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Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion

DOI:10.1068/p6466
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Giovanni B Caputo at Università degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo"
Giovanni B Caputo
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Abstract

I describe a visual illusion which occurs when an observer sees his/her image reflected in a mirror in a dimly lit room. This illusion can be easily experienced and replicated as the details of the setting (in particular the room illumination) are not critical. These observations were made in a quiet room dimly lit by a 25 W incandescent light. The lamp was placed on the floor behind the observer so that it was not visible either directly or in the mirror. A relatively large mirror (0.5 mT0.5 m) was placed about 0.4 m in front of the observer. Luminance of the reflected face image within the mirror was about 0.2 cd m(-2) and this level allowed detailed perception of fine face traits but attenuated colour perception. The illusion occurred even at higher levels of illumination of observer's face (from 0.2 to 1.6 cd m(-2)). The task of the observer was to gaze at his/her reflected face within the mirror. Usually, after less than a minute, the observer began to perceive the strange-face illusion. Phenomenological descriptions were made by fifty naive individuals (age range 21 ^ 29 years; mean 23 years; SD 2.1 years). 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%). Language: en
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I describe a visual illusion which occurs when an observer sees his/her image reflected
in a mirror in a dimly lit room. This illusion can be easily experienced and replicated as
the details of the setting (in particular the room illumination) are not critical. These
observations were made in a quiet room dimly lit by a 25
W
incandescent light. The
lamp was placed on the floor behind the observer so that it was not visible either
directly or in the mirror. A relatively large mirror (0.5 m60.5 m) was placed about
0.4 m in front of the observer. Luminance of the reflected face image within the
mirror was about 0.2 cd m
ÿ2
and this level allowed detailed perception of fine face
traits but attenuated colour perception. The illusion occurred even at higher levels of
illumination of observer's face (from 0.2 to 1.6 cd m
ÿ2
). The task of the observer was
to gaze at his/her reflected face within the mirror. Usually, after less than a minute,
the observer began to perceive the strange-face illusion.
Phenomenological descriptions were made by fifty naive individuals (age range
21^ 29 years; mean 23 years; SD 2.1 years). 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%).
The disappearance or attenuation of face traits could be linked to the Troxler
fading that occurs in the periphery while staring at a central fixation. However, this
explanation would predict that face traits should fade away and eventually disappear
(Wade 2000), whereas the apparitions in the mirror consist of new faces having new
traits. A possibly related `multiple-faces' phenomenon (Simas 2000) has been reported
for photos of faces placed in peripheral vision. In this case, the reported deforma-
tions of features include variations of the facial traits and expressions or appearance
of new ones like teeth, or a beard, as well as completely new faces, 3-D distortions,
rotations, upside-down faces, the subject's own face, sometimes younger or older.
Clearly, there are similarities in effects for peripherally viewed photos and centrally
viewed self-reflections in dim light. However, in central viewing, the perception of the
face is more accurate, making the distortion more salient, and, because the distortions
are of one's own face, the effects are amplified from merely intriguing to often unsettling.
The two types of distortion (peripheral versus low-illumination central viewing) can be
compared by viewing one's own face in ÅÙÆprofile in a mirror in peripheral vision.
From a perceptual viewpoint, the strange-face illusion may be explained by disruption
of the process of binding of traits (eyes, nose, mouth, etc) into the global Gestalt of face
(Thompson 1980). This long-term viewing of face stimuli of marginal strength may
generate a haphazard assembly of face traits that generate deformed faces or scrambled
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
Strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion
Perception, 2010, volume 3 9, pages 1007 ^ 1008
Giovanni B Caputo
Department of Psychology, University of Urbino, via Saffi 15, 61029 Urbino, Italy;
e-mail: giovanni.caputo@uniurb.it
Received 15 May 2009, in revised form 11 May 2010
doi:10.1068/p6466
faces. Frequent apparitions of strange faces of known or unknown people support the
idea that the illusion involves a high-level mechanism that is specific to global face
processing. On the other hand, the frequent apparition of fantastical and monstrous
beings, and of animal faces cannot, in our opinion, be explained by any actual theory
of face processing. Neither constructive approaches nor top ^ down accounts seem to
provide adequate explanations.
The participants reported that apparition of new faces in the mirror caused sensa-
tions 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 partic-
ipants 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
ö
a 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 deforma-
tions of new faces (like pulsations or shrinking, smiling or grinding) produced an overall
sense of inquietude for things out of control.
Static face pictures and the distortions seen when they are peripherally viewed (Simas
2000) involve the binding of face traits. In contrast, self-perception in a mirror engages
a far broader set of processes as the image duplicates one's own face perfectly in space
and time, triggering an integration of perceptual, motor, and proprioceptive processes.
It is a dynamic process involving self-motion and autonomous self-exploratory control
of facial pose and expression (Rochat 2002). The construction of our self-identity
includes, among other processes, the capacity to recognise oneself in the mirror, a
competence acquired in childhood between 2 ^ 3 years of age (Zazzo 1981). Another
aspect of the strange-face illusion is the potential breakdown of self-identity that may
take place when gazing at a strange new face that has replaced one's own in the mirror
for a relatively long time.
