Philosophy:Strange face illusion

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Strange face illusion (also known as strange-face-in-the-mirror) is an apparitional experience that occurs when gazing at one's own face reflected in a mirror or into the eyes of another for a few minutes at a low illumination level.[1][2] The phenomenon is associated with Hallucinations and somatic concerns.[3] It was a psychological discovery made in 2010 by Giovanni B. Caputo, a vision scientist from University of Urbino.[4][5][6][7]

Discovery

The discovery was a result of a 7-minute mirror-gazing test (MGT). It was done in a 5m×5m darkened room, with low illumination by a halogen light bulb. Caputo’s arrangement consisted of 50 adults.[1][4][8][9] After MGT the participants were requested to appear in a questionnaired interviewed.66% of the participants observed major deformation of their own faces, 48% saw monstrous faces, 28% saw a face of an unknown, 28% saw an archetypal face, 18% saw the face of a parent or relative, including living or deceased, and 18% observed an animal face in the mirror.[1][10][11][12] The experiment proved that the frequency of strange apparitional experiences is less common in depressed patients in comparison to healthy people.[1][13]

Mirror-gazing test (MGT)

The mirror-gazing test is used to induce an altered state of consciousness in clinical and non-clinical adults and adolescents.[14][15][16] The test requires using a mirror with dimensions 0.5m×0.5m. The distance between the person and mirror is set at 0.4m. A 25W incandescent bulb is used with its beam directed towards the floor at a 5cm distance from the floor. The test causes overlapping between the conscious-self and the unconscious-self. It provokes negative emotions and conflicts within the subject’s consciousness.[9]

Interpersonal gazing

Strange face illusions appear as a result of interpersonal gazing. It produces a high number of different strange-faces. It involves a pair of individuals who are gazing at each other in the eyes. Interpersonal gazing dissociates a person’s self and feeling of reality. Unconscious facial mimicry and emotional contagion are responsible for inter-subjective illusion–conjunction. In some dyads, unconscious synchronization of responses takes place.[17][9] It is related to Carl Jung’s idea of synchronicity.[9][4][8]

Description

The strange face illusion is a form of visual illusion that results in distortion of one’s own reflection in the mirror.[10][9] The illusion involves the perception of one strange-face at a time, which roughly lasts for seven seconds. Another case is the intense flux or streaming experiences, which lasts longer than seven seconds. Such illusions in non-clinical people serve as signs of significant associations to early-stage schizotypy dimensions development.[14] The phenomenon is a complex combination of illusions that include visual perception, motor facial mimicry, self-other boundary, affective empathy, unconscious contagion, and conscious misidentification.[9] According to Caputo’s discovery, low-level fluctuations in the stability of edges, shading, and outlines affecting the perceived definition of the face cause these illusions. The phenomenon causes a sensation of otherness in people that are a result of dissociative identity effect.[10] The concept of strange apparitional experience resembles mild dissociation that is when an individual loses their normal connection with reality.[16] It was later proved that Strange-face apparitions and dissociative symptoms were independent processes.[18]

Prevalence

The prevalence of the strange face illusion phenomenon is low among depressed patients in comparison to schizophrenia patients and healthy people.[1][14][13] The emotional response to this phenomenon is intense in healthy individuals.[9]

Depressed patients

Patients who are already victims of depression do not experience the phenomenon of strange face illusion as frequently as healthy people. It is because of the deficits in emotional facial recognition, emotional facial expression, and deficits in interpersonal interactions of depressed patients.[1][13] According to Caputo’s discovery, “depression patients during mirror-gazing can be described as completely immobile similar to statues of death.”[1]

Schizophrenic patients

The patients of schizophrenia frequently report observing strange face illusions when they look at a mirror, which is known as the anomalous self-experiences. Schizophrenia patients experience this condition in a varying degree of depersonalization. It is having the impression of seeing another identity than oneself in the mirror. These patients describe multiple-others that fill the mirror surface surrounding the strange face.[14][9][19][2]

Types

There are different types of strange face illusion in adolescents and young adults. The first is observing the slight change of color or light; second is the deformation of own face, third is changes in vision, and the forth is non-human appearances.[2][14][16] The three categories of illusions include those correlated to derealization, depersonalization, and identity.[20]

