The Direction of My Spinning Brain

Came across this interesting optical illusion today. Please have a look at it now before reading what I've written below. I want you to have an innocent viewing before seeing my thoughts.

OK, did you have a look? Proceed....

For me she was rotating clockwise at first. In general I'd think I was more left-brained so I was surprised. Since then, everyone who's seen it (Jenny's family and mine) have all independently seen clockwise to begin with, so I think the whole thing about the different directions corresponding the different halves of your brain is bull. Eventually for me, and for most people, it switches directions, but not always at the same time for each person. There is no trick, the animation never changes. It's all in how you see it.

It's interesting for me to analyze what's going on here. I've found out the key to it and now I can make it switch directions at will.

What it all comes down to is which leg your brain decides is the dominant central leg. If the right leg is the central pivot then she spins counterclockwise (that's anti-clockwise to some of you). If the central leg is left then she spins clockwise. Interestingly (but probably coincidental) the right half of the body corresponds to the left half of the brain, and vice versa for the other half.

Try focusing on the just the bottom foot of the image (cover up the rest if you have to) and with luck you can choose which direction you think it should be spinning. Once you see the foot going that way, look back at the whole thing and of course it will match. With practice using this technique you can switch it back and forth at will.

What does that mean? Well I think it means that there isn't much connection really between which half of your brain is dominant and which way you see her spinning. Maybe it shows you how much control you have over the way your brain analyzes images? But there is something to be said for which direction you initially see on your first viewing, although even that doesn't seem to be accurate. It's an interesting experiment is optics and brain power though. I bit like blip I suppose. Taking photos all the time trains your brain to see things differently, where as this exercise does the same thing in a different way.

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