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Right Brain vs. Left Brain Test

John P.

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spinning-womanOk folks, I’m not sure if this is a joke or what. The Australian Herald Sun posted this Right Brain vs. Left Brain test which is nothing more than a picture of a lady spinning around.

THE Right Brain vs Left Brain test … do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

They add the following interpretation:

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

Frankly, I only see the lady turning clockwise. I find it very difficult to believe that ANYONE sees it turning counter-clockwise, much less most people! So please take a moment and leave a comment to let me know how you see it. If everyone sees clockwise I’m going to call this test a fraud…

Comments

  5. I can make it switch at will; if I glance at the shadow of the second foot (the one that is out of frame half the time) then the “logical” side of my brain insists that the shadow is moving from 3 o’clock to 9 o’clock (anti-clockwise) Similarly, looking at the non-raised foot, the image snaps back to clockwise because of the paradox created by having an instep/arch on the “wrong” side of her (flat) foot – “knowing” that the arches are on the inside.

  6. Hello frends,,,
    i think its the first glance that tells the state of mind of a person luking at this image. most of my colleague sees her rotating clockwise, but i see it counter-clockwise. As per the given function the Left Brain is logic and reality based, and Right Brain in Imagination and feeling based. That’s true. Those colleague who see it rotating clockwise are persons who just believe in what other ppl say. They wont use much logic whether the info is correct or not.
    I personally feel that if u get attached to pic and feel for the pic it will be rotating clockwise.

    LATER ON , WITH A LITTLE PRACTICE I WAS ABLE TO MAKE HER ROTATE BOTH WAYS…..

    Still i can say that .. our mind works in a really gr8 way….

  7. WHOA! Mostly if I simply glance at the image I see her spinning counter-clockwise. If I don’t concentrate at all, she randomly changes back and forth. If I focus, I too can cause her to seem to spin in either direction! But here is the REAL GIPPER! Focus really hard giving attention, for a few moments she can seem to be STANDING STILL! Something of a real enigma here!

    BTW. I must admit this little “test” has sparked my curiosity to cogitation. I am a right-handed person who focuses to aim left-eyed. Always had inately keen timing hand-eye coordination, reflexes and above normal vision and range of hearing but can meditatively easily shut-down the senses to function in the abstract at will. Though I am something of a writer, I am a spiritual person seeking balance in the world; thinking by default predominantly in images rather than words. Hmmm.

  8. My first and only logical interpretation is clockwise.it will take some intensive concentration to make her move otherwise.try this.consider her facing you or backing you.this helps change her direction.

  9. I see her moving clockwise, then switch to counter-clockwise. So as far as I’m concerned this ‘test’ is complete bogus.

    • I agree. I can watch it and very clearly see her going clockwise then counter clockwise. easy peasy

  10. This is crazy!!! I don’t even concentrate, I just look at it and it changes direction every second!! Now she’s counter clockwise! No now she’s clockwise!!! Wait now she’s seemingly doing both!!! I can’t change the direction at will, it changes spontaneously!!! What the heck!!? IT’S SO WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  11. One minute she is spinning counter clockwise and peering over her left shoulder. The next, she’s looking over her right shoulder spinning clockwise. This is not an illusion people, she’s changing direction.

  12. The lady turns clockwise, them after a while she turns anti clockwise. The direction in which she is turning keeps changing. You don’t need to concentrate and make her switch, just observe, the direction keeps changing, same as the speed. Nothing complex, just don’t hurry. a few seconds will do.

  13. i can see it both..

    when i’ve ready your statement above, the right vs left brain i try to concentrate…
    but to be honest when i first see the figure my eyes ache because what i can see is both.. i can see both counter clockwise then clockwise then again then mixing until my eyes feel like i watch the t.v for 3 hours..

    not until i force my mind i can see a smooth motion..if i decide to turn it clockwise it turns out and vice versa..thanks a lot it improved my concentration skills

  14. i see it both and i can prove it how. Watch her two legs simultaneosly, and you gonna find the reason. One foot is counter to the other

  15. Very weird. Every time I look away and look back, she’s turning in the other direction. And each time, I can’t figure out how it’s so clearly going in one direction when I’d just seen it turning in the other direction. It’s messing with my brain.

