Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Left Brain vs Right Brain

This graphic came from this site, and is a fascinating example of Left Brain (logical) vs Right Brain (creative) thinking. If you see the figure turning clockwise, you are primarily right brained. If it is going counter-clockwise, you are primaily left-brained. I find in my case I see it turning clockwise (right-brained) until I start reading something and then it switches.

13 comments:

"Nick" said...

Wierd! I must be right brained... surprise surprise:)

Anonymous said...

Definitely clockwise. I tried to "make" it look the other way, but could not.

quizwedge said...

That's so weird... clockwise for me too. I did the reading text thing and let my eyes kind of zone out and it switched for about a second!

Sean said...

being the type of person I am, I downloaded the image and looked at it in Image Ready (the program I use for making animated GIFs like this) and frame for frame the animation does make it spin clockwise, so I guess it's only an illusion if you're really left brained.

quizwedge said...

or are you just seeing it frame for frame spin clockwise because you're right brained? :)

Anonymous said...

Weird, but today (10/10) it is counter-clockwise!
Is it for real, or just some sort of tease?

Nomad said...

Shadowmom, It is real. It depends on what part of the brain you are using RIGHT THEN when you view it. I can make it turn both ways now, almost at will. So can Bowhunter (we discussed last night at dinner). Click thru to read the article on it.

Ward said...

My left brain side must be absolutely dead...lol.

Nomad said...

Ward,

On the one hand, we all knew you had no logic in you. ;-)

On the other hand, try two things. First, try leaving the image up but doing some basic math, like balancing your checkbook. If that doesn't work, try thinking of something VERY serious and dwelling on it for a few seconds. Either of those should activate the left side of the brain.

Anonymous said...

Clockwise again tonight.

Sam said...

So mine started counter-clockwise then my daughter's head came into my field of vision and it seemed to suddenly switch to counter clockwise. And while I was typing this it kept switching back and forth between the two.

Sam said...

Um, the above should read "switch to clockwise." I've been playing with this trying to figure out what triggers the switch in perception. This is so much fun! Thanks for sharing it.

Nomad said...

Thanks for stopping by Sam! We're glad to have you around.