Spinning illusion.

[deeps]

Most people see her spinning clockwise, it took me 10 minutes to see anti clockwise.

Silhouettes are ambiguous! She could turn either way and it would look exactly the same.

Which way does she turn for you?

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/sze_silhouette/index....

[deeen]

I saw anti-clockwise first.

Make this into a poll, and we would actually have some scientific research on PH !

[davepoth]

clockwise for me.

[cheadle hulme]

Very good; I saw anti first. Very difficult to get your mind to let go of the image and see the other way.

[marksx]

I can make it spin either way.

Took a while to get the hang of it though.

[Jimmyarm]

Is this real ? I don't see how it could spin a different way from what I am seeing unless the gif is reversed ?

[glazbagun]

Jimmyarm said:

Is this real ? I don't see how it could spin a different way from what I am seeing unless the gif is reversed ?

She isn't spinning at all- the silhouette is just expanding/contracting in two dimensions. It's your brain adding the third.

FTR: I saw anti-clockwise first, deliberately changed it to clockwise and now can't make it go back.

[Brother D]

Either way, initially ccw. Just focus on the tip of the foot and look/imagine upwards towards the foot or from up down to the foot.

[staceyb]

Anti for me too, but could get it to go clockwise.

[slomax]

i was staring at this for ages. deffinately clockwise... then i looked at my desk, and noticed that out of direct vision it was diffinately spinning anti-clockwise. Now i can switch between the two.

[LukeBird]

Clockwise.
Too drunk to work out anti-clockwise!

[Road Pest]

Bizarre, I was getting anti and then clockwise on a 180 so the leg was just waving back and forth without going all the way round.

[Thom987]

Anti clockwise first, now clockwise. Cant get it to go back to anti clockwise now though.

[king arthur]

Dunno which way she's spinning, but I definitely would.

[perdu]

I got anticlockwise first

allowed a switch by looking "off-piste" for a second

and after it flipped I can now choose which way she spins

[slomax]

It's all to do with percieved angle of viewing. The clockwise is from an elevated view looking down on the girl, but Anti-clockwise is looking up at the girl from just above ground level

[stuart-b]

All these replies and no one has mentioned the nipples? - follow the nipples, they tell the story!

[k-ink]

I can flip it at will in a second. I learned to do this as a kid, watching the silhouette of a spinning radar out of my bedroom window.

Easiest way - look at the widest spinning part - in this case the outstretched foot. Now decide which way you want that foot to move - clockwise or anti. Then 'see' the circle it must be taking and follow it's path around that circle.

Edited by k-ink on Thursday 13th January 23:56

[Council Baby]

stuart-b said:

All these replies and no one has mentioned the nipples? - follow the nipples, they tell the story!

I was just about to add my compliments to the creator for the attention to detail on the nipples

[lankybob]

Anticlockwise most of the time.
I dont like it, I find it very confusing