Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise?

Denise Sawicki | November 27, 2007
Which way is the dancer turning? I pretty much see her turning clockwise though if I concentrate I can eventually make it switch for a little while. Supposedly this should mean I am unusually right-brained though I would beg to differ. Then again maybe I'm bipolar enough to throw me into the "uses feeling" camp instead of the "uses logic" camp. Anyway it is an interesting exercise and makes your brain hurt. If you scroll so that you are only seeing her feet it is easier to make her switch direction.

Tony Peters | November 27, 2007
I am very much a right brain guy for someone who likes to fix stuff...I see clockwise

Jackie Mason | November 27, 2007
[hidden by request]

Aaron Shurtleff | November 27, 2007
I can't get it to go clockwise. I'll have to "rest" my brain and try again later...

Kelly Lee | November 28, 2007
It starts out counter clockwise, then i look at something else for a second, look again and it's going the other way. Wee!

Steve West | November 28, 2007
I only see clockwise. I'm a little perplexed by that. Pretty cool.

Amy Austin | November 28, 2007
Yes, I can see both -- initially, it was counter, but the next time I opened it was clockwise at first. Easiest to switch while concentrating on shadow, as Jackie says... that was how I did it, too.

David Mitzman | November 28, 2007
i dunno, maybe i was focusing on the wrong thing, but i couldn't help but notice the dancer's ample, um, upper body. :)

Amy Austin | November 28, 2007
They are somewhat distracting.

Scott Hardie | November 28, 2007
Why can't I get Elton John out of my head while I watch this? Anyway, I see one or the other, seemingly at random as I open the page, so "both."

Tony Peters | November 28, 2007
what's distracting????

Aaron Shurtleff | November 28, 2007
You know, I didn't even notice that until you pervs mentioned it. :D My nipular radar must be going bad.

Tony Peters | November 29, 2007
I'm not a boob guy....other things.... OK I admit I have a problem

Scott Hardie | November 29, 2007
Somebody please name a concert that.

...This comment, posted at the same moment as Tony's, was originally about what Aaron said. But now I wonder if it should be about what Tony said.

Aaron Shurtleff | November 29, 2007
Either one work for a title. And my new band's name will be Nipular Radar..as soon as I start a band.
;)

Eric Wallhagen | November 29, 2007
I first saw clockwise... then for a while it'd switch, seemingly randomly, and I was convinced that the gif was doing some funny looping to trick people. Then after noting the orientation of the shadow, and looking at her differently, I can pretty much change direction at will.

Going off the shadow though, since you can only see the shadow of the outer foot at one point in the movement, regardless of how the light is angled, the foot must be facing away from you at this point. (think about it, there's no way the foot when it's in front could cast a shadow, and not while it's in back.) For this reason it becomes "obvious" that she's spinning counter-clockwise. If you look away from the shadow though, and just look at her, it's possible to make her spin clockwise.

To make her go clockwise I look at her head. To make her go counter-clockwise I look at her feet/shadow. I actually had it at a point where I was seeing her head go one way, and simultaneously her legs were going the other... THAT was freaky...

Amy Austin | November 29, 2007
Yeah, I've spent a lot of time looking at her -- much like the old hag/young lady op-art piece -- changing directions at will and trying to see everything at once... it's cool. Leaving the window open and maximizing it at random, I see the direction completely at random -- I don't believe that the propensity to see it in one direction or another has anything at all to do with any hemispherical preference.

Tony Peters | November 29, 2007
sure Amy....we beleive that you are just treating her as an experiment...you're not staring at the form