The Spinning Ballerina Illusion

If you are like me you've often looked at this image on the web and wondered if you should click on the banner to find out which of you brains hemispheres is dominant (or some other such insight about your personality).

"The Spinning Dancer, also known as the silhouette illusion, is a kinetic, bistable optical illusion resembling a pirouetting female dancer. The illusion, created by web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara,^[1][2] involves the apparent direction of motion of the figure. Some observers initially see the figure as spinning clockwise and some counterclockwise." Wikipedia

 As it turns out the illusion has nothing whatsoever to do with anything deep but rather its just a matter of perception. One of the quickest ways to make the dancer spin in either direction is to move the focus of you eyes away from the dancer till she is in your peripheral vision. Then you simply tell yourself that you can observe the motion in the other direction and shift your eyes back to the dancer to have her spinning in the other direction.

If the above trick doesn't work for you try these two images to help you see either direction of motion.