Feb 24, 2007
Exercise Your Brains — Visual Logic Brain Teaser
By: Caroline Latham
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!
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).
no, i dont feel dumb and it doesnt mean those kids are intelligent either. “you cant see the door”? wow, you cant see the driver or the indicator or the windshield or a whole lot of clues that would of helped us find the answer. and also driver sides change in countries and yes the net is international so who ever drew the picture should get their facts right first!!!
I think THIS bus could go either way…one must only work his imagination
Oddly enough, I guessed “left” not because I didn’t see a door but because I pictured the bus lower in the front toward the left. Really! I saw the front with low suspension so it must be facing the left. Why did I see front low suspension, I don’t know. After I read the thing about the door, I was like, “Oh, I got it right anyway.” LOL
that is cool
The bus a preschooler sees every day would have a STOP sign, flashing red lights and all, on the street side (as opposed to the curb side) of the bus.
It’s still ambiguous.
Many of the previous answers completely miss the meaning of the test, i.e. that to determine which way the bus is traveling (the test says that this is a bus in movement, so it’s a bus in movement) you must SEE that there is not a mayor detail: the door.
Obviously the image is highly stilized: if there were the steering wheel or the exahust pipe or the lights then there were no test.
The actual direction is not really important: depends on the nation you are, but still you must think to the door. And if preschooler can give the correct answer is also not important: can YOU give it?
this illustration can go either left or right because there’s no signal directing which was it is correctly going.
weird!!!!!!
im from the uk where cars drive on the left and i said right.
Well, we sit on left side and our card drive on left side od the road.
When I looked at this bus, it was driving at left! You have to imagine this and you will also see the door.
My mistake. We sit on left side in car, and car drives on right side of the road!
ooops too bad bus can go in reverse
Hi think theofanis is right. Yo! man right logic
bus is not attached to wheels