The Right Brain vs. The Left Brain
tags:
Stumble ThisWhich direction is the ballerina twirling? Counter-clockwise or clockwise?
From "www.news.com.au":
COUNTER-CLOCKWISE = 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
CLOCKWISE = 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
From "www.news.com.au":
COUNTER-CLOCKWISE = 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
CLOCKWISE = 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
I've never been able to see those images in the "magic picture" things, either.
We came across one last week that doesn't run out of time..just perpetually spins. It gives one more time to concentrate on changing the turn.
Here is the page that has a constant image, try this one guys: http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html
I like these things.
The most frustrating thing was showing it to someone else who sees it switching all the time. They're like "There! Anti-clockwise! See?" No! I don't see.
Maybe i have 2 right brains.
It's hopeless for me.
http://wtf.videosift.com/talk/Dancing-ballerina-proof-that-shes-going-clockwise
I can't help but feel somebody is playing a trick with this, but maybe that somebody is just my own perception.
It's funny, I'm a CS major so theoretically I should be left-brained, but for some reason it's ten times easier for me to see her as going clockwise than counter-clockwise. Hmm...maybe it's a sign I should switch to fashion design instead.
Oh, and the left-brain/right-brain non-sense has been shown to be a bunch of new-age garbage. It means nothing. Some of the greatest artists in history were left-handed. Some of the greatest artists in history were right handed.
It doesn't matter. This is an optical illusion. Look at the feet and you can get her to spin either way. Doesn't mean anything.
Split brain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateralization_of_brain_function
The idea that you can determine how your brain works from watching a ballerina is absurd.
And here is another, the REAL KEY to seeing it however you want - imagine you are sitting slightly below her foot level, looking up at her sole, and she is going one way, imagine you are sitting slightly above her foot level, looking down at her feet, and she is going the other way.
With the second technique I can voluntarily switch between perspectives. The difficulty lies in your brain settling on a vertical perspective. Are you above or below her? I like to imagine her on top.
I always knew deathcow was a womanizer.
"
MojoeMAN
I get clockwise when I look at the entire picture. To get it to go counter-clockwise I focus on the reflection of her foot on the ground.
It's funny, I'm a CS major so theoretically I should be left-brained, but for some reason it's ten times easier for me to see her as going clockwise than counter-clockwise. Hmm...maybe it's a sign I should switch to fashion design instead.
"
Focus on the reflection people
and in the link SG posted first thing I noticed was the nipple.
what does it mean?
It was a fleeting moment lost to history forever.
Pretty cool sift, first vid that made me go through the hassle of registering
Next thing I will see spinning is my laptop out the window in a second (clockwise)
As far as I can tell, it's an optical illusion that is in the same class as the necker cube, an illusion that I'm sure you are all familiar with, even if you don't know it by name. Both of these are "bi-stable images" (or, in the case of the ballerina, a bi-stable movie, I guess), that your brain can interpret in one of two ways. If you are looking at the cube, with a little practice, you can force it to switch between the two interpretations pretty easily. I suspect that a forced switch will be harder with the ballerina because it's a moving image, but it should be possible. I've found that if I focus just on her planted foot, I can get the rotation to change directions almost at will.
How does it work? The key is that what you are looking at is essentially a two-dimensional image (I was going to say it was a flat image, but that's clearly not the case...) of the ballerina. There are no depth cues and no 3D shading. It is as if you are looking at the projected shadow of a twirling ballerina, if that makes sense. With that in mind, think about it this way: Imagine the ballerina is facing exactly sideways (right or left, doesn't matter). Then imagine that she spins, say, 45 degrees. First, think about what she would look like if she was spinning toward you. Then think about what she would look like if she was spinning away from you. Remember that all you have to look at is a shadow - you can't see a face or any other front/back distinctions. What you should realize is that if she spins 45 degrees "away" or 45 degrees "towards" you, the resulting image is exactly the same. Spin her another 45 degrees (so she's now rotated 90 degrees), and she will either be facing you or she will have her back to you, but again, since it's just a shadow, the image is exactly the same... What it boils down to is that with a 2D projected image (of a ballerina, of a motorcycle, anything, really, there's nothing special about the image they chose), you do not have enough information to tell the direction of rotation. They add the shadow of the feet to make the image more interesting, but again, there's no real rotational information there.
