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    1. #1
      DuB
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      New perceptual illusion discovered: Report your experience

      The following section (enclosed in dashed lines) is copied/pasted from this post on the Mind Hacks blog (which is a pretty cool psychology/neuroscience blog that I recommend you follow if you're into that sort of thing).

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------
      The strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion

      An intriguing article has just been published in the journal Perception about a never-before-described visual illusion where your own reflection in the mirror seems to become distorted and shifts identity.

      To trigger the illusion you need to stare at your own reflection in a dimly lit room. The author, Italian psychologist Giovanni Caputo, describes his set up which seems to reliably trigger the illusion: you need a room lit only by a dim lamp (he suggests a 25W bulb) that is placed behind the sitter, while the participant stares into a large mirror placed about 40 cm in front.

      The participant just has to gaze at his or her reflected face within the mirror and usually “after less than a minute, the observer began to perceive the strange-face illusion”.
      The set-up was tried out on 50 people, and the effects they describe are quite striking:
      At the end of a 10 min session of mirror gazing, the participant was asked to write what he or she saw in the mirror. The descriptions differed greatly across individuals and included: (a) huge deformations of one’s own face (reported by 66% of the fifty participants); (b) a parent’s face with traits changed (18%), of whom 8% were still alive and 10% were deceased; (c) an unknown person (28%); (d) an archetypal face, such as that of an old woman, a child, or a portrait of an ancestor (28%); (e) an animal face such as that of a cat, pig, or lion (18%); (f ) fantastical and monstrous beings (48%).
      Caputo suggests that the dramatic effects might be caused by a combination of basic visual distortions affecting the face-specific interpretation system.

      The visual system starts to adapt after we receive the same information over time (this is why you can experience visual changes by staring at anything for a long time) but we also have a system that interprets faces very easily.

      This is why we can ‘see’ faces in clouds, trees, or even from just two dots and a line. The brain is always ‘looking for faces’ and it is likely that we have a specialised face detection system to allow us to recognise individuals whose faces actually only differ a small amount in statistical terms from other people’s.

      According to Caputo’s suggestion, the illusion might be caused by low level fluctuations in the stability of edges, shading and outlines affecting the perceived definition of the face, which gets over-interpreted as ‘someone else’ by the face recognition system.

      More mysterious, however, were the participants’ emotional reactions to the changes:
      The participants reported that apparition of new faces in the mirror caused sensations of otherness when the new face appeared to be that of another, unknown person or strange `other’ looking at him/her from within or beyond the mirror. All fifty participants experienced some form of this dissociative identity effect, at least for some apparition of strange faces and often reported strong emotional responses in these instances. For example, some observers felt that the `other’ watched them with an enigmatic expression – situation that they found astonishing. Some participants saw a malign expression on the ‘other’ face and became anxious. Other participants felt that the `other’ was smiling or cheerful, and experienced positive emotions in response. The apparition of deceased parents or of archetypal portraits produced feelings of silent query. Apparition of monstrous beings produced fear or disturbance. Dynamic deformations of new faces (like pulsations or shrinking, smiling or grinding) produced an overall sense of inquietude for things out of control.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Link to original journal article here.

      I haven't tried this myself yet, but I plan to soon. In the meantime, why don't some of you give it a try and tell us what you experience.

    2. #2
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      I remember I tried this when I was young. My brother and one of my friends could confirm it as well. We thought it was a little scary actually.

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      Lost count of how many lucid dreams I've had
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    3. #3
      Xei
      UnitedKingdom Xei is offline
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      Yeah we used to have this thing called 'circle time' at primary school where the class sat in a big circle facing inwards and I noticed that if you look directly at somebody's face but out of the corner of your eye observe the face of the person next to them, that face will distort in this manner.

    4. #4
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      I found that this phenomena occurred with basically anything in low light conditions. My theory was that the forming of 'after-images' on our eye/retina played a big part in the apparent distortion of objects. One time I was in my room and thought something large and ominous was dancing in the corner of my eye, but it ended up being my raincoat or something.

      Also, a funny thread here, which I think is well related.

    5. #5
      Kargaroc peacock486's Avatar
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      Yeah we used to have this thing called 'circle time' at primary school where the class sat in a big circle facing inwards and I noticed that if you look directly at somebody's face but out of the corner of your eye observe the face of the person next to them, that face will distort in this manner.
      I think that may be the unrelated phenomenon of the blind spot in the eyes, where the brain doesn't get any visual data, and does a sort of "content aware fill" in the area to fill it in. distortion is the result

    6. #6
      Kargaroc peacock486's Avatar
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      also, I beleive that anything that the mind sees as a face should be subject to this illusion.

