Spinning out of control

[silversolitaire]

This has caused quite a lot of discussion around here today:



In which direction is it spinning for you?



I can only see it spin clockwise, but I know others see it spin counter-clockwise or both directions even. Supposedly, it's related to which side of the brain you're predominantly using and depending on which side you use it means certain things. Not so sure about that, but you can read all about it here.

Apparently some people doubt that it actually CAN spin into the other direction you're not seeing. So I did this to illustrate that it can indeed be either direction. It's all in the mind!



EDIT:
And here's her spinning counter-clockwise:


So, what do you see?

Comments

[arthal.livejournal.com]

At first I saw her only spinning clockwise, but when I looked at the shadow it suddenly flipped to anti-clickwise. It makes me dizzy. :P

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it flipped for me when I looked at it from the corner of my eye... very odd.

[lilka.livejournal.com]

I can make it go either way with a bit of concentration. It defaults to anti-clockwise though. Thanks for sharing, it's a neat little trick :)

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

I can't make it change direction for the love of God. My brain just picks on direction and then sticks to it no matter what.

[johanirae.livejournal.com]

Clockwise for me... quite true in some sense. I've always been a very graphic oriented person

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

I just made a counter clockwise version. See below. Man, now I can't see it spin in the other direction anymore! D:

[fosfomifira.livejournal.com]

It changes directions, argh! Or I think it has changed directions after I've looked away and focus again on the image.

I haven't read the text under the cut yet.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

There's no text, just me sketching in either direction.

It changed for me when I looked at it from the corner of my eye and now it won't switch back! *sob*

[sandrine]

Whoa, that's disturbing. I first saw her spin clockwise and doubted that she could be seen otherwise. Then my mum came in and argued that she could see her change directions every couple of seconds, so I set down my glasses, blinked a couple of times and now she's spinning anti-clockwise. And, annoyingly, I can't make it go back. Waaah!

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Hahaha I had a similar experience! I've been staring at it since this morning and it always went clockwise. Then it switched and now it won't switch back! And my mom too insists it can change directions! D:

[sandrine]

Yeah, and now my mum is mocking me that only half my brain is working. *pouts*

[ved-vies-kto.livejournal.com]

usually clockwise, occasionally it just switches back and forth after half a rotation, makes me dizzy...

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Luckily it doesn't do that for me! But cool!

[eiluned.livejournal.com]

Hm. I can only see clockwise, no matter how long I stare at it.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Try looking at it with peripheral vision. I was only looking at it from the corner of my eye while I was typing an IM and suddenly it switched directions... and now it won't spin into the other direction anymore! D: Another time it briefly changed directions for me was when I showed it to my bro and looked at my monitor from the side.

[eiluned.livejournal.com]

That didn't work either. I'm deficient! ;)

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

How is that?

[eiluned.livejournal.com]

Okay, NOW it's counterclockwise and I can't get the original pic to go clockwise. Ha!

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

holy crap. O_oOO_Oo_O
when i first looked at it, i saw clockwise. but with a bit of effort i can turn it around.
i wonder.. had i looked at it in a different mindset (in between some hard thinking work or something), would i have seen it anti-clockwise?

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Hm interesting theory. No idea! I just know that I've been staring it since this morning and it always always turned clockwise. No matter how hard I tried. Then suddenly it started spinning into the other direction and now there's no way of making it go back! D:

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

i can switch directions easiest when i concentrate on the "supporting" foot and imagine it's turning the other way..

[krss.livejournal.com]

I saw it clockwise at first, but if I look at it for a few seconds while relaxing my eyes, she turns the other way, she goes that way a while, and then changes back. =)

[seal7.livejournal.com]

I only saw it turning anti-clockwise... until I read that you wrote it can turn clockwise too. Tried to see that and it switched there and didn't go back any more >

[seal7.livejournal.com]

Someone just told me that the trick to making it switch is the angle: if you're telling yourself that you see her from above, she spins clockwise. If you look up to her from below, it's counter-clockwise.

[elance.livejournal.com]

Mine defaults to clockwise, but with a bit of concentration and focus it goes anti-clockwise.

Nifty!

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

That is the coolest and freakiest thing! When I first saw it I would have sworn you were LYING if you said it could do anything but go clockwise. Even with the drawings. Then when I saw the animated one with the lines I got it, but the top one still went back to clockwise. Now it flips a bit, but I think it defaults more to clockwise. I also swear it spins faster clockwise than anti-clockwise which is quite clearly an illusion, so I think it means my brain is much more comfortable in that direction.

What actually surprised me more is that according to the site most people saw it anti-clockwise. And I always thought I was very left-brain logical/mathematical, too.

Now I just want to show this to everyone I know XD

[hellenebright.livejournal.com]

Started anti-clockwise, but then another app caused the image to slow down and it flipped.

[daylemclaren.livejournal.com]

First i saw it clockwise then suddenly it switched to anti-clockwise and i have no idea how that happened.

[daylemclaren.livejournal.com]

Then it switched back to clockwise again, man! thats beginning to bug me!

[marcyleecorgan.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm. Both for me. It's really weird, the directions change in the middle of the turn.

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

omg that is AWESOME!

[lemursexbot.livejournal.com]

I can make it go either way just by concentrating on the pivot foot for a bit,and then it rotates that direction until I concentrate on the foot going in reverse again.

[lemursexbot.livejournal.com]

Wow, when I scrolled back up after leaving the above comment, I ended up with the little picture going counter clockwise and the big picture going clockwise at the same time. Neat!

[irda.livejournal.com]

ARGH. My brain is broken and it's all your fault! First I saw her going anti-clockwise. Then I saw clockwise. Then anti-clockwise and I couldn't even SEE the clockwise anymore but now I see BOTH.

*ded*

[beccaelf.livejournal.com]

At first; I still only saw her spinning clockwise; even in your version. But then my brain switched over and I could see clockwise in both yours & the original.

I can willfully switch back and forth now...but if I don't think about it; I still see clockwise (even on yours).

[tzarohell.livejournal.com]

I think this might be a bit flawed as a test of which side of the brain you use.. because its very unnatural to see a dancer lead with her foot.. so one way is more likely for you to have actually seen than the other.

[tzarohell.livejournal.com]

aaand i'm a moron.

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

interesting... I can only see it spinning anti-clockwise. But what does that meeeeeeeeean??

[glenraven.livejournal.com]

so here is the weird thing. I opened the top link in a diff tab and it was spinning clockwise. I refreshed the page, and it was then spinning counter clockwise. When I opened this up to make the comment and could see both pictures spinning at the same time they were going in opposite directions.

Is it really all perception or is it running one way on one of them, and the opposite way or the other? cause that is strange.

[ravensilverbird.livejournal.com]

hello, i realize you don't know me, i followed a link from another journal here. the question you posed about what we see, i wanted to answer. when i first looked at the image, the dancer was turning clockwise. i thought the article was very interesting to read.