How do you perceive these lines to be rotating?

[Spinnor]

In graphs c, d, e, and f below the red and blue pair of lines appear to be rotating about the horizontal axis. I'm curious how these graphs appear to others. When the lines are at the top do they appear to move towards or away from you?

Thanks for playing!

To me the top parts at first appeared to be moving towards me but I knew that it could have been either way perhaps. With a little training I could convince myself that the opposite were true, that the tops of the lines moved away from me and thus appeared to be rotating in the opposite manner.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Evo]

They just appear to be moving up and down to me.

 

[Spinnor]

They just appear to be moving up and down to me.

No wrong answers, I don't see that! Thanks for playing.

 

[phinds]

It's subjective. Some people will see it in anyone of at least 3 ways; at top moving towards you, at top moving away from you, at top moving down. This kind of optical "confusion" is totally common and normal.

 

[Spinnor]

It's subjective. Some people will see it in anyone of at least 3 ways; at top moving towards you, at top moving away from you, at top moving down. This kind of optical "confusion" is totally common and normal.

But what do you see?

 

[phinds]

But what do you see?

I can see it any way I choose.

 

[Spinnor]

I can see it any way I choose.

It took me a while to see them rotating in both directions. Thanks.

 

[Evo]

No wrong answers, I don't see that! Thanks for playing.

Aw, thanks, I thought I failed.

 

[DiracPool]

I'm not what your source is for that animation, but they appear to be the real and imaginary solutions to harmonic oscillators. In such a case, the pink and blue waveforms would oscillate 90 degrees out of phase with one another but, more importantly, would rotate through a 3-dimensional complex plane OUT of the plane of my computer screen and then back IN. So maybe that undercurrent has biased me, but that is what I see, a collection of phasors rotating in 3D through the complex field space, not just up and down.

 

[Spinnor]

I'm not what your source is for that animation, but they appear to be the real and imaginary solutions to harmonic oscillators. In such a case, the pink and blue waveforms would oscillate 90 degrees out of phase with one another but, more importantly, would rotate through a 3-dimensional complex plane OUT of the plane of my computer screen and then back IN. So maybe that undercurrent has biased me, but that is what I see, a collection of phasors rotating in 3D through the complex field space, not just up and down.

You know too much! You are disqualified! Just kidding. If you look at lines when they reach the top do you see the top coming toward you are away from you? When I look I always see the top coming toward me and it takes some effort to see it rotate the opposite direction. It was taken from Wiki on Quantum Mechanics,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics#Harmonic_oscillator

Thanks!

 

[DiracPool]

When I look I always see the top coming toward me and it takes some effort to see it rotate the opposite direction.

Well, the thing is that there is no answer for that, you can train your mind to interpret either way. It's the same thing as with a necker cube.. I guess what I'm saying is that the answer is capricious. Some times I see it rotating toward me (clockwise), sometimes the reverse..

 

[Spinnor]

Well, the thing is that there is no answer for that, you can train your mind to interpret either way. It's the same thing as with a necker cube..

[PLAIN]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Necker_cube.svg[/QUOTE]

I guess I'm different. When I look I always see the top coming towards me and only with effort do I see it the other way. I thought it would be similar with others. I did not foresee the possibility that someone would not see it rotating at all as it seems to rotate so vividly to me. But again, does your mind tend to see it one way or the other without working it? Just looked again, top still coming at me.

 

[jim mcnamara]

I'm with @phinds - It started out up and down. Then they seemed to change behavior depending on where my 'center of vision' was relative to a given graph. I guess you'd call this a "gif"-ted trompe l'oeil. ...sorry :(

 

[OCR]

Rather graphic, this one... lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion#/media/File:Revolving_circles.svg

 

[mfb]

I see them moving up and down, but I can also see them rotating in either direction if I want.
At least with C and D, I can also see the two curves rotating against each other, colliding twice per rotation. E and F are too fast for that.

 

[phinds]

I'm with @phinds I guess you'd call this a "gif"-ted trompe l'oeil. ...sorry :(

Ha ... sorry my a**. You're not sorry at all. You did that on purpose! I go by the dictum that only MY puns are funny, so this one sucks. Of course if I had thought of it, it would be hilarious.