  16. yeap its a trick the girl turns both wayz clockwize n after a while anti-clockwize… she just changes her foot n arm quickly…. so i dont see any valuable explanation here about who of us could “use more” the left or the right part of the brain…

  17. i have found a way to switch direction. i hold a mirror above the image and look at the reflected image. when it appears to turn counter clockwise, i can switch to looking at the screen image and it also goes counter clockwise. i can hold it for a minute or 2, but then it switches back to clockwise. i am astonished and confused. how can it so clearly seem one way and then, just as plainly, look another way? how can we be sure of what’s real?

  18. now i’ve tried looking at it in a mirror. that should turn it around, shouldnt it? but it is still turning clockwise in the mirror. help. i cant stand this! my L brain must be completely dysfunctional. i know my brain is wired badly, but this is tooooo much.

  19. this twirling dancer drives me crazy. she is always turning clockwise for me. i was able to see her turning counter clockwise for a few seconds once, but i have not been able to again. i am annoyed by her. or by my brain. its MY brain so why cant i control it? i resent that my own brain isnt under my control. i try all sorts of ways to look at the image, focusing on specific parts or on the whole image, looking at it upside down and sideways. even upside down, she is turning clockwise, tho for a few seconds i was able to make her just kick in both directions. i am obsessed and want to sue the originator of this for causing me permanent brain damage. i cant believe that ppl see her turning counter clockwise. i am so jealous of people who can change her direction at will. it makes me feel like i cant see what is right in front of my eyes or can only see half of reality. how can i trust my own thots if my brain is half dead?

    • No need to worry or get stressed out about it. If the left side of your brain was really dead, your entire right side would be completely useless. Hopefully that’s not the case. I’m not even certain this is accurate, but if it is, that just means the right side of your brain is much stronger than your left side.

  20. I saw counter-clockwise at first, and tried sooo hard to see her turning the other direction… had to scroll down on the screen so it was only her feet I could see and imagined her going the opposite direction. Then I’d scroll up to the rest of her body and sure enough, she was going clockwise. I’m sure the results would be the same if one executed this test on her head as well…

  21. I can see her in both cw and ccw…..directions ……..I suspect this is an anime trick with random time to change its direction of rotation……!!!!!!!!!!!

  22. Hi,
    I’ve seen this spinning girl for a couple years now. I really don’t know what to make of it. Is it a sort of IQ test? I don’t know. But, I have found that I can see it spin both ways. And, with some concentration I can make it reverse almost at will. It’s very curious.

    John

  23. For people who are saying that “it’s animated to change directions,” you’re completely wrong. It’s a .gif image, not flash, so it can run indefinitely. I saved the image and opened it in GIMP. It has very few frames actually. It has only 34 frames, one revolution. It is all with the mind, but it is neither right brain-left brain dominant or anything, it just happens to be(in my opinion) whichever eye actually saw it and registered it first. If your right eye saw and registered it first, it will spin clockwise, which is why you can blink an it switches.
    For me, whenever I viewed it with my left eye closed, it spun clockwise, but when I closed my left eye then looked at it, it spun counterclockwise(not anti-clockwise).

  24. It keeps changing for me.

    At first it looked clockwise, but after about three seconds, switched to counter-clockwise, and then, at about three- or four-second intervals, it switches, especially if I glance away and look back at the shoulder region. I’ve done other tests, at university, that are supposed to test left- or right-brainedness and I always score dead center on them while my classmates tend to lean one way or the other.

  25. This is a very good post, I’d constant thought about and had interests in memory, brains, neurological related stuffs. Especially lately, I started to ‘feel’ my brain’s functioning, efficiency, processes..i mainly focusses on my right brain, I could just feel it. My left brain is not too much, normal. When i look at the picture, I’d only saw the girl turning anti-clockwise, it took me some effort few seconds or so to try focus my left brain n i saw the girl changing directions – not long though (2-3 turns). It’s great, I stared at it 5mins after to do some purpose. Thanks, appreciated.

  26. The model does not move at all……
    The camera is spinning around in a NASA G-FORCE fashion
    CLOCKWISE/ANTI-CLOCKWISE directions.
    What part of the brain am i using…………………..!

  27. she is just turning clockwise and someone plz explain how is she turning the other way!!!

  29. I’v noticed something really interesting about this picture when ever I’m on the web reading or making any logic thing I see it turning clockwise I also like music so when I’m plaing I see it turning anti-clockwise also when I’m writting… I like to write too :P the same anti-clockwise witch makes me belive that it is really conected the interpretation of the image with the side of the brain we use.

  31. When I first looked at this I saw her spinning clockwise, but if I slightly went out of focus and back, I could see her spinning counter, now I can go back and forth easily.

