A WEIRD visual trick featuring photos of Adele, Kanye West and Barack Obama has people gobsmacked.
The trio is seen from behind, but things get a little weird when you turn the phone around.
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Things get even weirder when you rotate the phone Credit: @drjuliesmith
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The illusion is known as the ‘Thatcher effect’Credit: @drjuliesmith
His eyes, mouth, and nose are amusingly distorted.
Psychologist Dr. Julie Smith, who has appeared on shows like This Morning and Lorraine, discovered unusual evidence on TikTok.
“Look at these photos, you are about to experience something called the Thatcher effect,” he explained.
“Have you noticed anything strange?
“Now turn your phone over, take another look at it.”
People in the comments were delighted by the apparent illusion.
“I almost dropped my phone,” said one user.
“My God, what the hell?” said another.
As Dr. Julie explains, this is due to a phenomenon known as the Thatcher effect, or the Thatcher illusion.
What is the Thatcher effect?
The term was coined in the 1980s when a scientist first demonstrated it using a photo of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
“It’s a phenomenon where it becomes more difficult to detect changes in facial features when the face is turned upside down,” Dr. Julie continued.
“The Thacher effect reveals something about how facial perception works.
“Around the world there are billions of faces that are very similar but have subtle differences that make them unique.
“It is now believed that our brains are tuned to distinguish all these subtle features and differences, but these processes are based on structural configuration and the relationship between the positions of the different features.
“We’re well trained to map those individual features on a face that’s upright, but when that face is upside down, we’re unlikely to have that same mind mapping available, so we focus on individual features, but the Thatcher effect, on a person with their face turned upside down, the lines look good.”
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The effect is also used on Kanye West. Credit: @drjuliesmith
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Dr Julie Smith discovered the hack on TikTokCredit: @drjuliesmith
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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education