The (Counter)Clockwise Dancer
Are you left-brained or right-brained? I sincerely doubt that this image can really test which you are, but it’s a scary optical illusion nonetheless. Supposedly if you see the dancer below spinning in a clockwise direction, you’re right-brained and vice versa. Either way, it’s scary as hell when she switches.
See the image after the jump (because it was giving me a headache):
Please, please just make her spin in one direction. My head can’t take this.
Image plucked from The Daily Telegraph via Cynical-C.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:38 am
My head a splode.
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October 11th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
i’m only seeing her going one way (backwards, clockwise). i’m trying and trying to “switch” but can’t seem to.
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October 11th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
wait. there is goes. weird. she’s ALWAYS spinning “backwards” but in clock/counter clock directions. buh, snuh, guh.
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October 11th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
you can *will* yourself to make her switch. stare at her planted foot and convince yourself that when it juts out to the RIGHT, it’s about to turn “backwards” or “forwards.” depending on which you choose, she’ll obey.
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October 11th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
i’m at the point where i’ve got her doing half-turns back and forth at my whim. she’s my private dancer!
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October 11th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Do you think the fact that she’s topless has any impact on the illusion?
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October 11th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
i was gonna disagree with your “topless” assessment (i.e., maybe it’s a full body leotard) but then i saw nipples.
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October 11th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
See crazymonk, where I present evidence that she is ONLY moving counterclockwise.
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October 11th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
incidentally, she’s totally wasted.
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October 14th, 2007 at 10:38 am
I can not make her turn counterclockwise. I keep looking at her non-plant foot and concluding that it turns clockwise. Some parts of the image are less clear, but the free leg is pretty clear (to me?).
I seriously doubt this image is a true test of brain dominance.
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October 14th, 2007 at 10:52 am
nvm, if i focus on the shadow below the dancer, she spins counterclockwise. I think that is the trick to the picture. There are two details that suggest different things to your brain.
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October 14th, 2007 at 10:53 am
+ i look like an idiot now
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October 14th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
yeah, but only because this is sooooooo 3 days ago.
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October 15th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Aha! Try blocking all of her body above the waist with your hand or something. That makes it a lot easier to get it to reverse at will!
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November 5th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Imagine her shadow being the head of a bird. The head is moving back and forth from side to side. Now just imagine the head of the bird moving all the way around left and it moves counter-clockwise. Now if you imagine the bird turning right all the way around, she turns Clock-wise.
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November 23rd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
what’s really crazy is when you can see the top half spinning one way and the bottom half spinning the other. it’s insane
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November 26th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
The way to get her to switch is to focus on her right (extended) leg. When you want to switch, imagine that she is turning her leg and her whole body away from you.
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June 19th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
lol
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August 16th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
cool
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November 16th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I had to cover everything but the top half of her legs, look at the swinging leg, and turn my eyes a little in the direction opposite their involuntary turn.
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November 16th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Concentrate on top left corner for a long time, felt left eye widening, and it went anti. But then I felt my right eye involuntarily move and then it’s clockwise again.
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November 16th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
There was once or twice when I calmly made it anti, but most of the time it’s clockwise. Then the leg swung in the back from left to right like a pendulum when I concentrate a little.
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November 17th, 2008 at 9:04 am
How come it’s not a naked man?
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