Posted on 01/06/2006 3:07:02 PM PST by blam
Humans Do Not Understand Mirror Reflections, Say Researchers
General Science : December 21, 2005 Newsletter
Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have found that people still find it difficult to understand how mirrors work.
Dr Marco Bertamini, from the University’s School of Psychology, conducted a number of experiments by covering a mirror on a wall and inviting participants to walk along a line parallel to the mirror.
He asked them to guess the point at which they would be able to see their reflection. Results showed that people believe they can see themselves even before they are level with the near edge of the mirror.
Dr Bertamini said: “People tend not to understand that the location of the viewer matters in terms of what is visible in a mirror. A good example of this is what we call the Venus Effect, which relates to the many famous paintings of the goddess Venus, looking in a small mirror.
“If you were to look at these paintings, you would assume that Venus is admiring her own face, because you see her face in the mirror. Your viewpoint, however, is rather different from hers; if you can see her in the mirror then she would see you in the mirror.”
Participants were also asked to estimate the image size of their head as it appears on the surface of the mirror. They estimated that it would be a similar size to their physical head. However, participants based their answer on the image they saw inside the mirror rather than on the image on the surface of it. They failed to recognise that the image on the surface of the mirror is half the size of the observer because a mirror is always halfway between the observer and the image that appears inside the mirror.
Dr Bertamini added: “Mirrors make us see virtual objects that exist in a virtual world; they are windows onto this world. On the one hand we trust what we see, but on the other hand this is a world that we know has no physical existence. This is one of the reasons why throughout history people have been fascinated by mirrors.”
Source: the University of Liverpool
This may explain why I see a beautiful young woman when I look in the mirror, but an old hag when I see a photo of myself. Kinda sad.... ;(
Tartar sauce!, you beat me to the punch.
There is a fallacy going on there. Probably several. Partly due to the IQ curve not being a Bell curve.
There's nothing worse than hearing a recording of your own voice. "I sound like that?!"
GSlob: From this you can understand that at least you are not a vampire.
FReepers come up with the best zingers on the planet. Thanks for the great Friday laugh.
Hold a bottle of EVIAN water up to a mirror the next time you have one handy. You'll see a remarkable truth about the bottled water industry and, at the same time, about the truths about government funding that the folks who perform studies like this count on.
Describes them perfectly.
I know what you mean, my dad is appearing in all my mirrors too.
It's been a while for something useful or interesting to emerge from their science establishment. Improvised exploding things is about it.
That there is one born every minute?
My Granddad, doesn't look so intelligent as I remember him though.
Indeed.
Did you try holding the mirror sideways?
Is it known whether vampires cannot see themselves in mirrors just because we [making an assumption about the specific content of the group] cannot?
Yeah, that'll be a big help. Thanks a lot.
“God might have made a big mirror, Perhaps we’re on the other side, Perhaps we’re the wrong way around. Yeah that’s why we get it all wrong.”
~Anna
Not always. Most sound considerably better than they think they do. Different, for sure. The ones most disappointed with their recorded voices usually are professional singers.
Even funnier is how few people understand color. As someone, if there is no light is your car still Blue????
They think it is a trick question like if a tree falls in the woods...thats redikerous.
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