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Even better: this article about what happens to a brain when half (yes, half!) of it is removed.

I feel I should re-emphasize this. This is a really good article.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/07/03/060703fa_fact

kenan, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 06:01 (sixteen years ago) link

Still counterclockwise & no switching at all. :-/

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 07:50 (sixteen years ago) link

Now I can see her moving anticlockwise when I look at the one with the blue leg, but the original is still clockwise only.

accentmonkey, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 08:00 (sixteen years ago) link

When I opened this thread she was going anticlockwise and I couldn't make her switch. Then I went to the article and while I was skimming through the text the picture loaded there and she was going clockwise and I couldn't make her go back. I don't know if that's just because the clockwise list was so much cooler that my brain decided it needed to be a clockwise person, or because of where the article layout makes your eyes rest, or...

But still definitely mostly anticlockwise. Dammit. I wanted to be an artistic type. It's not like I'm too hot at logical things.

(I am more inclined to believe this is to do with how uneven my sight is in each eye than anything else, but still, neat picture.)

a passing spacecadet, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 08:07 (sixteen years ago) link

I hate it when an animated gif ruins your hopes and dreams. So sad. But it happens all the time.

kenan, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 08:08 (sixteen years ago) link

I couldn't see it any other way aside from clockwise, though when I tried the feet-only method and squinted hard I could get it to go half-way anticlockwise (so instead of going in a circle she kept waving her foot about first one way then the other). It was quite a strain. With the blue leg I can see her going anticlockwise - I was trying to get that kind of mental imagery in the first place, but my mind just wouldn't accept it.

emil.y, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 08:30 (sixteen years ago) link

Can someone make a clockwise colored leg gif? (or is it already? It only confirms it's going counterclockwise for me)

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 08:37 (sixteen years ago) link

seems like being able to switch her direction (imagining her orbiting leg as it passes the central leg as pointed-away from you instead of toward you or vice versa) would be extra-right brained/spatial.

you gotta love those lists... if you're lefty, you're reality based... if you're righty, you can "get it". lol.

m.

msp, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 13:17 (sixteen years ago) link

I kinda want all that left/right brain stuff to be true just to disagree with kenan.

Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 13:20 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh my god she's doing it! Look at her go!

accentmonkey, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 13:24 (sixteen years ago) link

I can make her go either way just by thinking about it - either glancing away, closing my eyes momentarily, or focussing on one spot - but it defaults to anti-clockwise when I come fresh to it from elsewhere.

(easiest cheat way to make it go otherwise for those having trouble is to scroll your screen so you can only see her legs - you shouldn't have any problem visualising which leg is crossing in front of which from there - keep that in your head and scroll up. I'm guessing this is what my brain is doing when I'm looking at the whole thing, but if it doesn't work like that, then this might help?)

ailsa, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 13:26 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm a total left-brainer

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 13:27 (sixteen years ago) link

I kinda want all that left/right brain stuff to be true just to disagree with kenan

it's bollocks, and kenan is absolutely OTM. yes, the left and right cerebral hemispheres function in slightly different ways -- and can affect perception in some surprisingly different ones. but to reduce this to "left-brainer" and "right-brainer" as personality types is nothing more than pure pish.

and the differences in perception claimed by ILX0rs looking at this example are almost certainly nothing to do with hemispheres. i'm not confident enough to make a proclamation about this with complete certainty -- going back to university has made me substantially more circumspect, which can only be a good thing -- but i'm confident enough to, say, bet my bollocks on it.

bizarrely, i was reading a lot about such stuff this morning in the uni library. if you're not careful, i'll start posting large tranches of it here :)

grimly fiendish, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 13:38 (sixteen years ago) link

I can't think of a single thing I would bet my bollocks on that I wouldn't proclaim about with complete certainty. Then again, I like my bollocks.

HI DERE, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 13:57 (sixteen years ago) link

I've perfected it so I can get her to go anti-clockwise by glancing at the bottom left corner of the gif and clockwise by glancing at the bottom right corner. I am controlling her with my brain omg!

onimo, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:22 (sixteen years ago) link

... by glancing at her bottom

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:23 (sixteen years ago) link

actually, i think a more interesting division is between those who noticed the nipples and those who didn't.

grimly fiendish, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:24 (sixteen years ago) link

More of a gaze than a glance, but yes :)

xpost there were people who didn't notice nipples? Concentrate ffs!

onimo, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:25 (sixteen years ago) link

I can see the one with the blue leg (thanks!) go anti-clockwise. But I can't can't can't make the real one do it.

I know, right?, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:26 (sixteen years ago) link

AGHHHHHHHHHH!

