Dr Marco Bertamini, from the University’s School of Psychology, conducted a number of experiments by covering a mirror on a wall and inviting participants to walk along a line parallel to the mirror. He asked them to guess the point at which they would be able to see their reflection. Results showed that people believe they can see themselves even before they are level with the near edge of the mirror.
Dr Bertamini said: “People tend not to understand that the location of the viewer matters in terms of what is visible in a mirror. A good example of this is what we call the Venus Effect, which relates to the many famous paintings of the goddess Venus, looking in a small mirror. “If you were to look at these paintings, you would assume that Venus is admiring her own face, because you see her face in the mirror. Your viewpoint, however, is rather different from hers; if you can see her in the mirror then she would see you in the mirror.”
This is quite interesting. I sometimes get confused when I’m using my webcam and it is in mirror mode. I understand how a mirror works, it is just I don’t think about it when I’m looking at myself in the mirror or on my webcam. I think this happens because as you go about your daily life you don’t see everything through a mirror, so you see things from a different perspective. Quite an interesting article.