    7. #7
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      Every once in awhile I'll be looking into the mirror and I'll get the feeling that my reflection isn't myself at all, but someone entirely different. I move my hands around, but it's like someone else is moving them, like I am just a passive observer inside a body somebody else controls. I can recall one instance in which I started smiling and became frightened of my own reflection because I got the feeling it was going to jump out of the mirror and bite me.

      I'm totally going to try this illusion.
      Last edited by Black_Eagle; 09-20-2010 at 10:41 PM.

    8. #8
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      New? I thought this was already known to some existing tantric practice or Tibetan Dream Yoga many many years ago?

      I usually use this to induce lucid dreams, and the reflections from a mirror often appear to be blurred, distorted or incorrect - I watch with interest, but remain only as an observer. I have used this many times now, so after some time passes by I just peer my eyes through the mirror to see the other side.
      Last edited by Trickster; 09-21-2010 at 03:18 AM.
      IM IN UR DREEM VUUZ 4UM....

    9. #9
      DuB
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      Quote Originally Posted by Trickster View Post
      New? I thought this was already known to some existing tantric practice or Tibetan Dream Yoga many many years ago?
      Yeah, judging from the comments both here and on the blog, it looks like lots of people are familiar with this trick on some level. (As you might have guessed, I've never heard of it. ) So I guess this is mostly just "new" to the scientific literature... whatever that's worth.

    10. #10
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      Quote Originally Posted by DuB View Post
      Yeah, judging from the comments both here and on the blog, it looks like lots of people are familiar with this trick on some level. (As you might have guessed, I've never heard of it. ) So I guess this is mostly just "new" to the scientific literature... whatever that's worth.
      I've never heard of it either, but it seems pretty interesting, I'll have to try it if I can find a place with the right conditions

    11. #11
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      Quote Originally Posted by Keresztanya View Post
      I've never heard of it either, but it seems pretty interesting, I'll have to try it if I can find a place with the right conditions
      All you need is a mirror and patience.

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      Lost count of how many lucid dreams I've had
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    12. #12
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      Sounds interesting, I might see if Ican do this myself.

      Quote Originally Posted by DuB View Post
      An intriguing article has just been published in the journal Perception about a never-before-described visual illusion where your own reflection in the mirror seems to become distorted and shifts identity.
      Oh yea, I saw that once



      ...on shrooms
      Last edited by Supernova; 09-21-2010 at 12:10 PM.

    13. #13
      The Anti-Member spockman's Avatar
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      Hey, thanks for this, DuB it's pretty interesting. Sorry I didn't find this thread sooner. I just tried it, using my reflective laptop screen as a mirror. My results weren't too incredible, though. My features did seem to change size, (lips and eyes bulging and shrinkiung slightly,) and by the end I ded see serious wrinkles from the corners of my mouth to my chin, (those deep ones that people get in the early process of aging.) I'll probably try it again with a proper mirror.
      Paul is Dead




    14. #14
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      I want to try this.
      Alex is greatest. He <i>is</i> the Master Flan.

    15. #15
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      trivial illusion imo. i don't mean to be rude but i just can't find any purpose in it, am i missing something

    16. #16
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      Ooh I want to try this but I think it'll creep me out. BUT I will. Sometime...

    17. #17
      DuB
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      Quote Originally Posted by greenhavoc View Post
      trivial illusion imo. i don't mean to be rude but i just can't find any purpose in it, am i missing something
      From our perspective simply as forum-goers and casual readers, I don't think there's meant to be any "purpose" in this illusion beyond sheer entertainment value. It seems to lead fairly reliably to some bizarre visual experiences that many people might find interesting or amusing. If you find the experiences to be neither of these, well, that's fine.

    18. #18
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      thank you for understanding. i admit i'm a bit disappointed to hear you say there's no application for this other than just having fun.

    19. #19
      The Anti-Member spockman's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by greenhavoc View Post
      thank you for understanding. i admit i'm a bit disappointed to hear you say there's no application for this other than just having fun.
      Why? Do you hate fun?
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    20. #20
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      no

    21. #21
      The Anti-Member spockman's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by greenhavoc View Post
      no
      We are gonna have to find you some fun. You just don't know how fun fun is is all. Once you've had fun, you'll love it.
      Paul is Dead




    22. #22
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      It's alright, greenhavoc. We all have to start somewhere.

    23. #23
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      but i already started, way over there. maybe next time

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