Humans are naturally good at face recognition!
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Hi Guys,
I watched a TV program the other night and the natural ability of even babies to recognise human faces came into it. The below picture was flashed for a few seconds to test viewers. I instantly recognised the face of Angelina Jolie as I imagine most of you would.
However when the picture was flipped vertically (second image) I was quite surprised at the outcome.
I have been thinking about this on and off and located the picture on the Net for further examination. All that was done was to invert the lips and eyes. Even with this is done, it still possible to recognise Angela but not as quickly, I think.
I then realised that our ability for quick face recognition can only be for certain parts / patterns of the face. I think it maybe something to do with the Golden Ratio! We seem to recognise this ratio in many objects that we regard as well proportioned / beautiful i.e visually pleasing buildings, furniture, cars, pictures etc.
What do you think?
Mike
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I saw an example of this in a TED talk two days ago. I will try to find the link.
EDIT: I was responding as you were putting up the second image.
Look up Julian Baggini: Is there a real you. and the "What to watch next" list: Might have been Dan Ariely, or Michael Shermer -
"Humans are naturally good" at FACIAL EXPRESSIONS recognition, when the image is dynamic (mimics...), and combined with words and intonations.
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.... yes that must be it, a smiling face etc! So its Angelina's smile that I identified first!
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Our brains are hardwired to see patterns, like in faces - it's a useful brain-trick to have for a social/hunter/gatherer species - so this makes us good at both it and related perceptions; but as a result it can also trip us up into misinterpreting many things - including perceiving 'meaningful' patterns where none exist - which is manifest in many aspects of our lives... e.g. combined with our self-awareness of our own and other's consciousness we can readily 'see' a nonexistent pattern, and then go on to imbue it with its own driving-consciousness; when neither of them exist at all...
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The brain can see many things, often it is simply context or perception, take many of the images in the funny photo thread.
One famous image is this one, what do you see first.
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It's not dolphins
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I can only see the embracing image, what is the other?
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Dolphins...they're all over the place. What embracing image?
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@solo said:
I can only see the embracing image, what is the other?
Perhaps a bit of colour change will help you see them, there are 9 in total.
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@alan fraser said:
Dolphins...they're all over the place. What embracing image?
Showing your age Alan! -
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We're programmed to recognise sexy stuff, apparently.
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What lamp ?
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Nice tat....
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N07 JU57 F4C14L R3C0GN1710N
7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 WA5 H4RD BU7 N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3 Y0UR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 17 4U70M471C4LLY W17H 0U7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17, B3 PROUD! 0NLY C3R741N P30PL3 C4N R3AD 7H15. -
42?
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@alan fraser said:
N07 JU57 F4C14L R3C0GN1710N
7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 WA5 H4RD BU7 N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3 Y0UR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 17 4U70M471C4LLY W17H 0U7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17, B3 PROUD! 0NLY C3R741N P30PL3 C4N R3AD 7H15.I can read all except the 3rd 'word' 53RV35!
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got it now, just needed to figure it out!
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