Are you right or left-brained?

Sorry the image is a little suggestive, but I couldn’t find this done with any other image, and you HAVE to try this.
First of all, note which direction the girl is spinning when you first get to the page. If she’s spinning clockwise you’re right brained — or at least thinking with your right brain. Can you get her to spin the other way?
One trick is to scroll down until you only see her feet, then slowly scroll back up to see the whole image. But a much cooler thing to try is to switch your thinking to the other side of your brain.
If you see the girl spinning counter-clockwise, try to think of something creative or emotional. Keep staring at the image and think of a song you like and imagine what images come to your mind as the music plays. If she changes directions, congratulations, you’re using your right brain.
If she’s spinning clockwise, try doing some math. Don’t do the multiplication tables or anything you know by rote. Try just adding random numbers together in your head. If she changes directions, you’re using your left brain.
Apparently only 14% of people can do the direction change thing, but I swear it worked for me. I tried the staring-at-her-feet trick first, but then I tried changing thinking styles and she flipped right before my eyes. Its really trippy when it happens!

21 thoughts on “Are you right or left-brained?

  1. Whew, I’m tired…I’m not in the 14%….and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get her to spin counter-clockwise. To take it a step farther, I wonder what occupations people have in relation to what they see. Me, I work with numbers and all I could see was her spinning clockwise. And you Jon? Which way did she start out spinning when you first saw her?

  2. I could get her to switch. It reminds me of a thing I used to do when I went to church as a kid. I would stare at the fans on the ceiling and my perspective was such that I could stare at the fans and then start to see them spin the other way. I would sit there and just stare at them and make them go back and forth in my head. I had no idea it was a left-brain/right-brain thing. Crazy.

  3. @Marti: I saw it moving clockwise at first, but that could have been because I was messing with computer problems before I found the web page. So I’m not sure if that’s indicative of my “default” brain-use, or just what part was in focus at the time. I’ll try visiting it right after a blog post and see which way she turns…
    Update: I went back and tried it again after doing some reading and she spun counter-clockwise. Nic can see her both ways, but only with significant effort. She defaults to CCW. I’m finding now that I know how to do it, I can switch her back and forth with just a couple second of mental effort.
    @Chris: I totally used to do that too! And I definitely woulda figured you for a both-brained person!

  4. I can see her spin both ways. I can actually make her not spin and just go back and forth on a 180 degree axis. I am trying to figure out what it is that causes that.
    I don’t think it is solely the brain. There is something to the picture and the colouring (Canadian spelling) of it that throws your mind.

  5. @Bill: Apparently its a missing frame as the model is facing you. During that left-out frame the brain is left to interpolate direction, and once it does, it sticks to it.
    @Everyone: I had to update this post because I got the right and left backward. I’m not sure what the implications of that are for everyone else, but for me it seems to imply that I solve problems with my right brain, and compose thoughts with my left brain. So apparently its not a creativity thing, but just how you approach things. I’d wager that more than 14% can use both sides of their brain, but its certainly fascinating if you can’t switch it…
    Here’s a table I found on news.com:
    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

  6. OMG this is going to consume my entire night. She was spinning counterclockwise and I tried SO many times and couldn’t get her to change! It is driving me insane!

  7. @Acasia and Libby: try thinking of more abstract things. Emotions, beliefs, etc… Also it helps to flick your eyes off the image every little bit to give your brain a chance to re-interpolate the motion.

  8. Another trick that can work is to use your peripheral vision. Look slightly to the left of the picture or your monitor and use your peripheral vision to see if it switches directions.

  9. Cool! It seems pretty random to me because it varies when I first look at her. Sometimes she start CW sometimes CCW. The slightest little distraction though and she switches direction

  10. Well it seems that you and I are again similar. I first saw clockwise, and was able to make it switch directions. I have to look at the shadows to switch my brain side though. I wonder if that means something in regards to daydreaming or something? LOL
    Virginia was able to make it go both directions too.

  11. When I first went to the page she was moving clockwise and I couldn’t figure out how anyone could think differently. I read your blog again and the comments and went back to look at it a second time and she was moving counter-clockwise. Now that’s the only way I see her. Very strange! Thanks for the entertainment!

  12. CCW at first, then i got her to switch. It is the craziest thing. At first i couldn’t figure out how to get her to switch then I figured it out. The brain is an amazing thing!

  13. I think they got the stat wrong, its more like 14% of people CAN’T get her to switch. Oh well, it was interesting anyway.
    I think the most important observation has to do with which direction you default to…

  14. She started CCW, but I can make her spin in either direction at will without much effort. And once I read the comment about making her go back and forth on a 180 degree axis, I could do that too, but its much more difficult.

  15. Another entertaining idea.
    Get two or three people together and watch. Rebecca and I did this last night and it was quite entertaining when she would say she is spinning the one way and I would see her spinning the other way. Or, she changes directions for one person and not the other.

  16. I know this seems weird. It started clockwise, I sang a song and she went counter, and vice versa when i thought of math. I think thinking of math and art are a psychological thing and when you think of the other your post told me it would change, so my brain told my eyes it changed. Only after I realized I had it backwards. Maybe my brain is upsidedown, idk. HAHA

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