# This "Video" Makes You Hallucinate **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432 "2008-09-13T13:55:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/21 "2008-09-13T21:50:38Z")
I initially see her going anticlockwise, but then I can make her change direction at will - wish I could figure out how it works though! I mean, how come one minute the bent arm is her left, and the next it’s her right …? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/22 "2008-09-13T22:02:14Z")
I did some mega focusing and got it! HAH! Have not clue how it works though, its pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/23 "2008-09-13T22:04:46Z")
> [@Mojo\_Pin](#): > > Yes. Anyone know the reasoning behind this thing? Like why she would look different to different people and what that’s got to do which hemisphere you use the most? I mean I know that the two columns with the list of functions are lazy generalizations at best, but I’m curious as to what would cause the people to see that gif differently. The change in rotation of the girl’s silhouette is an example of [multistable perception](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multistable_perception). I think the “right brain/left brain” explanation is probably just so much hooey. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/24 "2008-09-13T22:04:54Z")
> [@Shrinking\_Violet](#): > > I initially see her going anticlockwise, but then I can make her change direction at will - wish I could figure out how it works though! I mean, how come one minute the bent arm is her left, and the next it’s her right …? 😕 It’s because it’s a silhouette, so there’s no way to tell whether you are seeing her from the front or the back - so your brain just picks one, I guess based on which direction in “wants” her to be spinning. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/25 "2008-09-13T22:09:46Z")
I should add that the effect is accomplished because the silhouette actually displays no depth variation-- her foot appears exactly as large when pointing “away” from you as it does when pointing “toward” you. So when the foot is at its lowest point, you can either read it as “closer and moving clockwise” or “farther away and moving anti-clockwise.” ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/26 "2008-09-13T22:13:11Z")
We’ve had a huge thread about the ambiguously spinning silhouette before. Someone else can find it and link to it. **Terrifel** and **Manduck** make the essential points above. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/27 "2008-09-13T22:15:06Z")
I’m now very skeptical of this spinning woman thing. I just saw this with another person, and we both saw the \*same movements \*at the _same time_. I think this picture alternates by itself. Whenever possible, get another person to see this trick with you, and see if you both coincide. I coincided 3 times in 4 minutes… ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/28 "2008-09-13T22:17:02Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > I’m now very skeptical of this spinning woman thing. > > I just saw this with another person, and we both saw the \*same movements \*at the _same time_. > > I think this picture alternates by itself. No, it does not. We’ve discussed this to death before. You can open the image up in your favorite editor and see the frames, one by one. The period of the animation is exactly one rotation. Not only is the animation as a whole ambiguous as to which direction she is spinning in, but each still frame of it is ambiguous as to whether she is facing away or towards the viewer, which of her legs is in front, etc. Indeed, that’s the crux of the trick. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/29 "2008-09-13T22:18:05Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Same here. Is she moving clock-wise for you, too? You’re both crazy. She’s moving counter-clockwise. I missed the big hairy gorilla the first time, but caught it the second. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/30 "2008-09-13T22:21:30Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > No, it does not. We’ve discussed this to death before. You can open the image up in your favorite editor and see the frames, one by one. The period of the animation is exactly one rotation. Then how did I coincide with the other person 3 times? We both said it “it changed!”. He was reading something I was looking at the figure at then it changed direction. Either way, try to do it with another person see if you also coincide. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/31 "2008-09-13T22:22:23Z")
> [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](#): > > Then how did I coincide with the other person 3 times? Coincidence. Presumably, you guys are both inclined to shift perception at the same triggers within that image. But I am correct. Just open it up in an editor and see. It’s not hard. The period of the animation is exactly one rotation. Every still image from the animation is just as ambiguous as the animation as a whole. There is no chicanery here. I don’t need to do it with another person to see if we coincide. I can make it change at will. Because it’s ambiguous throughout… I repeat, there is no chicanery here. It’s just a more sophisticated version of [the wireframe cube](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multistable_perception) in **Terrifel** ’s link. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/32 "2008-09-13T22:26:23Z")
I saw her clockwise and couldn’t get her to change, until I looked at her with peripheral vision only. Then I just looked at her head, and she was going anti-clockwise. Bizarre illusion! So was the pass-the-ball one. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/33 "2008-09-13T22:29:44Z")
You’re just imagining things, **Frustrated Wonderer**. Put it out of your mind. By the way, don’t read the following message. It is merely an unrelated hijack. ALL UNITS: FRUSTRATED WONDERER HAS BROKEN CONDITIONING. CONVERGE AND ELIMINATE. CONVERGE AND ELIMINATE. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/34 "2008-09-13T22:31:03Z")
I must be weird. The girl is clearly moving clockwise, but the shadow beneath her is clearly moving counter-clockwise. I can’t get either one to change direction. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/35 "2008-09-13T22:32:14Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > I must be weird. The girl is clearly moving clockwise, but the shadow beneath her is clearly moving counter-clockwise. I can’t get either one to change direction. What worked for me at the beginning was looking at her legs, and thinking “Ok, _this_ leg should be going in front of _that_ leg for her to spin the other way” till it did. ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/36 "2008-09-13T22:33:53Z")
Har har. 😛 I see no one liked my trippy link. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/37 "2008-09-13T22:36:39Z")
I liked it. I’m going to share it with all my co-workers on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/38 "2008-09-13T22:38:13Z")
I could get her to change pretty easily after a few minutes. My husband and I both saw her as clockwise at first, but i got her to switch to counter by concentrating on her lowest foot. He couldn’t get her to change for a bit, then finally did, while I was switching her back and forth a lot. It’s not the animation that changes. That is so fricking cool. ---
**Author:** ![Myrrajh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Myrrajh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrrajh)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/39 "2008-09-13T22:40:43Z")
She started counter clockwise for me. I look at the foot in the air and say “front” when I think it’s at the front. Then I say “back” a few times to get my brain to see it as being away from me. From that moment she spins the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432/40 "2008-09-13T23:11:41Z")
Apparently I’m in my ‘right mind’, as she appeared to turn clockwise. It took some concentration, but I finally got her to turn the other way. Going back to the page, now she repeatedly wants to turn one way for 180º and then turn the other way for 180º. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-video-makes-you-hallucinate/463432.md?page=3)