Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise?
Manolo says, the Manolo’s friend Linda has alerted the Manolo (via the Professor Norm) to this fascinating visual test.
For the Manolo, the dancer is going clockwise, only by looking to his left and thinking about doing his taxes can the Manolo convince the dancer to go anti-clockwise, but as soon as he blinks, she returns to her previous clockwise dance.
These results do not especially surprise the Manolo, except that the Manolo believes himself as being exceptionally verbal.
Go now and take this test and report your findings back to the Manolo
October 12th, 2007 at 10:25 am
I just managed to get her to go anti-clockwise for a bit by using the Manolo’s methodology. Then she reverted to her clockwise twirl
October 12th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I got clockwise too. I couldn’t figure out how it was possible people would think she could go counter-clockwise until I figured out that it all depends on whether you think she’s facing towards you or has her back to you. Weird stuff!
October 12th, 2007 at 10:37 am
clockwise for me, although on the list seems more like I favour the other side in terms of traits…
October 12th, 2007 at 10:39 am
The answer for me lies in her shadow. Pay close attention to her shadow. If she were truly going clockwise or counterclockwise, I would imagine that the shadow of the sweep of her leg would “follow” one way or another. However, her shadow kinda reins back at the pivotal moment. By glancing down at her shadow I can make her rotate once counterclockwise, then once clockwise, then back again, either way, for as long as I want.
October 12th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Definitely clockwise. I can’t make her change direction. Does this make me incapable of doing my own taxes?
October 12th, 2007 at 10:48 am
That is the weirdest thing! She was so clearly clockwise to me that I thought there must be something wrong with my head until I tried Theresa’s shadow strategy — now I can’t get her to go back the other way. Okay, she’s going the other way. LOL
October 12th, 2007 at 10:58 am
I have not yet been able to make her go counter-clockwise. I will attempt the shadow trick, but I fear she will be mono-directional with me!
October 12th, 2007 at 10:58 am
She goes counterclockwise for me, but I can make her change direction by reading the right brain list of attributes.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:00 am
She only goes counter-clockwise for me. I can’t figure out how anyone can see her going clockwise! This is fascinating.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:00 am
I got her going counter-clockwise, and only by looking away was I able to make her go clockwise.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Wow — that’s amazing. I went back and focused on her arched leg and that’s when the image shifted for me and she seemed to be turning clockwise.
The very interesting thing for me is that I couldn’t see it until a co-worker pointed it out, but I would say I am 90% right brained. Those left brain attributes make me lose my temper (i.e., dealing with numbers, trying to comprehend something (chemistry formulas) instead of just getting it (color matching)).
So, I am definitly right-brained but I only saw her swinging counter-clockwise for the longest time.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Clockwise!
The whole counter-clockwise thing doesnt work for me no matter how hard I do or don’t concentrate on whateva.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I’m with Miz UV- She was going clockwise, and then she switched on me.
Also, what’s up with the nipples? Why is she nekked?
October 12th, 2007 at 11:21 am
So does this mean I’m both left and right brained? :D
October 12th, 2007 at 11:27 am
She started out clockwise for me, but I found it easy to switch her to counterclockwise just by focusing on her right foot. So I switched her back and forth a few times and then started to wonder: What on earth does this make me? Completely disoriented?
October 12th, 2007 at 11:28 am
at first she was turning counterclockwise. i looked away then looked by. she was turning clockwise. i looked away again, looked back and she was turning clockwise again. personally i think it just switches back and forth by itself. it just depends on how long you stare at it.
manolo, oh great shoe maven, why do you never write anything for women of large feet? are we not also beautiful? we are long of leg and tall of stature. why do you ignore us?
October 12th, 2007 at 11:34 am
She’s clockwise for me, and I can’t make her switch. But I am the most left-brain person I know! What does this mean?
October 12th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Clockwise, by default. I can get her to go counter-clockwise if I look to the *right* and see her through my peripheral vision.
I wish they explained how this test works neurologically.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:52 am
The Annalucia had the mixed results. At first the lady went counter-clockwise - for quite a long time - then she switched to clockwise, and after a short while, back again. At one point she faced the Annalucia and swung her outstretched leg to her right, to her left, to her right again, making only a quarter-turn each time.
What is even more curious, the Giorgione (that is the second son of the Annalucia) was looking over her shoulder. At some points he and she saw the same motion, and at other times they did not. She will not attempt to discern what this might say about her brain.
October 12th, 2007 at 11:52 am
The first time I looked at her, she was turning counter-clockwise. But if I shut my eyes and the open them, she is turning clockwise. Shut and open again, and she’s back to counter-clockwise. It’s kinda fun, but it’s making my head hurt.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I get clockwise and I can not make her switch no matter what. I have tried all of the above tricks as well as one of my own - closing one eye and then the other. Nothing works. Clockwise. And she is really captivating, isn’t she?
October 12th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
She goes clockwise for me, and I cannot make her go counterclockwise no matter what I do.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
I think she is switching, on her own. I first noticed accidentally through peripheral vision, then I watched her closely and saw her switch. If this is true, I wonder if this is a way to make everyone believe they are engaging in the challenge of switching their brains from right to left or whatever.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
At first she was going counterclockwise and for the longest time, I couldn’t get her to switch…still not sure *how* it worked so that it switched, but she did start going clockwise. I had to really, really focus though.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Clockwise only for me and I can’t seem to make her switch.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
I can see her going both ways, all I need to do is blink to mak her change direction. It was making me seasick. However, I simply could never get the hang of the “Magic Eye” pictures. I always felt like that poor guy in “Mall Rats”.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Totally, utterly clockwise. I can get her to change direction by doing what The Manolo did in reverse (i.e. looking sideways from my right rather than my left), but yes, once I look straight at her, she’s happily spinning in a clockwise fashion.
