The old parlor trick of staring at yourself in a mirror until your face starts to change has now been studied scientifically. Giovanni Caputo led a study in which 50 people tried the trick and reported their reactions.
At the end of a 10 min session of mirror gazing, the participant was asked to write what he or she saw in the mirror. The descriptions differed greatly across individuals and included: (a) huge deformations of one’s own face (reported by 66% of the fifty participants); (b) a parent’s face with traits changed (18%), of whom 8% were still alive and 10% were deceased; (c) an unknown person (28%); (d) an archetypal face, such as that of an old woman, a child, or a portrait of an ancestor (28%); (e) an animal face such as that of a cat, pig, or lion (18%); (f ) fantastical and monstrous beings (48%).
Have you ever tried this? The effect can be really creepy, like this video example from Lasse Gjertsen (in Norwegain, but may sound NSFW). The entire article is available as a pdf, or you can read a summary at Mind Hacks. Link -via Metafilter
Comments (15)
It was strange how quickly the effects started.
Within a minute I lost the ability to recognize my own face. I knew it was a face but I wasn't able to tell whose it was.
Soon after that I started to see the face of my deceased grandmother, but I was not surprise by this at all. We look similar, and to be honest that was the face I thought I was going to see going into this experiment. So most likely it was a self fulfilling prophecy and I projected that face on.
Then I started to see the face of what most people call "The Greys," the archetypal alien. Big dark eyes, narrow jaw, no nose, and a large skull. I think most psychiatrist would tell you this is the face that infants see in their parents and that leads to a lot of alien abduction dreams when people are really dreaming about early childhood experiences.
I stopped after this because my room mate came in and found me staring at myself in the living room mirror mumbling to myself about aliens.
and i have stared at myself for long periods on many occasions
self portrait painting
I remember kids playing this at sleepovers and coming out of the bathroom genuinely terrified. To this day I'm a little uneasy when in a dark room with a mirror. Now that I know what that's all about, maybe it'll be less weird ;).
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/bloodymary.asp
I couldn't even pass a mirror in that state, things would reach out at me.
To those who say they can't see anything - stop staring and relax.