The upside-down Mona Lisa
Look at this portrait upside down. Do you notice anything strange? Then turn it right side up.
The experiment starts as soon as the page has loaded (JavaScript is required).
Try the experiment: your result will appear here, next to what most people do.
What just happened (read it after the experiment)
What most people do: Almost nobody notices the anomaly before turning the image over.
Upside down, the flipped eyes and mouth go unnoticed. Right side up, the face becomes monstrous.
Your brain reads an upright face as a whole, using specialized regions; upside down, it only sees pieces. Peter Thompson discovered this effect in 1980 with a photograph of Margaret Thatcher, hence its name.
Recognizing faces is one of the human brain’s sharpest skills, and one of its most fragile.
More experiments
Sources
- Peter Thompson, “Margaret Thatcher: a new illusion,” Perception, 1980.