Go To The Mirror Boy

November 12, 2008 10:54 PM

Do you ever perceive another person's face as being the mirror image of what it "ought" to be?

I'm assuming that the following is a common experience for virtually everyone; you stand before a mirror side-by-side with someone you know well. To you, you look "normal", but your partner's face looks slightly "wrong".

Obviously this is due to the subtle asymmetry of the human face, and the fact that we almost always see our own face in mirror image, while we see everyone else's face normally.

One gentleman whom I see on a more or less daily basis has initiated a novel perception in me, namely that his face would be more "normal" if it were the mirror image of what I see.

This gentleman is most normal in every way morphologically, and as far as I can tell, has no gross facial asymmetry, as we see with people like Shannon Doherty or Anthony Kiedis.

I wonder if this strange idea has simply fixed itself in my brain starting from a fanciful perception, and has become ingrained through repetition, or if other people besides myself have had this experience.

So the question is; have you ever had a perception about a particular person, or persons, such that their face would look more "normal" in mirror image?

posted by Tube to science & nature (8 comments total)

Nope.
posted by 0xFCAF at 11:27 PM on November 12, 2008

This is why people hate pictures of themselves because they are used to seeing the mirror image. "Normal" to me is how I see someone most often, and that's not in a mirror.
posted by idiotfactory at 1:30 AM on November 13, 2008

I did not know Shannon Doherty has a gross facial asymetry. Hmm.

However I see someone most is normal to me. I have never seen someone in a mirror and said that is more normal than the straight on view. Except my own image of course.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 3:59 AM on November 13, 2008

I dont think I understand the question.

I completely understand the concept (I immediately notice the asymmetry of my SO's face in the mirror but never notice it in real life, probably because its "normal". Actually, as something kinda funny to do we took pictures of people in photoshop and split the image of the face vertically, and then mirror imaged each half to have two faces. If the pictures look quite different it'll be obvious where the asymmetrical elements of the face are, like moles, unequal dimples, etc... If its done well, people with very symmetrical faces will notice something "off" but may not realize what process was undergone. )

Anyway, I don't see what you're getting at, that anybody's mirror image would seem more normal than without the mirror, except obviously yourself. People with pretty symmetrical faces will look nearly the same in the mirror as in real life, and people with asymmetrical faces will just look backwards of sorts, mirror images wouldn't make any mental corrections of the asymmetry so the normal view would still be the one most commonly seen.

OK- an idea, to see if I see what you're getting at... How about, for instance a dance instructor, or your hairdresser. When you look at them without the mirror they may look the reverse of how your mind is normally used to seeing them (being that "normal" view is through a mirror).
?
posted by nzydarkxj at 6:15 AM on November 13, 2008

I've always been fascinated by mirror effects. This is a really cool question. But no, I've never experienced the phenomenon you are describing. I've just done a literature search through some neurological journals to see if anybody else has, but I came up with nothing. I'm still curious, though - I think I'll keep looking.
posted by Cygnet at 12:59 PM on November 13, 2008

I don't mirror-imagine people, but I do generally "age" someone to what I would suppose they would look like at my stage in life -- which might be part of my qualms with becoming slightly crushy on the youthy and elderly, as well as people of my own range.

I can "see" elderly gals as what they'd probably have looked like when they were in their twenties, and I can "see" youngster gals as what they may very well look at such ages also (using musculoskeletal cues, similar to the ways a sketch artist can reconstruct a face from a decomposed skull)..
posted by Quarter Pincher at 4:47 PM on November 13, 2008

I have not had this experience. It sounds sort of similar to Capgras's syndrome, where a person becomes convinced that someone close to them has been replaced by an impostor. As I understand it, the current theory is that this happens because of some problem in the area of the brain that produces feelings to go with the recognition of a face. So, you can recognize the face properly, but it doesn't produce the proper feeling, so you conclude that it must not be your wife but instead a replica of her. This isn't the same thing as what you're describing, but similar enough that some of those links on research about face recognition processing might be helpful.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:47 PM on November 13, 2008

I've never heard of this concept, but a Lacanian psychoanalyst would undoubtedly have a lot to say about it.
posted by hpliferaft at 9:57 PM on November 13, 2008