http://www.cns.nyu.edu/%7Ehupe/plaid_demo/demo_plaids.html
Stare at the red spot.
The coherent ("diamonds") perception of a plaid should switch to the perception of two transparent, independently-moving gratings (the component or "slidings" percept).
Atleast that's what I get. To get the "plaid" back again just flick your eyes off the red dot.
By concentrating on the dot and then stopping I "switch" between the 2 patterns.
Here's another, a dancer.
http://www.uq.edu.au/nuq/jack/dancer.gif
or find here
http://www.procreo.jp/labo/labo13.html (this one rotates faster for me!)
To me, I perceive the dancer rotating clockwise.
Which way does she rotate to you?
This is thougt by some to be related to switching bwetween brain hemispheres, and possibly related to depression, bipolar etc.
For more info read here
http://www.uq.edu.au/nuq/jack/rivalry.html
http://www.uq.edu.au/nuq/jack/jack.html
"Sticky" Switch Hypothesis:...
Pettigrew JD and Miller SM 1998 Proc. Roy. Soc. B 265: 2141-2148A "sticky" interhemispheric switch in bipolar disorder?This paper is a little technical, but is not intended purely for a clinical readership (There is even a yin-yang symbol, for the complementarity of the cerebral hemispheres, in one of the figures that gets Jack into hot water in some stodgy settings!).
The important new finding is that bipolar subjects switch more slowly between rivalling perceptual alternatives. This "slow switching" trait seems to have a large genetic component, based on a high correlation in identical twins The trait seems accurately to position a subject in the bipolar spectrum, with slower rates of switching involving proportionately greater risk of bipolar disorder. The finding continues to be replicated in larger numbers of subjects in different centres. In addition, we discovered a study from the days before medication, that has essentially the same message (Hunt et al J. Abnormal Soc. Psychol 27: 443.1933).
Unexpected Confirmation of Unihemispheric Effect on Mood:
I just read about Prof.Jack Pettigrew in an old uni Mag (1999) I found lying around the house, and I thought it worth mentioning on here.
He mentions "coping " mechanisms like pets, exercise, diet, omega-3 /omega-6 oils, mediatation,music that people employ to keep their "balance".
The article says Jack did a medical degree but his experience as an intern in neuro-surgery led to a change in direction to research.
The brain does not heal well and people die. He found it very chastening as people he cared about died. If you're a bit sensitive you just can't do it , it knocks you around way too much. The distressing lack of power to save people drove him to become one of Australia's most eminent ..
Prog. Pettigrew "came out" as a sufferer of bipolar himself while he & his team were fielding accolades for their research findings on bipolar.
I thought a few people may be interested in having a browse thru his website.
The article also states "Professor Pettigrew believes that early undiagnosed episodes of manic depression "kindle" the brain. Pressure mounts until sometime later in life, internal mechanisms fire while the brain is stuck in one hemisphere, kindling the full blown disorder."
I am not sure of this but I suspect I have a "degree of bipolar", and I often think maybe everyone has, its just how big that degree is?.. although I must admit that as a teenager I thought some people didn't seem to have the lows or highs I had, or the drive?, and must have a pretty montonous life..now I think maybe it's way more peaceful?
These days I am too "wiped" to have that drive.
OTOH maybe I am normal, it should be normal to experience lows and highs to some extent.
I've often wondered also if "hyper" thyoid is not similar to the highs and "hypo" thyroid to the lows of bipolar to some extent or even wondered if the switching that some of us have experienced with thyroiditis or hashimotos or thryoid antibody "attacks" is not one of the "causes" of bipolar or similar/related to some extent at least to early (not full blown) bipolar?