Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Right Brain v. Left Brain

Proper credit should be given to Rebecca Levy for finding this site.
She demands it.

17 comments:

Mr. Pseudonym said...

I cannot, for the life of me, get it to turn anti-clockwise.
I suppose I just don't use my left brain.

Rachel said...

At first it was going counter-clockwise, then it switched, and then I couldn't get it to stay going one direction. Before I read the article, I thought the computure was doing it - switching the direction every five seconds or so.

Observer said...

I saw it going clockwise-meaning I use the right side of my brain. This is weird because all of the words under left side (like logic, practical safe etc) are completly me. I am usually not good at the right brain stuff like risk taking, philosophy and fantasy based. I am really confused as the results are so not me. I just finished my art homework though which involves the right side. I wonder if what you are focusing on changes which way you see the dancer moving? Hmmm.... so confused.
Zoe

Dani said...

I see both. It continually switches. Apparently a guy at MIT slowed it down and watched it on his computer and the computer doesnt switch directions. Its totally how you see it.

katrina337 said...

So at the very beginning I honestly couldn't tell. I saw it going both ways.
Then I focused on it going only one way and it went clockwise.
Then I focused on it going anti-clockwise, and it didn't work.

Being cross-dominant, supposedly I use both sides of my brain at the same time though. But if I'm depending on only one side of my brain, apparently it's my right side...that actually makes a lot of sense.

katrina337 said...

Crazy! I figured out how to make it change! Now I'm even more confused.

katrina337 said...

Okay, sorry, I know I'm triple posting, but I'm really confused. So whenever I say I "don't get it" then it changes to the opposite direction, going the way it would if I would "get it". It's...opposite....I can't comprehend this.

Charlie Vest said...

This is a fantastic representation of how our minds assign connotation to an image! Our eyes are presented with a two-dimensional image moving across a screen in a constant pattern. Naturally, our brains make a three dimensional image out of it. At this point, we've decided which direction she's turning; one rotation her foot is pointing towards you, the next, it's pointing away.

The fun part is to change your paradigm to imagine that her foot (given the 3d context you've assigned it) is ACTUALLY pointed the direction opposite the direction your mind assumes it is. Just change your perspective; she'll dance any direction you 'tell' her to!

I see this illustration is an allegory for bias as knowledge issue in ToK. The biological makeup of our brains predisposes us towards showing us the dancer spinning one way or another. Stuck in the same room, under the same conditions, a group of us will all see the exact same 2-dimensional image in completely different ways, just as our individual experiences will make us more prone to analyzing something differently from others. Very cool!

Anna said...

Wow, at first I could only see the dancer turning clockwise, but I was able to see her spin in the opposite direction as I looked away and told myself that she was turning counter-clockwise. The brain seems to completely control what we see (or don’t see)...

With sense perception, what we know about the dancer is portrayed through how we physically see her. We are all visualizing the same dancing figure, but our brains assign different meanings to the image and convert it into empirical evidence. If primary knowledge is what we experience first hand, can it ever be true with the connotations placed unconsciously on it by our brains?

R_Dong said...

This is the most amazing perception test ever. I called both my parents down to see the image and we all saw it switch at different times to different directions.

Let me expound:
My mom saw it going clockwise, while I saw it going counter-clockwise. Then a second later she said that it switched directions. However I kept seeing it go clockwise. Then I saw it change and my mom didn't.

This is such a cool perception demonstration. It really supports the notion that our brain is the last and most ultimate control over how we as humans view the surrounding world.

Wicked!

AmyLM said...

Just a quick note, this is an awesome post! I can't seem to get her to turn anti-clockwise no matter how hard I try, even though like zoe said all of the left-brain words are ones that I would associate with myself. It is amazing how people's perception can be different in this way. Some of us can only see anti-clockwise, some can only see clockwise and still others can see her spinning both ways. This can be related to people's different views on certain issues as well and how some people are able to only see one side of an argument, and other people can see both.

Anupama said...

When my screen first loaded, I saw the dancer moving counter-clockwise, and then she switched directions and I can't get it to go back. however I refreshed the page and the same thing happened: for a few seconds she was going counter-clockwise and then switched directions against my will.

However, I am not at all sure about how legitimate this specific test is. I would say with confidence that I am more left brained than right brained, so I'm confused at either what I've been taught/researched in my psychology class and how often this test seems to be correct.

What's the science behind it?

Notbenkessler said...

I only see it going clockwise, no matter how hard I try I can't switch the directions. Maybe I'm totally right-brained. Is this test really assisgnign connotation to my perception? In my opinion, basing a personaltiy soley on perception seems flawed, but then again, how dio we learn without sight.

KellyR. said...

I would like to know where Mrs. King found this. Is this really reliable?

katrina337 said...

I've been thinking about the same thing as Kelly and Anupama (I'm really sorry if I spelled it wrong); who precisely is the authority of this test? How can we rely on it to say what side of the brain we use?

And they don't really tell you much about what the results dictate. I mean, if you see it one direction it designates you use your left-brain more and the other way, but what does it mean if you can make it switch directions? Or if you can't? Surely people don't only use one side of their brains....to me that seems a weird concept.

Rebecca said...

We took a test is Psychology to find out if we're left brained or right brained people and my test said that I was way left. Then when I looked at the dancer, I saw her going clockwise. Exactly how accurate are these tests?

penguin said...

While we were in the computer lab for TOK class, numerous people were checking out this post. The thing that I found to be the most interesting is that in front of me I could see three monitors all with this same sight. On two of the monitors I saw the woman turning one direction and on the other monitor I saw her turning the other direction. I guess this would make biological sense if the image to my left was turning clockwise due to the fact that most of that visual imput was being sent to the right side of my brain. Same is true if the woman was turning anti-clockwise on the other two sides to my right- the left side of the brain. When looking at this woman I can control which way she goes. If I may make some very vast biological assumptions this would mean I have great control over my corpus callosum- the region connecting the two sides of one's brain. I was wondering because woman typically have a better control of this part of the brain if any female is able to make this switch very easily such as I? I also remember that the corpus callosum in musicians is typically larger. Are there any musicians such as I that are able to make the direction switch very easily?

-Graham P