DancerIs the dancer in the picture spinning clockwise or counter clockwise? As it turns out, those that see the dancer spin counter clockwise are typically “left-brained” while those that see the dancer spin clockwise are typically “right-brained”.

If you try to focus really hard, you can see the dancer spin the other way. When I saw the direction change I was so sure the image itself was changing. I continued to stare at this picture for about another 10 minutes until I could “change” the dancer’s spin at will — believe me, the image does not “switch” at all.

I suspect that almost everyone reading this blog (being a techy programming blog) will see the dancer initially spin counter clockwise and probably did fairly well on the IQ test as well. Here’s a comparison of left and right-brained functions.

Left brain functions Right brain functions
sequential simultaneous
analytical holistic
verbal imagistic
logical intuitive
mathematics: perception of counting and measurement mathematics: perception of shapes and motions
present and past present and future
language: grammar, words, pattern perception, literal language: intonation, emphasis, prosody, pragmatic, contextual

Did the test work for you? Can you change the dancer’s spin at will?

Popularity: 8% [?]

Leave a Reply