Ever wondered which is the dominant hemisphere in your brain?
I have had some interesting results with it. The left side of my brain seems to be more dominant but if I really concentrate I can get the dancer to spin the other way. My son has right-brain dominance and so does my friend, Lily who is a musician. However, my friend, Max, who is a composer has left-brain dominance.
So how much credence should we give to the results?
Associate Professor Michael Saling from the University of Melbourne believes that the popular left and right division of the brain is over-simplifying things.
“For example,” he says, “Research is showing that musical, artistic and intuitive thinking can’t be thought of as strictly lateralised or exclusively of the right hemisphere.”
I think he might be right – several people whom I asked to take the test who are artistic and musical saw the dancer spinning both ways.
I’ll leave the last word to Nobel laureate, Roger Sperry.
“The great pleasure of feeling in my right brain is more than my left brain can find the words to tell you.”
Selma In The City 
The dancer was turning clockwise for me … until I looked away to read the text, then when I looked again, she was turning anti-clockwise.
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I am very LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS:
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe
but not math and science they were wrong on that one
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Keith – I don’t know how accurate the test is. However, it was recently endorsed by a psychology lecturer at the University of Sydney, so maybe it’s partly accurate.
Meleah – I am very left brain too but am also very strong on music which is right brain. Maybe you and I have achieved a happy medium and are using both sides of our brain!
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No way! That is so cool Selma! I had her turning clockwise for ages, then I called my hubby in and said “Which way is she turning?” And he said clockwise (to my surprise because he is very logical and scientific-minded), but then he almost immediately said it had changed to anti-clockwise. Then we were standing there pointing at it, me saying “I’m seeing it go this way (clockwise)” and him moving his finger anti-clockwise. Then it was switching for him quite rapidly between anti and clock and back again. And then suddenly it switched for me to anti-clockwise for a moment, and then back to clockwise. Gosh, what a bizarre thing to look at!
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Hm, I think I’m more of a “no-brain.” Actually, when I first saw it, it was definitely going clockwise. Then I read the article and was thinking about that when I happened to glance at the dancer and she was going the opposite direction.
I started thinking of different things, the music in my head (clockwise), the large map on the wall, counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise)… maybe it’s all in what you’re thinking of at the moment that decides the direction.
Cool test.
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for the life of me I cannot see that woman move any way other than clockwise!
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Daoine – it is indeed a weird test. I am really interested in neuroscience ( I used to be a bit of a science geek at school) and I find the whole concept of how our brains are wired, fascinating.
Ms Karen – it is so interesting that your thoughts were able to influence the direction of movement. That is awesome! And you are definitely not a ‘no-brainer’. You are one of the good ones, for sure.
Poet With A Day Job – thank you so much for commenting. I am delighted. I am such a fan of your blog. It is so interesting to see how people perceive the direction of movement. The dancer doesn’t always move the way you expect.
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