The Amazing Stuff

(Don’t turn your around phone yet! At least read the introduction first.)

What you’re about to see is an optical illusion known as the Thatcher Illusion. In a moment, I’m going to ask you to scroll through the following images of celebrity faces. Now, at first they may appear absolutely normal, maybe even quite attractive. However, when you reach the end of the list, scroll back to the top, flip your phone upside down (turn screen rotation off), and scroll back through them.

Go ahead, I’ll give you a moment…

I know, I’m spinning your melon man. The Thatcher Illusion is without a doubt one of the most disturbing optical tricks I’ve ever experienced, and it all has to do with two parts of the brain; the medial prefrontal cortex, and the posterior cingulate. These two parts are responsible for processing information from the eyes and mouths that we see – as these provide emotional cues.

The fusiform area and the lateral occipital cortex may also be involved in processing topsy turvy faces. Let’s “enjoy” them one more time shall we;

Hello Adele:

Nicki Minja, looking her usual terrifying self:

Angelina Jolie looking absolutely normal:

Nothing out of the ordinary here with Aaron Carter:

Noah Cyrus looking exactly how Noah Cyrus should look:

And this is Miley Cyrus looking perfectly normal… for once:

Vote Hilary! Because that is a trustworthy face:

Niall from One Direction looking his usual self:

Standard photo of Demi Lovato right here:

Tori Spelling not looking like some weird freak of nature:

Harry Styles keeping up with the styles:

Absolutely nothing wrong with Dylan O’Brien’s face here:

5SOS’s Luke looking… fine. Absolutely fine:

Standard photo of Ariana Grande looking like Ariana Grande:

It’s Britney b*tch:

What makes this illusion so bizarre is that scientists are still not exactly sure how it works. We know that our brains have a high sensitivity for recognising faces, in order for us to be able to tell our parents apart from strangers. However, it seems when certain facial features – ie. the mouth and the eyes – are flipped around, the brain struggles to notice, due to the fact our brains have not evolved to interpret emotions on an upside down face.

The Thatcher Illusion is a great example of how the brain struggles to filter ALL the information that is constantly bombarding it, and how it is therefore forced to decide which information it deems important enough to process correctly.

The Thatcher effect was originally discovered back in 1980 by a perception scientist called Peter Thompson. He first created the illusion using the famous face of Margaret Thatcher – who once famously said she is “not for turning” in her political and economical reforms.

The Thatcher Illusion also give us lot of information as to why autistic people struggle to interact with other people. Scientists think that they may have difficulties prioritising information coming from people’s eyes and mouths. If this is true, we may be able to help them improve their social skills by training them to focus specifically on these social and emotional cues through behavioural therapy.