Talk:The Spinning Dancer

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Contents 1 clockwise, or anti-clockwise? 2 The trick 3 Maybe you're stupid... maybe this inference is 4 Notable? 5 Another tip for changing direction 6 Objections to bobbing motion and lighting 7 Facebook application

[edit] clockwise, or anti-clockwise?

No matter how hard I look at it, it is obviously spinning clockwise. Dengero (talk) 00:34, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Try blocking out the top part of the dancer (till the waist), whilst concentrating on the lower part. Then imagine it spinning the other way, and it will. Great illusion. Right? Muhammad(talk) 10:23, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Same for me at first, always counterclockwise. The above advice helps; focus on mentally forcing one leg to go in front of the other even though it seems not to.--Nate Martin (talk) 19:21, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The trick

The illusion is in her legs, more specifically her knees. If you stare at the dancer's chest or head the illusion becomes much harder to see (change direction). When the dancer brings her leg in front of the other, it's impossible to tell whether shes facing you or facing away from you (since you can't see her breasts - and the image is completely black). One way to make the dancer change direction is when she faces you and brings her leg in front of the other, deliberately blink and imagine she is turned away from you. With a bit of practice you can make her turn back and forth. Hope this info helps. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Seemoe (talk • contribs) 11 February 2008

[edit] Maybe you're stupid... maybe this inference is

In the below link this guys says that those who are not able to see her spin both ways are probably not geniuses. I can see her spin both ways so I tend to agree, but I'd love to see someone with an actual background in this stuff confirm or deny this.

http://www.sonnyradio.com/spinninglady.html

Arthurian Legend (talk) 16:30, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

• Well, then Im a genious! All you are under my control now! Mwahahahahahahahahaha. --Fixman (talk) 20:59, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
  • You might want to reconsider that, since you've made a logical error called denying the antecedent. <g> ("if not able, then not genius" is not the same as "if able, then genius") - dcljr (talk) 08:31, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Notable?

Why does this have its own article? Its a great illusion, although I can't seem to make it spin counterclockwise, but does it really merit an article? I first heard about it here, so... 81.96.160.6 (talk) 02:26, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

It's a thing and Wikipedia is a bunch of articles of things. --IdLoveOne (talk) 00:44, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Another tip for changing direction

The only way I could get myself to see the "opposite" direction (for me, at first I could only see clockwise) was to twirl my finger counterclockwise directly between my eyes and the dancer's foot. The third-dimensional visual cue provided by my finger helped my brain to make the switch. - dcljr (talk) 07:39, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Objections to bobbing motion and lighting

Some people have objected to the bobbing motion and odd lighting effect in the image. I believe this was done so the shadow would (possibly) appear to be in the right place whether you're seeing clockwise or counter-clockwise spin. If the figure were not moving vertically and were simply lit from directly overhead, the shadow's motion on the floor would give away the direction of spin. - dcljr (talk) 08:53, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Facebook application

On Facebook, there's an application called "The Brain Test." It tells the user if they are right or left brained.. with one single test: The Spinning Dancer. I'm not sure if that's notable since it's an application which isn't made by Facebook. --staka (T ・C) 22:50, 6 April 2008 (UTC)