Feb 24th, 2007
Exercise Your Brains - Visual Logic Brain Teaser
In which direction is the bus pictured below traveling?
Do you know the answer?
The only possible answers are "left" or "right."
Still don't know?
Keep reading for the answer and explanation...
When pre-school children were shown this picture and question, they all answered "left." When asked why, they answered "Because you can't see the door." Feel pretty dumb now, don't you? I did too!
But this teaser illustrates a good concept to remember whenever you start thinking your memory is terrible. While most of us think our memories are pretty lousy, imagine if our memories were absolutely perfect. You might have been able to answer this puzzle correctly, since you could compare this image to all the school bus images you have in your head, and only the ones going left would match.
On the other hand, imagine having eidetic, or photographic, memory and remembering every single detail of every single day of your life. It would be insurmountable to filter through all that data retrieve useful information. (In real life, there have been very few people with eidetic memory, and some people speculate if there is such a thing at all.) So, your mind remembers things that it pays attention to because they are deemed important. Think of emotion-laden memories. With good or bad experiences- the memories are detail rich. Therefore, if you need to remember more - either do things that are more meaningful to you or find a way to ascribe meaning to what you're trying to remember.
And now make sure to try our other selected Brain Teasers!
[...] Brain TeasersExercise Your Brains - Visual Logic Brain TeaserBrain Workout for Your Frontal Lobes [...]
I would like to comment on the answer to the puzzle above. I think the answer "left" is not generaly true specialy in countries using right hand drive vehicles. Meaning in those contries the vehicle above is going "right" not "left".
True enough Ryanel! The same logic in determining the direction applies though. Good point!
[...] Exercise Your Brains - Visual Logic Brain Teaser [...]
lol
[...] 37. Which way is the bus heading?. [...]
The bus only has a chassis, some windows and wheels, with nothing to keep anything together, no bumper, no suspension, no detail, and we're supposed to assume there's a door? It doesn't look like a real bus, but it's supposed to have a door like one? Also, what if it's traveling in reverse? There is no right answer.
I agree with Pat. With a simplistic picture like that, the fact that there's no door shouldn't really be expected to ring a bell. There's no windshield either. There's no headlights.
Also, I find the statement about preschoolers to be a bit suspect. It sounds like the type of statement that's thrown into those annoying forwarded e-mails but is really just arbitrarily added. So is it based on a study, or hearsay?
True to form, the Americans have forgotten that the internet is international. Well done you. Talk about brain training... more like brain washing.
I agree with the criticisms above; the absence of a door is hardly significant, and the anecdote about "preschoolers" being able to correctly answer it seems dubious at best (especially given the lack of any identifying details). Also, my criticism has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't think of the door.
Why aren't we empirical about this...does something prevent us from testing this with pre-schoolers and see what they come up with? I have done it with a few, and that's a common observation.
Also, given that many of the people working in SharpBrains-myself included- were born out of the US, I find some of the comments here pretty entertaining. Very stimulating to think what may explain them.
The absence of the door is wholely significant. The fact that the picture is so simplistic is exactly how I was able to guess the answer. Looking at it I thought, okay, there isn't enough in the picture to tell the direction so what's missing? A door. Must be on the other side. Which means, in my country, the bus is pointing to the left.
in my country they have doors on both sides
The pre-schoolers I tried it on didn't know their left from right, so I find that statement to be quite suspect.
Even if one or two out of a group did know, I doubt most would.
Alan.
and where is the door for the driver?
[...] Para que lado esta movendo-se o ônibus? [...]
Pakotin: great question
now, remember than most of us have pretty selective attention so we focus on our door...most likely only drivers would think of the driver's door as the first reaction to try to solve this.
Everyone else: please remember that the benefits of puzzles like this is to get neurons firing by trying a variety of approaches. Getting the "right" answer is secondary. And, yes, we could discuss what the right answer is, which depends by country etc...
The riddle works only assuming:
1. You are in a country where people drive on the right side of the road.
2. Buses have no reverse.
[...] Y la respuesta es... [enlace en inglés] [...]
[...] La respuesta es.. hacia la izquierda, pues la puerta se encuentra a ese lado. mas test como este lo puedes ver aqui [...]
anyway, even if we are looking at it from the left side, (the door being on the right side), there is no rule that says it's not going on reverse gear...
Am I outside the bus, or inside ?
Hello Ricardo, I would guess you are outside, because that bus doen't seem to have Internet connection...
Left
Yea, i dont feel dumb for not getting this. Its a stylised drawing. If you had shown me that picture and asked me what is this? I wouldve answered "some sort of vehicle". I definitely wouldnt have said "thats a bus", you cant tell thats what it is. So IMO not really a brain teaser, more of a trick.
What about the Reflective tape stiping around the escape windows ont he sides of the bus?How would Emergency personell find the correct area to extract the passengers, should the bus tip over in a horriffic traffic accident!!! The CHILDREN.... Does no one think of the CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hola,
es verdad, la puerta está del otro lado, por lo tanto parecería ir hacia la izquierda. Pero... y si va marcha atrás? Entonces sería derecha.
Left because the door is on the other side!!!