Since you don't have enough information, your mind could choose between two equally likely interpretations (hence the "bi-stable image" name). So when you look at it, your brain picks one interpretation, and then typically sticks with it until it is pushed to reinterpret the image (either by looking away for a while, or really trying to convince yourself that the image is going the other way or, I don't know, whatever else works).
As far as the right-brain, left-brain stuff goes, I don't put any real scientific faith in that terminology. Yes, certain functions like language skills and spatial processing are more localized to one side of the brain than the other. However, calling someone "left brained" or "right brained" should be viewed as an easy label to use to indicate if someone is more creative or more analytical, but it's more like saying that they are "introverted" or "extroverted" than it is a statement about their neuroanatomy.
Does the spin direction of the image reveal your brain-sidedness? I highly doubt it. I can't think of any reason that such a test would be diagnostic.
-- He's way smart.
Hey that's intresting!
Well, the whole post is.
Still, even using SG's link no way I can get it counterclockwise. Only for a brief moment, less then a second, after many tries, she did it. And it was while I were concentrated somewhere else, reading the text and scrolling the page. But as soon as I turned, clockwise again. And even pretending not to fix her, or to watch her with the side of the eye, nothing.
There are depth cues though - relative size of the outstretched leg, the curve of big toe to little toe, floor shadow, etc., but they switch as your perspective switches.
Then she seemed to be going clockwise for 3 more plays.
Then I realized I can make it go clockwise or counterclockwise at will depending on whether I link the moving shadow with the phase when her raised leg is behind her or in front of her.
Shadow of front leg moves across the screen => clockwise
Shadow of back leg moves across the screen => counter-clockwise
Since there is no reason the shadow would appear when her raised leg is in front but disappear when her raised leg is behind her, the shadow must correspond to when the raised leg is behind her. The disappearance of the shadow must occur because the shadow of the raised leg in front of her would be below the bottom of the screen. So it's correct to link the raised-leg-in-back phase with the shadow, and that forces a counterclockwise perception.
lawl... "testing testicle"
Her foot alignment really makes it confusing but when you see the other details, you will see what I mean.
Look at the foot / leg that is lifted (it's shadow at bottom)... you'll see the correct motion. IF I just look at her, she can go either way.
Then she stabilized counterclockwise and couldn't turn her clockwise again, lol.
And my co-worker says "I don't know which way she was turning, I was staring at her breasts." I am calling HR right now.
At first I could only see clockwise.. Now I can sort of do a blink and see her switch direction (focusing on the top body enforces clockwise, focusing on feet enforces anti clockwise).
In the end she came out and punched me in the face.
Dang you, Dag, and your witty banter!
I've tried everything you damn people have offered as advice, but I can't help but keep looking at her boobies !!!!!!
It's only going to work briefly, but I've found... well, a Graphical glitch if you will.
Focus on the bottom of the screen, you'll see a reflection. You see her main leg straight, and the foot twirling, but it's the shadow of the outstretched leg that gives it away. Look at the outstretched legs shadow, I see her going clock-wise every time I look at it, but if I look at that outstretched legs shadow, the only way it ever seems to be moving is counter-clockwise, and if you go from looking at that for a few moments and slowly go up, she SHOULD be turning counter-clockwise.
So, start with the shadow, try to look at it on the far left of the screen, then once you see it going around the back, move up to her leg. If she's going clockwise still, look away, or back down. if you see her leg going counter-clockwise then move up to her chest, and space out for a second, it should be going counter-clockwise, you'll then probably think "Woah, she's going counter-clockwise" and then lose it.
Take that, brain!
*brief
Adding video to channels (Brain) - requested by EDD.
It seemed to me to be mostly a matter of looking away, and then looking back that made it flip directions.