Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile
What is the expression of the man on the left ? And the woman on the right? Now, take a few steps back or squint your eyes: how do their expression change?
On a close-up view, you can see that the man on the left is frowning and on the woman is calm. right face, a woman with a placid facial emotion. But further back, the faces change expression and even genders! If you squint, blink, or defocus, the angry man turns calm (left) and the calm woman turns angry… and male (right).
This impressive illusion created by Dr. Aude Oliva and Dr. Philippe Schyns illustrates the ability of the visual system to separate information coming from different spatial frequency channels. These two hybrid faces are currently on exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Read a scientific paper about them: Schyns & Oliva, 1999.
Copyright © 1999-2006 Aude Oliva & Philippe G. Schyns. MIT
Used with permission.
Schyns PG, Oliva A (1999) Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile: when categorization flexibly modifies the perception of faces in rapid visual presentations. Cognition 69:243–265
July 28th, 2006 at 3:44 am
haha thats crazy
January 16th, 2007 at 5:13 am
I was checking this out at work, you know, squinting and standing 3 ft from the computer, and did not notice a customer had approached the desk, OMG, how embarrasing!
April 26th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
FREAKY! Thats like one of those paintings that seem to follow you with their eyes no matter where you go………I’m home alone also……….
June 28th, 2007 at 12:26 am
That’s awesome!
Sucks to be you, Liz D: I’m rarely home alone. If…at all.
December 17th, 2007 at 5:57 am
ii did not see it !