 

[Sophia]

I see them going up and down. I can make them rotate in both directions, but I think I would not see the rotation if you haven't mentioned it in the first post.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I see the upper parts rotating out of the plane toward me in the cases of C, D, and H. The more complex ones won't maintain a steady direction of rotation and sometimes seem two dimensional.

 

[DrGreg]

Here's an illusion where you can't help seeing the wrong direction of rotation alternating with the correct direction.

 

[Bandersnatch]

I have a preference to see the lines rotating towards me on the top, but then it's very easy to switch to the other way around.

This one, on the other hand:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinning_Dancer
Took me so much longer now than I remember to make myself see a counter-clockwise rotation.
(I see it was also included in OCR's link)

Spoiler

 

[Borek]

I can see it any way I choose.

+1.

Takes a bit of time to switch.

Funny thing is, I made such a moving plot many years ago. Can't remember if it was just for fun, or if I was working on some article about programming. At the time I have seen the plot moving only one way - up and down. Now I was told it can be seen as rotating, and it gave me a choice

 

[Spinnor]

Here's an illusion where you can't help seeing the wrong direction of rotation alternating with the correct direction.

Same mask without the talking heads,



I slowed it down and still had no chance of seeing it the "right" way.

Hollow-Face Illusion explained at Wiki,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow-Face_illusion

 

[Tsu]

Well, the thing is that there is no answer for that, you can train your mind to interpret either way. It's the same thing as with a necker cube.. I guess what I'm saying is that the answer is capricious. Some times I see it rotating toward me (clockwise), sometimes the reverse...

Me too.

 

[OCR]

Took me so much longer now than I remember to make myself see a counter-clockwise rotation.

I never see a "good" counterclockwise rotation... occasionally, I see some regular variation in magnitude or position around a central point, though.....

 

[Evo]

Years ago I could train myself to switch between directions. It seems that I can no longer do do so.

Here is the famous dancing ballerina illusion. I used to be able to switch between clockwise and counter-clockwise at will. No more, I can only see clockwise.

http://lateralaction.com/articles/left-brain-or-right/

Ok, I just re-opened the page and now she's going counter-clockwise.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

There is a link in that page leading to this left and right spinning difference.
Something strange is going on, sometimes I see left on one and right on the other but later right on the former and left on the latter.

 

[OCR]

Something strange is going on, sometimes I see left on one and right on the other but later right on the former and left on the latter.

Lol, yeah, I see that, sometimes I see L going clockwise and R going counterclockwise ... at the same time.
Oh my ! .....

 

[DiracPool]

Years ago I could train myself to switch between directions. It seems that I can no longer do do so.

Here is the famous dancing ballerina illusion. I used to be able to switch between clockwise and counter-clockwise at will. No more, I can only see clockwise.

That's a good one. Unlike the neckar cube, I seem to have absolutely no control over this one. It started off clockwise and I thought there was no way I'd ever see it any different. Then sure enough, at some point it switched, and then I couldn't get it back to clockwise no matter how hard I tried. That went on for a while. Finally, I got so frustrate that I picked up my laptop and turned it upside down. When I turned it back rightside-up, guess what? It switched again back to clockwise..

 

[Evo]

That's a good one. Unlike the neckar cube, I seem to have absolutely no control over this one. It started off clockwise and I thought there was no way I'd ever see it any different. Then sure enough, at some point it switched, and then I couldn't get it back to clockwise no matter how hard I tried. That went on for a while. Finally, I got so frustrate that I picked up my laptop and turned it upside down. When I turned it back rightside-up, guess what? It switched again back to clockwise..

Yeah, this is a tough one. I have also seen it go both ways, so I know it's possible.

 

[Spinnor]

Years ago I could train myself to switch between directions. It seems that I can no longer do do so.

Here is the famous dancing ballerina illusion. I used to be able to switch between clockwise and counter-clockwise at will. No more, I can only see clockwise.

http://lateralaction.com/articles/left-brain-or-right/

Ok, I just re-opened the page and now she's going counter-clockwise.

At first I could only see her going clockwise. By covering most of the image with my hand and looking only at her from her knees down her feet would appear to move from left to right and then reverse direction back and forth over and over with no rotation apparent. Then by removing my hand at the right time I can get her to rotate in any direction of my choosing. Neat illusion. Thanks.