  32. So, my male friend and I just sat and watched for several minutes and, though the majority of the time I can see her go both directions, this time I could only see her going clockwise as he was seeing counter clockwise but then he saw her change rotation several times while I so no change but she would start to go counter for me but he didn’t see her change directions. We NEVER saw the same thing at the same time and he says that I’m retarded cause I mostly see her going clockwise cause he sees her mostly counter.

  34. I don’t know how it happens, but if you stare at the shadow of her foot for a while then you kinda space, where you are brought back to like real life she’s going to the other direction.

    I thought this was so awesome, but then I noticed that if you scroll down then up really fast, she will change directions. I think that it is the computer that is changing her, so I was very dissapointed. But I won’t lose hope.

  35. oh my gosh people. you’re not making her switch directions with will, she switches everytime after about 30 seconds. she turns counter clockwise at first and then turns clockwise. dang, its not that difficult.

  36. I see her turning clockwise, but if I focus…..I can see her switch direction into counter clockwise

  37. I don’t think its set on a certain time because if i focus on her foot, i can make her change in a second or two but if i focus on her whole body then it takes two or three minutes to see the change…
    Also, just to clarify, if you are right brained, you are left handed and if you are left brained you are right handed.
    After looking at it for a few minutes i could see her go both ways but I originally saw her spin clockwise.

  38. I actually saw it moving in both directions. Clockwise first, then after reading some of the text, looked back to it, and it was spinning counterclockwise. It happened every time I looked away.

  39. I think if you see both directions it means you use both sides of your brain making you a balanced brain person. I definetly saw anticlockwise. Tried everthing and I can’t make her go clockwise. I wonder if those seeing going both directions are ambidextrous also.

  40. Attention everybody! This is fake. Initially she is going clockwise but after EXACTLY 30 seconds she switches to anti-clockwise. To confirm my suspicions, I downloaded the GIF and saw the file is about 202 KB. Just for those of you who don’t understand that: if this wasn’t fake the file would be about 20 KB or less.

    • Not neccesarily
      I could make her change direstion in less than one or two seconds by staring at only her foot.
      And when i watched her whole body spin it took two or three (timed) minutes.

  41. If I squint at her I see she goes anti clockwise, does that make my brain ‘undecided’ as to which is my dominant side? Never mind it is quite fun, wish I looked like her though.

  42. I saw her turning clockwise but as soon as I read there was a possiblity that she could turn in the opposite direction I then saw her tuurn counter-clockwise. She continued to switch after staring for a while.

  43. “fantasy based” on sexy shadow works
    reality ( anti clock wise) leaves and fantasy (clockwise) takes into its place :]

  44. Well I only see her going clockwise now but when I first looked I only saw her going anticlockwise so I think the image must be timed. I didn’t really refocus or do anything different so…

  45. O.K. Now that I read a tip about watching her pivoting foot, I can now make her switch directions quite easily. I simply look at her pivoting foot then I allow my eyes to lose their focus. She will switch directions after about 4 or 5 revolutions every time!

  46. I have seen her change directions 4 times in the past 15 minutes. Sometimes she will change directions after I look away or focus somewhere else, and sometimes she just changes directions in mid-stream while I’m still looking.

    I still haven’t figured out how to make her change at will, though. For those who only see her moving to the right, try calculating a math problem in your head and see if she changes directions!

  47. I kept watching and it suddenly stopped going clockwise and reversed itself so I would consider it fraudulent.
    Dr Daniel H Duffy Sr
    Geneva, Ohio

  49. Awesome! She can turn both clockwise and counter-clockwise and after some time of practicing you can choose which way will she turns. It’s easier if you concetrate on her legs but basically – if you want her to turn clokwise then think about your feeling, how excited you feel about this etc. And when you want her to turn counter-clockwise then just think about how exactly doeas it work, which metod was probably used for it’s animation etc. Now she changes the direction so often that her move is indeed very weird :-D

  50. I don’t get it… How can anyone see her counter clockwise? I mean, she’s moving only clockwise…
    So I guess I must be Right-brained, and besides, my personality matches…

  51. i actually saw it both ways. its a little hard to switch at first but after you do it a couple of times, its easy.

  52. I do not think it is a fraud. When ever I’ve looked at this animation i can only see her spinning anticlockwise, she never switches for me, no tricks work.

    I’ve tried plenty of the tips in the comment field and revisited this blog several time, always anticlockwise.

  53. The simple way to see both rotation alternatively is to stare at the leg that is moving left and right, look at it go left and right (in 2D way) – like a pendulum.