The drawing is a fixed, flat object and not moving. So I have performed my braqin fitness today. LOL sh
What if the door on the other side is on the right end and not the left end. Then it's going right, right? We assume there IS a door in the first place because we have not seen a bus that has no door. Then we must also assume it has all of the other marking such as windshield, etc. as well. What end they are on is decided by which end the door is on.
Oh, good grief. Leave it to adults to make this complicated. The puzzle SAYS it's a bus, so it's a bus. And the driver of pretty much all buses gets on the bus through the same door everyone else does.
Lee: Thanks
I can see that the bus is not traveling now!
Left or right? It will depend on what country you are from. Even to a bliind person ( I am) here is no windshield so it possibily could be a trailor.
i thought it was coming straight at me
i had never seen a bus
with three windows in my life!
Mahindra: remember, novelty is good for the brain
I've been looking at the bus for a long time now and it is not moving at all.
I say......"everybody OFF the bus!"
The bus could be backing up or from England. Then the given answer would be incorrect. The question should state that the bus is moving forward in the U.S.
Based on the simplicity of the drawing, I answered "straight towards me." The wheels look like headlights and the part with the windows looks like the top of the bus. Can you see it?
Fools! It is falling, because there is no ground under it!
Hows that for logic?
I tried this with several preschoolers, too. Guess what? Pre-school kids DON'T RIDE ON A BUS! Your logic is skewed, simply because only inner-city and metropolitan children can relate, since they use busses. Here in our town, children's parents drive them to pre-school...and all over, for that matter. Ugh. Just like the other intelligence tests, this one is cute, but not valid.
That bus looks so simple in that it is basically a box on wheels I wouldn't even have assumed it would have a door. If it was a photograph had more detail I think the responses but be different....
Another fine example of americans thinking that they are the only country in the world.
From here we can see how complicated being an adult here, our mind just think too much. Though it just a very simple solution sometimes our mind just make the situation worst. Do you agree?
Could the bus not be traveling in reverse?
Paul, another fine example of a Brit having a reflex and blaming Americans. Frankly, 72% of the world's roadways are right driving oriented. Left handed driving remains a quaint feature of Britain and a handful of their former colonies.
Wow, what a running debate, perhaps more (or less) stimulating than the puzzle itself.
I am surprised no one has yet challenged whether a bus could really fit into the size of your computer screen, or how come a bus doesn't have an exhaust.
Further, the puzzle lacks credibility since there is no BIG lateral ad. And where is the road? perhaps the bus is moving at the bottom of the ocean?
Or is it a new top-secret non-manned vehicle to travel to Mars, devised by the American military in such an innocent manner not to raise extraterrestrial suspicions?
In any case, this is being pretty good brain exercise, either trying to solve the puzzle or to find a creative objection. So, let me ask...what are other creative objections you can find to the puzzle itself? please don't repeat anything that has been already said...
There is a MAJOR PRIZE for the most creative response... 10 buses like that one, sent (at our expense) to your favorite email address!
Uh, well unlike everyone else (apparently) I didn't find fault in the teaser. It's quite obviously open to interpretation. After looking at the - yes, highly simplified - picture of the bus, I noticed that the only things shown were windows, so the windshield should be pictured. But since it's not seen, I assumed the bus was moving RIGHT and the windshield was on the opposite side. (Yes, because I'm an American, and drive on the right side of the road and sit in the left side of the car.)
Even though my last post was whisked away, I would like to reiterate that this drawing looks like a UFO, and could, therefore, be moving in any direction.
to me it looks like i'm looking at the front of the bus with three square headed individuals in the windshield and round headlights ... or the back with TV screens for the passengers' entertainment, or again, three square headed passengers in the back seat.
Wow! I didn't even think of thinking about the door lol. The picture seems so simple I just assumed you missed the door, but really the drawing was perfect, it makes sense it's going left.
Bus is moving to left. At right, there's my home's window: very dangerous to get this way!
XD
I thought it was moving towards Denver.
Paul: finally someone got the right answer. It was Denver
This question is like another one i have heard. How do you put a elephant into a refrigerator?
Then how do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
The first time i heard it i said you would have to grind both of the animals to put them in, but the preschooler would answer the first part "you open the door and put in the elephant" for the second part they would answer by saying "you open the door take out the elephant and put the giraffe in".
It depends on what type of bus is it... If the steering wheel is on the left side of the bus, then the bus is going left. If the steering wheel is on the right side of the bus then the bus is going right.
I thought left the first time......
If this puzzle was shown to pre-schoolers who attend school in Japan, their answers might be just the opposite. Why? Because we drive on the other side of the road over here. Thus the door would be located on the opposite side of the bus. these are American kids whose parents are in the U.S. Military stationed in Japan.
by nt going to unnecessary views......... its a very good brain teaser...........
at the same time... if door is the matter... doors wil be on both sides of the bus...... in our country..... on one side passengers door... and other side drivers door......
The answer is 19, because 5 + 3 + 3 + 8 = 19. And YES... this is a comment about the bus. However, if you are not in a country where the driver is on the left side, then the answer is 27. Again, my comment is a teaser within a teaser. Go figure... let me know.
[...] 2. Which way is the bus heading?. [...]
I must really have mental problems because when I first saw the drawing, I thought "Oh, it's an Airstream caravan."
I do have a question - if this is a bus, where is the motor? Front or back (if one can determine which is the front and the back).