get her to shift but haven't managed it yet.

Jane Yolen

janeyolen said...

Third try, for about 2 seconds, she shifted and then. . .went right back to clockwise.


Jane Yolen

Saipan Writer said...

Counterclockwise- and even without my glasses and "unfocused" she was counter-clockwise.

I suspect a scam. I don't think she could possibly be going clockwise. I just don't see it!

This is truly scary when you think about all of the people who testify in court about the things that they've witnessed. Could some of us really see this exactly the opposite from what others see? And which way is she turning for real? hahahah!

Christine Tripp said...

Clockwise only, I tried to see her go in the opposite direction, even taking a break, looking away, doing the feet trick.... nothing!
It makes sense to me though, since I have never been able to spell, I switch many letters in words, shc instead of sch and can't do math worth a.... but I could always draw.
Christine Tripp