I know, right?, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:27 (sixteen years ago) link

I am in the same boat as acentmonkey, I can only see counter clockwise with the blue leg. What is worse was that even as the question was posed I could see how the animation would result in both directions and I can play the animation anti-clockwise in my head. All means I am right brained, according to the link which is not my self image of myself.

Ed, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:38 (sixteen years ago) link

No, no, I can make her do the anticlockwise even without the blue leg! I have bent her to my iron will.

They had a thing about hemispherectomies on the documentary series House last series. A man stopped being able to play piano.

accentmonkey, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 14:41 (sixteen years ago) link

They had a thing about hemispherectomies on the documentary series House last series. A man stopped being able to play piano

i was reading about "split-brain" patients this morning -- ie where the connecting commissures between the hemispheres were cut (a rather drastic treatment for epilepsy, IIRC) and all sorts of wacky shit ensuing. one experiment on such a patient involved displaying a picture of a horse in the left visual field (which is processed by the right hemisphere) and asking: "what would a rider put on this?"

the left hemisphere has all the verbal information for the response ... but can't do anything about it because the image hasn't reached it. the right hemisphere *can* see the horse ... but lacks the language skills to process and produce a verbal response. so the subject couldn't come up with a verbal answer ... but when they were asked to *draw* the answer, they did a saddle.

there's a lot of other similarly fascinating stuff to do with laterality, but the whole "I AM A RITE-BRANE PERSON" thing is shite.

grimly fiendish, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:07 (sixteen years ago) link

OTM about the hemispherectomy/epilepsy. (the somewhat less drastic epilepsy surgical treatment is frontal lobotomy)

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:23 (sixteen years ago) link

is -> was, probably. I think frontal lobotomies aren't being done anymore - at least not for epilepsy/schizophrenia

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:25 (sixteen years ago) link

This is supposed to be clockwise, but I still can't see it :-(

http://koti.mbnet.fi/diablosk/itam/random/dancerclockwise.gif

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:31 (sixteen years ago) link

OK, that was immediately clockwise. You are a total leftie, Stan.

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:33 (sixteen years ago) link

And now they're all clockwise!

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:34 (sixteen years ago) link

even the blue one?

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Bugger, I looked at the blue leg, now they're back to being anti-clockwise

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:36 (sixteen years ago) link

I think I'll just have to accept it, I'm clockwise-challenged.

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:37 (sixteen years ago) link

Last night I saw this as counter clockwise for about 3 seconds but since then I've only been able to see each picture as clockwise no matter how hard I try!! This is sooooooo frustrating.

ENBB, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:38 (sixteen years ago) link

I can still make it go anticlockwise, even with the red line. I wonder if this makes me whole brained or schizophrenic.

onimo, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:39 (sixteen years ago) link

WAU I can get them both going in opposite directions!

HI DERE, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link

OK, now they're going clockwise and anti-clockwise alternately, which is quite a nice effect

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:43 (sixteen years ago) link

They're both going clockwise!!! Are you guys really seeing go in different directions? ACK! I have no left brain.

ENBB, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link

... she's not turning round completely now but sorta sashaying to and fro

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link

I apologise in advance...

http://i22.tinypic.com/2elbayu.gif

ledge, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:46 (sixteen years ago) link

Like Tom, I'm finding it increasingly hard, now, to see her make a whole revolution.

Michael White, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:46 (sixteen years ago) link

HOLY SHIT!! I did it for about a second and had them going in opposite directions - the blue counterclockwise and the right clockwise but now they're both going counterclockwise!!!!

ENBB, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:46 (sixteen years ago) link

Both anti-clockwise, that red line doesn't help at all. :-(

And now she has independent nipples!

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:47 (sixteen years ago) link

I can do it!! They're going in opposite directions again now. YAY!

ENBB, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:48 (sixteen years ago) link

Nipples clockwise

Tom D., Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:48 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm starting to worry now :-(

Not only that I cannot see any clockwise direction, but also that I've been looking at this damn thing for a whole day already :-)

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:50 (sixteen years ago) link

Stan - I can't look at either one I have to stare directly in the middle for a few seconds before they start going in opposite directions.

ENBB, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:50 (sixteen years ago) link

OK, I used to be able to make it go anti-clockwise only if I really concentrated. Now, after seeing the blue leg, I can ONLY make it go anti-clockwise. Even if I leave the thread and come back to it!

jaymc, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:50 (sixteen years ago) link

It's like those yellow dots sprint across her back.

StanM, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:51 (sixteen years ago) link

The red line and blue legged one can still go either way. The yellow-nippled one I can't make go anti-clockwise at all.

ailsa, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:51 (sixteen years ago) link

I managed to the nipples one going anticlockwise but that means they disappear when they're meant to be facing front :/

onimo, Tuesday, 9 October 2007 15:51 (sixteen years ago) link


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