  54. My mum and I looked at it at the same time and we saw it going different ways (for me it was counter-clockwise and for her it was clockwise). I also then concentrated until it changed direction and then changed it back again all whilst my mum saw no change.

  55. I can see the lady spin witch ever way i wanted to…
    its simple !
    witchever you see it…….. close your eyes, imagine it going the other way, and open them !
    did it work ???
    works EVERYTIME for me !
    )=)

  56. I have only seen this woman spin clockwise since the original post; it has been an intermittent irritation for the past year that I have been unable to see her spin counter-clockwise. As of today, I can now put that irritation behind me. Thanks to the following link, you can see her spin in both directions. (Look to the image on either side to change her direction.)

    http://i.imgur.com/I72qO.gif

    One less worry in my world. . .

  57. For me this image always tends to spin clockwise and I have to focus on the legs to cause her to spin anti-clockwise. And I believe my brain to be creative and such cause of what I do (artist/musician) But why would a brain that is better suited to abstract things, like music, colours, shapes, and imagination. interpret this image spinning one way over another.
    TBH I would love to hear from the creator of this image and see how it was created. Cause I believe it was created using a girl spinning clockwise. And that’s why its easer to imagine/interpret as such, Where as a more logical/analytical brain looks for more facts before deciding on a direction.

  58. Ok, So this clinical neurologist guy is saying that the left and right brain controlling different aspects of our being is rubbish. But what he failed to mention is the fact that a more logical brain may interpret this image as spinning anti-clockwise first, without having to focus.
    My reason for saying this comes from looking at the shadow/reflection of the out stretched/ungrounded leg. Looking at this I realised that if the silhouette was spinning clockwise then its impossible for it to cast such a shadow or reflection. So a more logical/analytical brain may unconsciously pick up on this and interpret the silhouette spinning in the appropriate direction. This is why you “would have to re-focus on the foot in order to reverse direction.” If you were to focus on the reflection of the out stretched foot you would see what I’m talking about. And also that what that guy said about this image simply playing forward then playing in reverse is wrong. if that is what he meant by saying “It is a two-dimensional image that is simply shifting back and forth.”

  59. It is a fascinating optical illusion. It is an animated gif consisting of about 38 frames. It’s a clever image because when you still the picture, she can be standing on her left or right leg. When you’re using your left brain to analyze the figure, you see her rotating on her right leg, in which case, she spins counter-clockwise. When I concentrate hard on listening to a foreign language on the radio, she may start to spin on her right leg. Thus my theory is that when she’s “right-legged” it’s your left brain that’s being used. I’m sure everyone can see her spin both ways, so sorry to disappoint those who think they have special powers. Part of this depends on what you happen to be doing – at least for me – it changes the leg she’s standing on, thus the direction of rotation. Concentrating really hard may not always work. I suspect when I’m on the Internet, I may be using my right brain more often, because for me, she likes to spin clock-wise!

  60. If you concentrate enough, you can make her go both ways. Initially, I saw her spinning clockwise, then by staring at her foot she switches and goes the other way.

  61. Try Opening the image in a few tabs (you do this by right clicking select open image in new tab) in at least 3 tabs in the middle tab have this page so you can scroll in down a bit. in the other 2 they should be roughly same location. you can tab over and notice it change as your perception does. you brain is forced to reevaluation the information it is given and make a new assumption. This is what this image does is cause you the viewer to attempt to put a 2d image in your 3d world. this is a great example of your brain trying to make since of none since.

  62. My whole family has taken the test. I only see the woman spinning clockwise. My husband both ways (I still don’t believe him) My father clockwise and my 3 nephews all anti-clockwise again don’t believe them. I can sit and stare at her for 10 minutes no changes……….. Though it did start a fun 30 minute debate in this household lol….

  64. My nephew, niece and I were watching. My niece and I only saw it going clockwise; my nephew saw it changing. Then my niece started seeing her go both ways. They told me to stare between her legs and then I saw her going back and forth between the two ways.

  65. youre wrong :) my friend and i were looking at it at the same time and i saw it going one way and she saw it going the other.

  66. Correction: she changes direction when the foot is pointing either left or right. Also, try viewing it in firefox. The movement is smoother and much faster.

