After mulling over the spinning lady and reading the comments I decided to do a bit of research - not on left brain and right brain thinking, that would be too predictable. What I did do was to copy the gif image onto my desktop and then open it in Adobe Image Ready. Then, I looked at all 34 frames to see if the test was, you know, on the up and up. My family won't be surprised that I did this.
The individual frames do follow a normal progression of a circle. There is no random switching, which brings us to the scary part of this knowledge. Our brains do determine what we see, not by the reality of what is on the screen or page, but through interpretation.
What this really means is that when I have been frustrated because others don't see things my way, they may not be seeing the same thing that I see even if it is in black and white. Perhaps having this knowledge will help me be more understanding. You know, nicer.
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8 comments:
Excellent observation.
I have been thinking about the spinning lady since you posted! lol
Now that's interesting!
I would have placed the act of deconstructing the video under left-brained activity. I'm not surprised you did it, although I'm surprised a bit that you felt inspired to do it! I wondered if there was a "trick" built into the video so the lady would change directions, but I never would have thought to take the thing apart and analyze it.
I would have guessed you are left-brained, which just shows how much I don't know -- which is always a good thing!
Oh! I have some left-brained activity going on too. I just lead with my right, according to the spinning lady. I have a passion for disassembling things - always have - but I wouldn't have taken the time to look into this if my mother hadn't said she saw the lady stop and turn. I just needed to know.
What a clever idea! And I really like the insight you drew from it. I will have to consider that.
I was pretty sure it was really what it was supposed to be because Ed and I and the kids were watching it together, and we all saw it stop and reverse at different times and in different directions. Very odd.
Not surprised... Just wondered how long it would take until you investigated...
:)
It seems to depend on whether you see the leading leg as behind or in front of the dancer. Does that make sense?
I was just chatting with a friend about the Spinning Dancer. I told her I couldn't get her to spin clockwise. She said she couldn't get the dancer to spin "anti-clockwise".
Then...I minimized the window. Then maximized it. There she was, spinning clockwise. I did it again. "Anti-clockwise". I worked several times until I was able to make the dancer change directions with my gaze (read "special powers"...ok, no, just "gaze") based on whether I perceived the extended leg as foreground or background.
:D
Wow. That is interesting.
But I'm not going to go look at her again - I was on the cusp of a doozy of a headache last time. Just thinking about it too long makes me dizzy.
I didn't intend to create headaches, though I have heard of patterns inducing them.
Natalie, I thought you fell off the face of the earth. I would love to see you. We are in your area on Thursdays this year. Great interview. You did sound as if you had special powers.
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