The Right Brain vs Left Brain test

[EvilMale 7]

This test confuzzled my brain half the time it went clockwise the other half it went counter clockwise

[Guest FrostElfTwin]

With this "optical illusion" I have a few things to say.

 

1) Are we really all seeing the same image? Or could we get different pages delivered to us?

 

2) If we are seeing the same page... then what I see is this:

 

The statue spins clockwise for me.

 

Then... it slows down for about a second or two and picks up speed again.

 

Thinking about the first style of wheels for cars when cars were new... you can see the spokes spin in one direction...and then when the car gets up to a certain speed, the spokes seem to spin in another direction.

 

What we have here with the wheel spin (thanks to Dear old Dad) is our brains processing images... and when it can't keep up... it reverses things... and things seem to be going in the other direction.

 

Now with the statue... I can't imagine people not being able to process the whole arm/leg/body thing fast enough to see reverse the direction.

 

But hey, I'm just me. A sample of one. A very small sample set... thus... your mileage may vary!

 

3) {gotta say it...though I ain't accusin' no one} Perhaps people are reporting something that makes them sound exciting? Unique? Different? Special? But what I'm actually betting on: is speed of processing images. We all have different brains.

 

 

 

 

 

Something the simplistic newpaper (web?) article doesn't say is: the two halves of our brains send each other signals across the corpus collosum ---a super highway of nerve connections... not every signal gets where it is going... not everyone is well connected...

 

I know someone who had severe epilepsy... eventually their form of treatment was to sever his corpus collosum. He became VERY VERY extroverted after this happened. That is: his personality changed radically.

 

Just sayin'.

[fRACTAL 0]

1) Are we really all seeing the same image? Or could we get different pages delivered to us?

Yes, I think we are, I downloaded the animation and took a look at the frames, it has frames going both left and right, gods know why we don't see both though..

~Doom

[myles 2]

Any brain surgery is a unique case. There is no way to cut the corpus collosum w/o damaging surrounding tissues (and the central lobes depend on the skills of the surgeon), at least not currently. It is difficult thus to determine the cause of his personality change. Plenty of people have the same personality after brain surgery.

 

Not going there, even people with congenitally severed corpus collosum maintains certain communications between two sides. Corpus collosum is a brain pathway, that's that. We don't even require it.

 

Further on, there isn't a true brain map. It is evident that the majority of brain cells (except those at the stem) can pick up extra functions that are not associated with their location, or their side. The so-called speech area is a big myth; it is not in the same location for everybody, and damage to this area alone rarely result in the loss of speech. Difficulties yes, but nothing time and strong will cannot overcome.

 

But what I'm actually betting on: is speed of processing images. We all have different brains.

 

As for speed, I would argue the reverse. People that cannot conveniently reverse illusions most likely process the image faster (If they can't even see the dancer, even faster). Subconscious processes are faster than conscious processes, extraneous conditions equal. Or let me put it this way, they ended the processing the fastest.

 

Unless you can see the image moving both ways simultaneously or some random pixels moving around, then you must have involved more than just your visual processes. Just seeing it one way or another has already slowed us down, just a trillion of a second perhaps, but slower nonetheless.

 

So what am I saying, I think the way to overcome the illusion is to, depending on the person, involve more or less processes. About varieties more than qualities.

 

Some are thinking too much, like myself, trying to analyze it endlessly. So using peripheral vision helps me to cool down. On the other hand, some are just having fun and not thinking about it, so by doing math or focus on individual parts they activate the brain more and enable them to see thru the illusion.

[th3undon3on3 0]

Yes, I think we are, I downloaded the animation and took a look at the frames, it has frames going both left and right, gods know why we don't see both though..

~Doom

 

Funny, I downloaded it and all frames seemed to go clockwise.

[fRACTAL 0]

Yeah but I put it into gimp and looked at each frame on its own

~Doom

 

P.S. Just looked at it again, I think it might be a fake, where they just have a variable that makes it change direction occasionally, by reversing the animation's order!

Edited October 23, 2007 by TimOfDoom

[gial 2]

It may be a fake, but I doubt it. Covering from the hips up and looking only at the legs, I can see it go either way at will. On the explanation page enci linked, when I am reading the text at the side of the picture, it always goes anti clockwise. When I look directly at the image, it starts spining the other direction - always. I can see no method for a programmed variable to change the pattern just when I'm looking at it.

 

Frostie hit it right, I think, about the frame rate. There is a classic mathematical conundrum to determine the speed a stage coach is traveling in an old western film, when the wheels appear to spin backward or even to stand still. Since a film is comprised of many static images, displayed at 30 frames per second (or so) and our minds meld these into continuous "motion". the brain "moves" the spokes of the wheel the minimum needed to make the second image work. If the spkes travel 3/4 of the arc from one spoke to the next, our mind wants them to only move 1/4, but in the reverse direction. The same is true here. There is no real motion, merely a sequence of static images.

 

As to why don't we see both, again, remember, we really "see" with our brains, not our eyes -- the eyes merely collect photons. If we saw both at the same time, the image would make no sense, so the brain suppresses what it deems the "interference".

 

Myles is also on target, I think. It is apparent that the brain processes the sequential images at different speeds in different people, and also depending upon other activity. From the suggestions on the original page ("Do a hard math problem" and it will go the other way), and from my experience with reading simultaneously, I would conclude that to see the image going clockwise, the brain must process frames faster. When it is partially occupied, the image integration process slows, and we may occasionally miss a frame -- hence see the spin in the opposite direction.

[Seductive_Vampie 0]

Well evil argued with me on which way it was going soooo I dunno I saw it going clockwise he argued and I looked back at it and it was counter clockwise and I was like on your right and looked again and it was clockwise so I think my brain is just agreeing for the sake of not argueing wiff him lol but I can see it going both at will I guess I dunno maybe my brain is just to tired to care lmfao

[myles 2]

Well evil argued with me on which way it was going soooo I dunno I saw it going clockwise he argued and I looked back at it and it was counter clockwise and I was like on your right and looked again and it was clockwise so I think my brain is just agreeing for the sake of not argueing wiff him lol but I can see it going both at will I guess I dunno maybe my brain is just to tired to care lmfao

 

At least this is an argument with no winning side, it goes both way. This isn't about winning, gosh I must have heard that somewhere

[aleph0 0]

You know, I'm definitely left-brained. Always have been -- more than like 90% on other tests.

 

But that curvy chick is definitely spinning clockwise. No changing it -- imagining her with clothes on, picturing myself in different positions ... her in different positions ... he,he, giggity.

 

Nope, still clockwise. Maybe more right-brained than previously thought.

 

Edit: Wait, clockwise from above or below? 'Cause if I'm looking upskirt it's counter-clockwise ... giggity.

Edited October 31, 2007 by aleph0