  67. Initially, I saw her spinning clockwise only. Focusing on the ‘grounded’ foot, I found that the moment the foot was pointing directly away from me, the spinning would reverse and the girl would start going counter-clockwise in full circles. After a while, focusing on the grounded foot caused the spinning to continually reverse, so that the spin would be 180 degrees clockwise then 180 degrees counter-clockwise, always with the girl’s back towards me and never making a full circle. By focusing on the upper body I was eventually able to ‘control’ the spin through a full circle in either direction, but would have to re-focus on the foot in order to reverse direction. I found a plausible explanation for what is really going on here, one that made perfect sense in light of what I had experienced. It has nothing to do with right/left brain, but with the brain’s inclination to convert a 2-dimensional image into a 3-dimensional one. It was written by a clinical neurologist from Yale University Medical School. See what you think: http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=27

  71. This image is responding somehow to my movement. If I concentrate on the dancer moving the other way and sort of tilt my body to that side, she will suddenly turn and do what my body is leaning towards. Try it. It seems to be responding to the movement of the person in fron of the screen. Don’t know how, but it IS. … If someone tries it, please comment.

  72. I like you was also skeptical about this test when i first saw it so i asked my dad to come over and take a look. I asked him what way the dancer was turning and he said anti clockwise. I said, “No it’s going clockwise.” and he looked at me like I was crazy and walked away. I tried it with my brother and the same thing happened, but my mom agreed that it was spinning clockwise. It’s completely real.

  73. try it with one eye covered. depending on which eye i cover it turns left or right. close both eyes and only open one, then close both, think about something else for a moment, and open other eye…. anyone else?

  74. hihi I kept seeing the lady doing the turn left and right, and never turn it backward to make a complete anti- or clockwise turn! What does it make me then? Left or Right?

    Regds
    qiuhoon

  76. Okay, here is the answer. When she spins clockwise, the right leg is extended. When she spins counter-clockwise, the left leg is extended. This is a clever illusion. I believe if you time it (using only left and right leg extensions) by number of spins for a fixed duration over the course of several screen refreshes, you will see that it is pre-programmed. There are several long periods for both clockwise and counter-clockwise, and then there are some short back and forths. Nothing mental about this. Someone just put it together really well.

  78. First of all I would like to type that this isn’t the first time I encounter this “test”.
    Also I am quite sure that at the first time aswell I couldn’t decide what direction the woman was spining and later on reading that it spins both ways in intervals so it is pretty much a fraud.

    Still unsure if the above is right or wrong I’ll say that once I manage to see it spinning one way it takes me a while to get it spin the other way.

    *First time was counter-clockwise.

  79. Amazing! After a few minutes of experimentation, I found my way of quickly changing orientation. I just look at her feet and she dances CLOCKWISE. When I want her to dance COUNTER-CLOCKWISE I just quickly shift my eyes to the left and up by reading the “Ok” in “Ok folks, I’m not sure…”.

    Funny, I always thought myself to be more of a right-brain person, but the first time I looked at this animation, it says I’m a left-brain type.

  80. i see it clockwise…but what i find odd is that seeing it clockwise means one is right brained. however, i i find that i have the characters of people that use d left side of their brain more than those attributed for right sided people.. is there any explanation of it

  81. I don’t know what’s going on. At first I saw it going clockwise. Then I looked away briefly and it was going counter-clockwise. Then it went back to clockwise and nothing I did could change it. Then I click to leave a comment and she’s now going counter-clockwise and has been for a while. I’ve looked at the shadow, looked at the corner and then looked back, everything everyone suggested to make it change and it hasn’t. Five minutes later and she’s still spinning counter-clockwise. I don’t know what to make of this. LOL I fear I’ll get consumed by it all and won’t let it go until she changes direction again.

  83. I call fake. First I saw anti then clockwise. I tried to save the picture but it doesn’t work offline. It changes without you.

  84. i see it turning in both directions, it will even seem to change directions while i`m looking at it.

  85. ok I ve got it different I guess – First I saw her anti-clockwise.
    When I focus with my right eye (both eyes open) it turns clockwise, and when focusing on it with the left eye only, it turns back anti-clockwise.
    I hope that this is normal !

  88. Guy, when I first looked the figure moved counter clockwise. I read some comments and looked up and she was moving clockwise. I read some more and looked up and she was moving counter again. Then I looked down and up and she was moving clockwise. I just started to laugh. I am not sure what this indicates. Is my brain “confused”? I never tried to see it different ways just looked away and looked back. Anyway that was a fun thing. Tell me. What does it really mean? Anything we can determine? How come I am flipping back and forth?

  89. If you look at initially, there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll see it either way. If you want to see it go counter-clockwise, focus on the shadow made by the figurine then look at it again. If you want to see it go clockwise, then focus on the image and blink really fast for about a second.