Did you know that milk does not make your bones stronger? that Kids learn faster than adults? that sharks do not need sex anymore for reproduction? that sleep-deprived Teens are more likely to commit a crime? and eating chili can lead to longevity?
...
No, I did not mean your face is hideous, what I really mean is you can actually see a literal grotesque monster, bloody Mary, your angry girlfriend, or your own distorted face. How? Get a mirror, stare into it in a dim lighting room for 10 minutes. But do not attempt if you have a weak heart to face your inner beast because I do not want to be the cause of your sleepless nights. But if you tried it and did not bother you at all instead fascinates you and wanted to know the science behind it, well congratulations and continue reading.
In the 2010 article in a journal Perception written by Giovanni Caputo, participants did the exercise I mentioned above (the underlined) and the results were eerily shocking and some terrifying -- 66% experienced huge deformations of their own face, 28% saw an unknown person, 48% saw a fantastical and monstrous being, and 18% saw an animal such as pig or cat. This study indicates our complex brain can create horrifying monsters in our sight and tend to experience the Troxler effect.
Troxler Effect is an optical illusion wherein the brain tends to fade out features we are not directly looking at and blend them together with the surrounding stimuli. Below is a popular example of it and try focusing on the red dot only for about 20 seconds.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After more than 10 seconds you observed that the blurry circle surrounding the red dot starts to fade. Just like other neurons, visual neurons habituate, tuning out non-relevant parts and only focused on the relevant important prospect which frees up processing power and enhances perceptual efficiency. Our brain does not have the energy to notice everything all the time so it selectively zooms in the desired scene and the rest of the space fade away.
So in gazing the mirror in a dim room within a few minutes, the lack of light makes you incapable of seeing your reflection clearly; thereby, after staring for a few minutes, the Troxler effect comes in. The other areas on the face begin dissipating which results in distortion and sometimes the brain can fill in a new facial feature by morphing the distorted face into a monster you probably had seen on a horror movie.
But it would be creepier if you turn on the lights, the monster in the mirror is still there, smiling.
