Where is the old woman in the optical illusion

Where is the old woman in the optical illusion
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A famous perceptual illusion in which the brain switches between seeing a young girl and an old woman (or "wife" and "mother in law"). An anonymous German postcard from 1888 (left figure) depicts the image in its earliest known form, and a rendition on an advertisement for the Anchor Buggy Company from 1890 (center figure) provides another early example (IllusionWorks). For many years, the creator of this figure was thought to be British cartoonist W. E. Hill, who published it in 1915 in Puck humor magazine, an American magazine inspired by the British magazine Punch (right figure). However, Hill almost certainly adapted the figure from an original concept that was popular throughout the world on trading and puzzle cards.


See also

Illusion, Rabbit-Duck Illusion

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References

Boring, E. G. "A New Ambiguous Figure." Amer. J. Psychology 42, 444, 1930.Botwinick, J. "Husband and Father-in-Law: A Reversible Figure." Amer. J. Psychology 74, 312-113, 1961.Fisher, G. "Mother, Father, and Daughter: A Three-Aspect Ambiguous Figure." Amer. J. Psychology 81, 274-277.1968.Hill, W. E. "My Wife and My Mother-in-Law." Puck 16, 11, Nov. 1915.Kid's World. "Optical Illusions--2." http://www.frontiernet.net/~docbob/ilusion2.htm.IllusionWorks. "Perceptual Ambiguity." http://psylux.psych.tu-dresden.de/i1/kaw/diverses%20Material/www.illusionworks.com/html/perceptual_ambiguity.html.Pappas, T. The Joy of Mathematics. San Carlos, CA: Wide World Publ./Tetra, p. 173, 1989.Seckel, A. The Art of Optical Illusions. Carlton Books, p. 89, 2002.Van den Berg, S. "Ambiguous People." http://members.lycos.nl/amazingart/E/12.html.Wright, E. "The Original of E. G. Boring's Young Girl/Mother-in-Law Drawing and Its Relation to the Pattern of a Joke." Perception 21, 273-275, 1992.

Referenced on Wolfram|Alpha

Young Girl-Old Woman Illusion

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Young Girl-Old Woman Illusion." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/YoungGirl-OldWomanIllusion.html

Subject classifications

AN OPTICAL illusion has re-emerged online and is baffling the internet.

“My Wife or Mother-In-Law” is one of the most well known illusions in history and now researchers believe what you see could depend on your age.

Where is the old woman in the optical illusion

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The illusion can be seen as two different women, one young and the other old, depending on how you look at the sketchCredit: Wikimedia Commons

Viewers can see a young woman facing away, or an older, hook-nosed woman facing leftwards.

If you are struggling to make them both out, you can see the younger woman's chin doubles as the older woman's nose and her ear as her eye.

The oldest version first appeared on a German postcard but the most famous version, seen here, was drawn by British cartoonist William Ely Hill and appeared in American magazine Puck on November 6, 1915.

An Australian study published by two psychology professors at Flinders University, claims that whichever figure you see relates to your age.

The study claims older people will notice the older woman first, whereas younger individuals will see the younger figure.

The study included 393 participants (242 males, 141 females) from ages 18 to 68, with a median age of 32.

Where is the old woman in the optical illusion

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On the left image a portion has been shaded to make the young woman's face more prominent, while on the right you can see the old hag

They were shown the image for half a second, and then were asked to reveal the gender and age of the figure they saw first.

Most of the participants saw the younger woman first, which could be because many ages of the participants were leaning towards the younger side.

When the researchers separated the oldest 10 per cent and the youngest 10 per cent of those surveyed, they found that the older set saw the older woman first, and younger individuals saw the younger figure.

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The aim of the whole study was to determine if "own-age biases affect the initial interpretation of an image at a subconscious level."

Another baffling optical illusion was sweeping across the internet a couple of months ago, making it viral.

An image, created by University of Texas academic, Professor David Novick, features 12 circles within multi-coloured horizontal lines.

Eerie optical illusion tricks your brain - but can you work it out?



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How do you see the old woman in the optical illusion?

If you see the old woman: look at the old woman's nose, and think of it as the left cheek of a face looking away from you, and look at the old woman's eye and think of it as an ear on a face looking away from you.

What is the most famous illusion?

1 Troxler's Effect..
2 Chubb Illusion (luminance).
3 Checker Shadow Illusion (contrast).
4 Lilac Chaser (color).
5 The Poggendorff Illusion (geometric).
6 Shepard's Tables (size).
7 Kanizsa's Triangle (Gestalt effect).
8 Impossible Trident (impossible objects).

What is the boring figure?

"My Wife and My Mother-in-Law." Wikimedia Commons. A new study conducted at Flinders University in Australia has put forward a theory about a classic optical illusion called "My Wife and My Mother-in-Law." It's also known as the Boring Figure. The drawing shows both a young woman looking away and an old lady's profile.

When was the optical illusion my wife and my mother in law created?

The image "My Wife and My Mother in Law" was initially created by an anonymous illustrator from Germany, and the picture became a postcard in 1888. Later, a British cartoonist named William Ely Hill recreated the postcard, and the image became popularized once it was published in an American magazine named Puck.