Acknowledgment. I would like to greatly thank Patrick Cavanagh for his help in revision, advice,
and enthusiastic support.
References
Rochat P, 2002 ``Ego function of early imitation'', in The Imitative Mind Eds A N Meltzoff,W Prinz
(Cambridge: Cambr idge University Pres s) pp 85 ^ 97
Simas M L, 2000 ``The multiple-faces phenomenon: some investigative studies'' Perception 29
1393 ^ 1395
Thompson P, 1980 ``Margaret Thatcher: a new illusion'' Perception 9483 ^ 484
Wade N J, 2000 A Natural History of Vision (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)
Zazzo R, 1981 ``Miroir, images, espaces'', in La Reconnaissance de son Image chez l'Enfant et l'Animal
Eds P Mounoud, A Vinter (Paris: Delachaux et Niestle
¨)pp77^110
ß 2010 a Pion publication
1008 Last but not least
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... The participant's task in previous studies was to stare at their eyes reflected in the mirror (Caputo, 2010a(Caputo, , 2010b or to stare at the other's eyes during eye-gazing in dyads (Caputo, 2019;Lange et al., 2022). In general, participants had no difficulty in executing this task, while some participants were easier to fixate on only one eye at a time, or the nasal septum in between the eyes. ...
... Research Question: suggestions and biases introduced by task instructions. In previous studies of SFIs, the participant's task involved noting experiences of changes of their own face reflected in the mirror (Caputo, 2010a(Caputo, , 2010b or seen in the other participant's face during eyegazing (Caputo, 2019;Lange et al., 2022). Thus, it was possible that this instruction had primed the participant to detect face changes and biased the participant's response to face changes. ...
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References
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Last but not least
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We have noted several characteristics of the phenomenon. It seems to be easier to observe: (i) with highly familiar faces; (ii) when centred at the blind spot; (iii) with achromatic stimuli; (iv) with faces varying in size from 7 cm to about 14 cm; and (v) with medium-contrast levels. It often occurs in bursts, generally very fast, may encompass an emotional response, may involve a number of unrecognised faces, and generally tends to take at least 20 ^ 60 s to start for subjects observing it for the first time. Further, it seems to be more specific to human faces as compared to monkey faces. It can be triggered by small eye movements. The multiple-faces phenomenon appears to be related to adaptation to a very familiar face; as adaptation occurs, other face-related stored information is displayed by visual memory (overlaying the priming face). Such mechanism initially seems to act locally, as for eyes, mouth, nose, moustache, etc [more related to our category (iii)], and later, globally, as for whole faces, hair, beard, etc [more related to our category (iv)]. We have not found in the literature studies on face adaptation, however. We base our main hypothesis on physiological studies that identified cells responsive to faces, profile, and elements of a face in monkeys' inferotemporal cortex (for a review, see Desimone 1991). We suppose that mechanisms for detecting and identifying faces exist, and that these are primarily tuned in very early infancy to faces more frequently viewed (ie generally the mother's or first care-giver's face) and that later, as other faces are detected and stored, this mechanism builds upon previously stored most (similar?) seen faces, or opens new categorical face matrices. It is interesting to observe that male faces can be seen in female's photos and vice-versa. We are still gathering addi- tional and more controlled data to learn more about the occurrence and characteristics of this phenomenon. Language: en
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Full-text available
  • Feb 2000
The multiple-faces phenomenon: some investigative studiesWe have observed a new and peculiar phenomenon involving face perception. When afamiliar face measuring about 12 ^ 14 cm is placed in such a way that its nose coincideswith the blind spot, we create the best conditions for observing a series of interpolationevents, including the multiple-faces phenomenon. (3) (PDF) The multiple-faces phenomenon: some investigate studies. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12111370_The_multiple-faces_phenomenon_some_investigate_studies [accessed Mar 07 2023].
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Ego function of early imitation
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  • Apr 2002
Imitation guides the behaviour of a range of species. Scientific advances in the study of imitation at multiple levels from neurons to behaviour have far-reaching implications for cognitive science, neuroscience, and evolutionary and developmental psychology. This volume, first published in 2002, provides a summary of the research on imitation in both Europe and America, including work on infants, adults, and nonhuman primates, with speculations about robotics. A special feature of the book is that it provides a concrete instance of the links between developmental psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. It showcases how an interdisciplinary approach to imitation can illuminate long-standing problems in the brain sciences, including consciousness, self, perception-action coding, theory of mind, and intersubjectivity. The book addresses what it means to be human and how we get that way.
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Miroir, images, espaces'', in La Reconnaissance de son Image chez l'Enfant et l
  • Jan 1981
  • R Zazzo
Zazzo R, 1981``Miroir, images, espaces'', in La Reconnaissance de son Image chez l'Enfant et l'Animal Eds P Mounoud, A Vinter (Paris: Delachaux et Niestle¨) pp 77^110 ß 2010 a Pion publication