Thread: What side of your brain are you using?

It still captivates me.

I remember, a little while ago, someone had it as an avatar.
That always got me stuck on his posts for at least 3 minutes

I think it's interesting if you 'force' the dancer to go the 'wrong' way and then see how long you have to close your eyes for for your brain to loose the mental model of the object and for her to start turning the 'right' way.

It's about 5 seconds for me... it seems to be pretty consistent, too.

I've never, ever seen the dancer turn counter-clockwise. And I've tried really hard

I look at the rotating leg and try to imagine it's going behind of the other leg when it should be in front. Works pretty well.

(me either, DuB)

wtf it can NOT be going counter-clockwise, I'm sorry D:

I can kindof see it looking at it the way xei described ^ but then she just flips back over and it doesn't work

AHHH GYAHD IT HURTS MY BRAIN

Originally Posted by Xei

I look at the rotating leg and try to imagine it's going behind of the other leg when it should be in front. Works pretty well.

It changes periodically for me... if I concentrate to hard it won't.

I first saw this a looooooooong time ago. The other day I brought it up and showed my friends. They were 100% convinced that it switched by its self, like it was rigged!! Even though some would see it go right and others left at the very same moment. So annoying, they were so stubborn.

I can get it to switch back and forth constantly, looking at the shadow of the foot does it for me...

Here's another test to see what side you use, maybe slightly more accurate although some questions have the "depends" factor.

I'm a right sided brain according to this...

I can make it switch at will, but at first glance it always want to turn clockwise, even though it requires little effort to change. I focus on the knee area, myself.

And according to DoD's link, I'm a left-brained individual, but I believe that the whole idea of brain hemispherical dichotomy is a bunch of pseudoscientific quackery.

Originally Posted by DuB

I've never, ever seen the dancer turn counter-clockwise. And I've tried really hard

For some reason, I find a bit of auto-suggestion along with a blink and a head shake very useful to make it switch

I blink and shake my head a bit and tell myself turn the other way. It's been pretty much flawless so far, haha.

And Xei said, watch the legs and really imagine them switching sides. You gotta see it man, it's trippy!
The best time to do this, is when the lifted foot crosses the leg.

Originally Posted by DuB

I've never, ever seen the dancer turn counter-clockwise. And I've tried really hard

Try to cover everything but her upper legs up with your hand and try to
switch those turning. Then remove your hand and look at the whole picture.

That helps at first I think.

Originally Posted by DuB

I've never, ever seen the dancer turn counter-clockwise. And I've tried really hard

Look at her foot, or the shadow of her foot. See the shadow enter the picture from the other side. She changes direction when I look at the shadow of her foot.

She always goes clockwise for me, unless I look at her foot. If I then blink she will go clockwise again.

Haha... thanks guys! I had heard and tried most of those suggestions before, but dajo's suggestion about isolating the thigh area was new to me. At the risk of looking ridiculous to anyone who might have passed by my doorway, I took two napkins and -- over a few trials -- very slowly parted them in such a way that I could only see a few pixels of the dancer's thighs. Once I got the napkins fully parted I was able to see the whole dancer spinning counter-clockwise, albeit only briefly. I tried it several times and the longest that I could maintain the effect was about 5 seconds; and that was without ever even breaking eye contact!

Cheers!

It went counter clockwise the first time I looked at it, then about half way into it, I saw it going clockwise instead. Then I couldn't get it to go back.

Awesome, DuB

That tip was what got me on the right track at first.