No wonder I never felt comfortable about my PhD in chemistry. Quelle revelation.
October 12th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Counter-clockwise, and I can’t get her to go the other way at all. Hmmm.
October 12th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Clockwise, can’t get her to turn! Does that mean I’m hopelessly non-mathematical?
October 12th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
She was going anti and I couldn’t get her to switch. Until I unfocused and looked at her feet. Now she’s going clockwise and I can’t make her go anti again. So, it’s obviously all about the shoes!
October 12th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I think my chances of getting her to turn would be better if she were a naked hot man. All I can think about is ‘great hips!’
October 12th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
She started off anticlockwise and then switched to clockwise when I blinked, but then switched back. I was able to go back and forth if I focused on the list of attributes.
Very cool experiment!
October 12th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
She went counterclockwise, but when I scrolled down, she went clockwise.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
I tried this on the only man I know who owns two tool boxes and he said: counter-clockwise. He then said that he believed that the motion was randomly generated by the computer programme but to prove or disprove this you would need to get five or six people in front of one computer and get them to see if they see the same thing at the same time. This is why he saw it as counter-clockwise and I saw it clockwise. I wouldn’t have thought of that. Norm, who brought this to my attention, wondered what she was thinking.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Clockwise, only. I’ll have to try some of the tricks others used to make her go the other way!
October 12th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Mostly clockwise, but she’d change direction on occasion. What I found very curious was looking at the list of attributes for right and left-brained persons.
I fix computers (logic, details) and I took calculus for fun–left-brained attributes.
Uses feeling, imagination rules, can “get it”–ask my gf sometime: I can’t take a hint to save my life. Or get her the right birthday present.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Those who believe in fairies and Santa Claus and (. . .) do not click this link
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php?p=27
October 12th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
I gathered three of my co-workers and we all looked at my screen at the same time. I saw her going clockwise only — I have not yet been able to make her switch directions. One co-worker saw her going counterclockwise only for quite awhile, but then figured out how to make her switch directions. One saw her going clockwise at first but could make her switch back and forth. And one saw her switching back and forth continually, without trying.
So, to the linda grant: this does not appear to be a randomly generated computer thingie which switches her direction back and forth. The four of us were all looking at the same screen at the same time, and we each saw something different. It was pretty bizarre, actually.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Yes, the link explains it. In a rather dull way for us non-scientist, airy fairy artsy types.
October 12th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Random sampling of co-workers: 3 clockwise, 3 counter-clockwise, counting initial first-reaction only. After a while everyone could get her to “switch” by focusing on the shadow beneath her. Two saw her going clockwise and two others counter-clockwise at the same time, ruling out the possibility that the program just “switches” the direction for the observers. Interesting result because I work in a biomedical research lab and thought the majority of people would be “left-brain” but we’re half and half.
October 12th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
At first I only saw her going clockwise, then eventually she “switched” to counterclockwise, but only briefly, and once she “switched” so close together that it looked like she only went halfway, not all the way around. My sister was looking at it at the same time and saw counterclockwise at the same time I saw clockwise (she eventually saw clockwise briefly).
I think seeing the different directions is possible because she is in silhouette (and thus only two dimensional) so we can’t say for certain which leg is behind the other (the way we could if she was in color and with shading–3-D), so our brain “fills in the blank,” so to speak, and it looks like a different direction depending on which side of our brain predominates. It reminds me of that famous mind puzzle thing that looks like two profiles facing each other or the outline of a vase, depending on how you look at it.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
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October 12th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I can only get her to switch after some squinting from far away. She’s clockwise unless I force a change of perspective :) Neat, though.
October 12th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Wait a minute, I’m an engineer and I could not, for the life of me, get her to turn counter-clockwise. Does this mean my career is doomed?
October 12th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I can get her to switch back and forth very easily. I’d bet it’s because I’m ambidextrous.
October 12th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I found that if I sweep my eyes back and forth, left and right and left again across the center of the image, around the waist, she sweeps from side to side, too. It seems the eyes create the track for me….goodness!
October 12th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Looking straight on, even trying all the tips mentioned, and a few other things I thought might help, nothing but clockwise. However, when I turned my head to the left and looked at the screen out of the corner of my eye - counter-clockwise, as long as I kept my head turned. Looking straight on again - clockwise again. Very interesting! I knew I was mostly “right-brain”, but these kinds of things are fascinating to try - thanks, Manolo!
October 12th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Both, without really trying.
I will now use this to convince myself of how well-balanced of a person I truly am!
October 12th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I’m with Theresa. At first I could only see her rotate clockwise, but I eventually was able to see it her move counter-clockwise. Now I’m terribly confused because every time I look at her now she switches directions from what I saw just before. I now have no idea if I am more right-brained or left. Hmm…
October 12th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
She will only go clockwise for me. But on all other right-brain/left-brain tests I’ve taken, I’ve come out as being a bit of both. Interesting that this test should be different.
October 13th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
linda grant’s link made me want a cup of coffee.
October 14th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Like the Naomi, I found that the shadow is the key. I could see her turning clockwise, then counter, then clockwise. I was surprised to find my first impresion was right-brained, too. Then I could not see counterclockwise again until I focused on her shadow toes, which seem to lead her counter-clockwise. Focusing on the graceful flow of her hands makes her seem clockwise again, to me. Fascinating!
October 15th, 2007 at 1:56 am
It’s a hoax. She changes direction on her own after a set amount. Watch her for a while and see.
October 20th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
[…] image, originally created by Nobuyuki Kayahara, is all over the internets, but I’m reposting it because it’s a great scientific personality test. If you see the […]
October 20th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
[…] says, last week the Manolo posted the link to the optical-illusion that supposedly tested whether one was left-brained or […]