Are you Schizophrenic? If Not, Then Why Do All Your Friends Say You Are? The Hollow Mask Illusion

April 23, 2009

chaplin_mask_illusion1


A standard plastic Halloween mask of Charlie Chaplin [click for larger image, above] is rotated on a short pole. When the inside, or back of the mask comes into view, you should be seeing a sunken-in face, the opposite of the front view, the reverse of normal.

But the face recognition module that you have in your brain is so strong that it immediately re-interprets the features into a normal-looking face, a positive image. Here’s  a clear example of the top-down processing over-ruling the input.

See the video, here courtesy of Britain’s Your Amazing Brain.org.

Apparently though, if you are ill with schizophrenia or on certain drugs, (cannabis, for example) this part of the brain malfunctions and you don’t perceive this illusion. You see, correctly in this instance, the reverse of a normal face with a nose sinking inward.

So if you can’t see the Hollow Mask Illusion, you’re probably a crazy schizo! Hah! Either that, or you’ve got yourself some righteous weed, dude.

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