A Peculiar Discovery
The Thatcher Effect was first demonstrated in 1980 by psychologist Peter Thompson. He named it after the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose image was used in the initial experiment. The effect is a visual phenomenon that reveals how our brains process facial features.
The Upside-Down Illusion
In the Thatcher Effect, a portrait of a face is inverted, and key features like the eyes and mouth are flipped upside-down. When viewed upside-down, the altered face appears relatively normal. However, when the image is rotated right-side up, the distortions become grotesquely obvious.
Human Perception and Facial Recognition
This experiment showed that humans are particularly good at recognizing upright faces but struggle to process inverted ones. It demonstrated how our brains focus on local features (like eyes and mouth) independently when a face is upside down, masking the changes.
The Face Illusion That Tricks Your Brain 🧠
A Peculiar Discovery
The Thatcher Effect was first demonstrated in 1980 by psychologist Peter Thompson. He named it after the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose image was used in the initial experiment. The effect is a… pic.twitter.com/0wZOKkkZL6— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TBBOB2) August 26, 2024