Through The Looking Glass
H Cook | May 22, 2011
I just found an article by Vaughan Bell which tells how you can achieve a strange illusion by looking at yourself in a mirror,
If you sit about 40cm from a mirror in a darkened room with only a low wattage bulb behind you, then watch yourself in the mirror for several minutes, your mind will begin to play tricks and the reflection will appear to change.
This was tested on fifty people who all reported seeing an strange effect in the mirror. After ten minutes some reported seeing their own face but distorted or a face similar to a parent’s; some saw a face they did not recognize or the face of an animal or even a monster.
When it is too dark to see an image properly you mind fills in the details in the same way that you can make faces from random patterns, it is odd though what your own mind chooses to create.
