Andy(ArT)Trigg
#1. June 12th, 2008, at 2:01 PM.

Here’s how it worked for me -

She is spinning clockwise, without doubt. I decided to try and make her spin anticlockwise but became convinced it was impossible. Then I read the external link where people had discussed the test and a few people said they could change its direction at will.

I tried again but almost gave up after a minute or so. I decided to believe I could do it and concentrated on her extended arm swinging round. Each time her arm swung through the 3 O’clock position I just willed it to be going away from me instead of towards me. All of a sudden she did two complete anticlockwise revolutions. It was well weird.

With a little concentration I can make her spin either way but I have to concentrate to turn her anticlockwise and often she changes back after several anticlockwise spins even though I don’t blink.

So it appears I have a very dominant right side but can use the left side fairly well too.

I also learned that if I look at the text to the left of her instead of directly at her and just be aware of her in my peripheral vision then she immediately changes direction too, but the second I look at her she resumes clockwise rotation.

All in all it’s a very amusing and interesting test. Some people see her spinning anti-clockwise and others clockwise. Some have said they can only get her to spin one way despite trying for ages but lots of people can get her to go the opposite way by using various techniques.

Whether it says anything about our brains or not is unclear, but it’s definitely fun. Whichever way she’s spinning it’s hard to imagine her spinning the other way because it looks so convincing.

Andy(ArT)Trigg
#5. June 10th, 2009, at 1:47 PM.

Thanks for your comment Sheila. I just had anther look after not seeing it for months and even after several minutes I couldn’t get her to turn anti-clockwise. If I hadn’t managed it before I’d have been convinced it was impossible as no matter how much I stared she emphatically spun clockwise.

One thing I have noticed is that in Internet Explorer 8 she spins way too slow, and at least half of the speed. This makes it very difficult for me and I can’t imagine her spinning the other way at such a slow speed. Viewing it in the Firefox browser she spins so much faster it’s easier to focus on her swinging leg and just imagine each time it gets to around the 8 O’clock position that it’s swinging the other way. After imagining that for several revolutions I find if I look away at the text to the left she will usually spin the other way.