Right brain vs. Left Brain

[TheResplendent]

[FONT="Tahoma"]The pictures is just geared to switch up directions at random times, it has constantly changed directions on me regardless of how I chose to think. I don't need a picture to tell me how my brain functions as i'm more then well aware of that already, with a rather even balance between both sides depending on what aspects of each I am utilizing at the time and what the situation calls for.

People should definitely not view this as an accurate test or portrayal of brain or cognitive functionality. It's amusing, sure, but nothing more.[/FONT]

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]lolz at the people saying it's fake. I checked the individual frames and the page's source code and it's just a plain gif with no JavaScript or anything changing it. It's simply an optical illusion and depending on how you look at it it can appear to be spinning either way.

Here's what you do: Open up the animation and run it normally. Watch it for a bit, remember which way it appears to be spinning, and close it. Wait a few seconds, then open the animation so it plays in reverse. It will still look like it's spinning the same way because that's what your brain is used to seeing it as, despite the animation playing backwards. Now, without closing it this time, reverse the animation and it [i]will[/i] appear to change directions.

Another thing you can do is open up two instances of the animation so they're playing side-by-side. Then reverse one of them so it's playing backwards and appears to change direction. After a bit the other animation will also appear to change direction without being reversed.

Myself, it appeared to be spinning counter-clockwise at first. Which is fitting, 'cause I'm a very left brain oriented person. But I can also make it appear to spin clockwise. The easiest way for me is to look away from it for a bit, visualize it spinning the opposite direction in my mind, and then look back.[/color]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Desbreko'][color=#4B0082]The easiest way for me is to look away from it for a bit, visualize it spinning the opposite direction in my mind, and then look back.[/color][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]The best way I found to make it rotate in the opposite direction was to go so close to the screen that my eyes couldn't focus on the image, then when you pull away it should be spinning in the opposite direction than it did before.[/SIZE]

[Aethon_Liam]

[quote name='The13thMan'][FONT=Century Gothic][COLOR=darkorange]Lastly, you're an arse-whole for showing this to me. I probably spent 20 minutes staring at it where i should've been doing homework or getting much needed sleep. =P[/COLOR][/FONT]
[/quote]

I'm sorry, but then again, I should have been doing class work when I found it. Doesn't that make us the least bit even?

At any rate, it is still just pointless waist of time really. I mean, who cares which side of the brain you use? I certainly don't care about anyone but mine, and even then only ever so slightly. If it really bothers you guys, all you have to do is stop looking at it.

[The13thMan]

[quote name='Aethon_Liam']I'm sorry, but then again, I should have been doing class work when I found it. Doesn't that make us the least bit even?

At any rate, it is still just pointless waist of time really. I mean, who cares which side of the brain you use? I certainly don't care about anyone but mine, and even then only ever so slightly. If it really bothers you guys, all you have to do is stop looking at it.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR=DarkOrange][FONT=Century Gothic]It makes us a little even, you still owe me a "jelly" donut....

Actually, i think it's pretty cool. I like how everybody says they don't care and don't think this reveals anything about their brain. All of a sudden everybody's experts on neurology (or whatever the hell the study of the brain is), haha.

Still though, the picture is not actually rotating. I think a true left-brainer would look at this and be like... it's not rotating at all. I guess that would make them a middle-brainer?

I also think both sides of the brain compliment each other really well. It's not like if you were a left brainer you couldn't be an artist, or if you were a right brainer you couldn't be a mathematician.

[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Aaryanna_Mom]

Well even with knowing what you've pointed out Desbreko, I cannot get it to appear to do anything but spin clockwise. Though my vision is not what it use to be and I still require even more surgeries to correct additional issues. Still, it was an amusing thing to read and if it's accurate at all... being right brained would describe me the best, based on what was on the actual website.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082]The key to making it appear to switch directions is on frames 9, 17, 26, and 33, when the legs cross over one another and when the extended leg (the one not touching the ground) is pointing straight left or right. At these points you can't actually tell which leg is in front and which is in back due to the dancer being blacked out and having no depth. Your brain only creates a sense of depth from the rest of the animation's motions, which gives it a sense of rotation. So whether you see the extended leg as being in front or in back at these points determines which way the dancer appears to rotate. However, if you force your brain to change that sense of depth at one of these points, so that you see the extended leg being behind when you'd otherwise see it as being in front or vice versa, the dancer will appear to change directions.

This is a lot easier to do if you go slowly, frame-by-frame through the animation, but with some practice you can make it appear to switch while it's playing at full speed as well.

Oh, and by the way, this explains why it can appear to change direction when you mouse over the image and it flickers and/or skips a bit. Animated gifs embedded in web pages are rather CPU intensive, so that can cause flickering and skipping as your computer's CPU tries to keep up with the cursor moving across the image. And, in turn, that flickering and skipping jars your eyes' focus and upsets the sense of depth that your brain has created.[/color]

[Boo]

[size=1]Had it going clockwise the whole time, until I figured out how to turn it around (the head and foot are easiest)... Now I can't get it to go clockwise again!

*clicks* Oh, it just went clockwise again.

...

My brain doesn't like this.

[b]Edit:[/b] It's back to counter-clockwise. MAKE UP MY MIND.[/size]

[Sara]

[color=#b0000b]It's a neat optical illusion, but it doesn't have a thing to do with whether you're right-brained or left-brained.[/color]

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]My head doesn't like looking at her spinning counter-clockwise because it looks like she's going to tip over. I guess that means that left-brained people are unbalanced mentally and right-brainers are secretly stiffnecks.

Seriously, I was going [I]"She's gonna fall, she's gonna?oh, she switched."[/I] But she stayed mostly going clockwise. (...also known as [I]to the right[/I]. Funny how that worked out.)

Dunno why you guys were so gung-ho about a bias-based illusion, though. :p Perception has nothing to do with how someone set up an image that [U]looks[/U] like it's spinning. I mean, I even forced it to go 2-D on me...which looks really weird, lemme tell ya.[/FONT]

[desertphoenix]

[FONT="Verdana"][COLOR="DarkRed"]Took me a minute to get it to go counter-clockwise for me. what worked for me was waving my finger the opposite way I saw it going. When her outside toe was facing the right, my finger was to the right. Then spun my finger to the left when her toe is to the left. I just needed something going the same pace the opposite direction to imagine what it would look like that way. After a few seconds of doing it, I'm getting a headache.

This illusion reminds me of seeing a really fast car's rims in the right lighting then appearing to spin backwards.:p

Well apparently from the site, I am right brained. Although I think it's slightly broad, I think I actually fit most of those traits, except that I do use feelings and logic and I'm not a risk taker. Just curious, does anyone know if being left or right handed would affect how you first see this illusion?[/COLOR][/FONT]