The “My wife and my mother-in-law” illusion is an optical illusion with an image of a young woman’s face that can also be perceived as an older woman’s face.
The illusion is created by the way the brain organizes the visual information in the image, and how it interprets the relationships between the different features of the face.
Table of Contents
- How does the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion work?
- Versions of the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion
- Illusions like the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion
- Discovery of the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion
- References and Resources
- Sign up for emails from Mental Bomb
How does the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion work?
The “Wife and Mother-in-Law” illusion works by exploiting the way the human visual system processes and interprets facial features and their relationship. The illusion is based on a drawing created by the Swiss psychologist Roger Shepard, that shows a young woman’s face in profile view. However, by slightly adjusting the position of the features, the same image can also be perceived as an older woman’s face in profile view.
The illusion works by playing with the viewer’s expectations about the relationships between the different facial features. When the image is perceived as a young woman, the viewer’s brain organizes the information in a way that highlights the similarities between the different features, and creates a coherent, meaningful interpretation of the face. When the image is perceived as an older woman, the viewer’s brain organizes the information in a way that highlights the differences between the features, and creates a different coherent, meaningful interpretation of the face.
This illusion also highlights the importance of context and the role of prior knowledge and expectation in perception. The brain uses prior knowledge and expectations to make predictions and hypotheses about what it is seeing, and this can influence how it interprets ambiguous or conflicting visual information.
Additionally, this illusion is also related to the concept of “perceptual set” which refers to the brain’s ability to focus on specific aspects of the image and ignore others depending on the context. Also, the concept of “top-down processing” where the brain uses prior knowledge to interpret the visual information coming from the eyes.
Versions of the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion
The following are some alternate versions of the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion:
Illusions like the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion
Ambiguous illusions are visual stimuli that can be interpreted in more than one way. These illusions typically consist of a single image that can be perceived in multiple ways. Ambiguous illusions can be used to study the neural mechanisms of perception and how the brain resolves ambiguity.
Some related illusions include the following:
The Rubin vase, also known as the Rubin face or the figure-ground vase, is a famous optical illusion in which the image of a vase can also be perceived as two faces in profile looking at each other.
The duck-rabbit illusion is an optical illusion that is an image that can be perceived as either a duck or a rabbit depending on how the viewer looks at it.
The Necker cube is an optical illusion that features a simple wireframe drawing of a cube. The cube appears to switch back and forth between two different orientations.
The Schröder Staircase is an optical illusion that features a drawing of a staircase. The staircase appears to be either ascending or descending, depending on how the brain interprets the angles of the lines.
The impossible cube is an optical illusion that depicts a three-dimensional object that is physically impossible to construct.
The Penrose triangle, also known as the Penrose tribar, is an optical illusion that depicts a three-dimensional object that is physically impossible to construct.
The impossible trident is a three-pronged impossible shape resembling a trident. It is usually depicted as a three-pronged fork with each prong appearing to be a continuation of the next, creating an impossible shape.
The spinning dancer illusion is a visual illusion that depicts a silhouette of a dancer spinning clockwise or counterclockwise. The direction of the dancer’s spin can appear to change depending on the viewer’s perception
The Monroe-Einstein illusion works by playing with the viewer’s expectations about the relationships between the features of the faces and the viewer’s sense of facial proportions.
Discovery of the My Wife and My Mother In Law Illusion
The illusion was originally published by American cartoonist William Ely Hill in 1915.
William Ely Hill was an artist and caricaturist. He is best known for his illustrations and cartoons that were published in magazines and newspapers in the early 20th century. He was born in London in 1887 and studied at the Lambeth School of Art. He began his career as an illustrator working for magazines such as Punch, The Tatler, and The Sketch. He then started to work as a cartoonist and illustrator for newspapers like The Bystander and The Graphic. He also illustrated books, such as “The Complete Book of Tricks and Puzzles” and “The Big Little Book of Jokes and Riddles”.
Hill became famous for his illustrations of women, which were often featured in advertisements, postcards, and magazines. His illustrations were known for their elegance and attention to detail, and for their ability to capture the spirit of the times. He was also known for his ability to convey humor and satire in his illustrations. His illustrations were featured in magazines and newspapers in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, and his work is considered to be a good representation of illustration and cartoon style of early 20th century. He died in London in 1962.
References and Resources
Check out our complete list of illusions.
Sign Up to Have Your Mind Blown