We often come across interesting posts on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. You may have come across faces that you see properly in an inverted photo, but look quite different and creepy when flipped straight.
The main reason why we see these faces normally is; Thatcher effect. So how does this illusion cause us to properly perceive an abnormal face? In today’s article, we’ll take a look at how these faces were created and how it first appeared.
Contrary to popular belief, the Thatcher illusion is not something new.
This illusion, first ‘developed’ in 1980, was actually the result of an academic study. This effect, revealed by Peter Thompson and his team at the University of York, has been accepted as the greatest proof that our brains combine all the parts separately.
The Thatcher effect is named after Margaret Thatcher, who was the British Prime Minister at the time. This is because the first photograph in which the effect was tested was of Margaret Thatcher. However, nowadays we can see this effect almost everywhere, in different photographs.
So why does our brain perceive these faces as normal?
The nerves that cause this in our brain have not been fully explored. After many years of research, it is thought that this situation is caused by the psychological cognitive modules in our brain.
In other words, our brain perceives these images separately and then causes us to perceive them as a normal face. As a matter of fact, we can see a similar effect when our brain automatically completes a sentence written in missing letters. Of course, this situation works somewhat differently under the Thatcher effect.
Creating an image with the Thatcher effect is pretty simple.
The steps to create an image with this effect are quite simple. In fact, when you look carefully, you can clearly understand the difference in the images above. What we need is very simple; a human face.
In order to change the human photograph we have with this effect, it will be sufficient to simply turn the eyes and mouth part upside down. “Why don’t we turn the nose or ears inside out?” If you ask; The feeling that this is an inverted image will disappear when we turn the nose or ears upside down and our brain will recognize that there is an abnormality. However, when the other organs are straight, the reverse of the eyes and mouth is automatically corrected by our brain.
Sources: York University research article, Scientific American, The Guardian, Independent
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