Similar phenomenon

Strange face illusion is at many places associated with the English natural philosopher and physician Erasmus Darwin’s observations and Switzerland philosopher Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler's corroboration, the Troxler Fading. The Troxler Fading and the mechanism of neural adaptation are used to explain Caputo’s discovery. As one gazes unto a reflected face for a prolonged time period, the facial features disappear and then reappear due to visual stimulus’ unchanging nature. Involuntary eye movements refresh the neuronal responses, which forces the brain to fill the gaps using experiences, expectations, and hardwired neural mechanisms.[7][4][5][21][22] Another explanation for this discovery is that whenever an unconscious archetypal content is constellated and emerges, it activates the attraction of the ego toward the unconscious, sometimes in the form of deep interest and sometimes in the form of possession.[9]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Caputo, Giovanni B.; Bortolomasi, Marco; Ferrucci, Roberta; Giacopuzzi, Mario; Priori, Alberto; Zago, Stefano (2014). "Visual Perception during Mirror-Gazing at One's Own Face in Patients with Depression" (in en). The Scientific World Journal 2014: 946851. doi:10.1155/2014/946851. PMID 25506077. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Paul M. Jenkinson & Catherine Preston. "The ‘not-so-strange’ body in the mirror: A Principal Components Analysis of direct and mirror self-observation". University of York. Retrieved 2020.04.17
  3. ↑ Bortolon, Catherine; Capdevielle, Delphine; Altman, Rosalie; Macgregor, Alexandra; Attal, Jérôme; Raffard, Stéphane (2017-07-01). "Mirror self-face perception in individuals with schizophrenia: Feelings of strangeness associated with one's own image" (in en). Psychiatry Research 253: 205–210. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2017.03.055. ISSN 0165-1781. PMID 28390296. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178116315189. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen L.. "Locking Eyes with a Monster" (in en). https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-chasers/locking-eyes-with-a-monster/. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Why do we see monsters in the mirror?" (in en). https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/seeing-monsters-mirror-troxler-effect. 
  6. ↑ Halaris, A. E.; Belendiuk, K. T.; Freedman, D. X. (1975-10-15). "Antidepressant drugs affect dopamine uptake". Biochemical Pharmacology 24 (20): 1896–1897. doi:10.1016/0006-2952(75)90412-8. ISSN 0006-2952. PMID 19. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Susana Martinez-Conde & Stephen L. Macknik. "Illusory Scenes Fade into and out of View". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020.04.17.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Staring Into Someone's Eyes For 10 Minutes Can Alter Your Consciousness" (in en). https://www.iflscience.com/brain/you-can-alter-your-mind-staring-someones-eyes-10-minutes/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 Caputo, Giovanni B. (2013-12-24). "Archetypal-Imaging and Mirror-Gazing" (in en). Behavioral Sciences 4 (1): 1–13. doi:10.3390/bs4010001. PMID 25379264. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 vaughanbell, Author (2010-09-18). "The strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion" (in en). https://mindhacks.com/2010/09/18/the-strange-face-in-the-mirror-illusion/. 
  11. ↑ Derome, Mélodie; Fonseca-Pedrero, Eduardo; Badoud, Deborah; Morosan, Larisa; Van De Ville, Dimitri; Lazeyras, François; Eliez, Stephan; Chan, Raymond et al. (2018-10-15). "Resting-State Networks of Adolescents Experiencing Depersonalization-Like Illusions: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Findings" (in en). Schizophrenia Bulletin 44 (suppl_2): S501–S511. doi:10.1093/schbul/sby031. ISSN 0586-7614. PMID 29566227. 
  12. ↑ "Bizarre Strange-Face Illusion – A Scientific Mystery" (in en-US). 2018-09-01. http://www.messagetoeagle.com/bizarre-strange-face-illusion-a-scientific-mystery/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Caputo, Giovanni B.; Bortolomasi, Marco; Ferrucci, Roberta; Giacopuzzi, Mario; Priori, Alberto; Zago, Stefano (2014). "Visual Perception during Mirror-Gazing at One's Own Face in Patients with Depression" (in en). The Scientific World Journal 2014: 946851. doi:10.1155/2014/946851. PMID 25506077. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Fonseca-Pedrero, Eduardo; Badoud, Deborah; Antico, Lia; Caputo, Giovanni B.; Eliez, Stephan; Schwartz, Sophie; Debbané, Martin (2015-03-25). "Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion and Schizotypy During Adolescence". Schizophrenia Bulletin 41 (Suppl 2): S475–S482. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbu196. ISSN 0586-7614. PMID 25810060. 
  15. ↑ Fonseca-Pedrero, Eduardo; Badoud, Deborah; Antico, Lia; Caputo, Giovanni B.; Eliez, Stephan; Schwartz, Sophie; Debbané, Martin (2015-03-01). "Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion and Schizotypy During Adolescence" (in en). Schizophrenia Bulletin 41 (suppl_2): S475–S482. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbu196. ISSN 0586-7614. PMID 25810060. PMC 4373638. https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/41/suppl_2/S475/2413948. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "Weird things start to happen when you stare into someone's eyes for 10 minutes" (in en). 2015-08-18. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/08/18/weird-things-start-to-happen-when-you-stare-into-someones-eyes-for-10-minutes/. 
  17. ↑ Caputo, Giovanni B. (2013-03-01). "Strange-face illusions during inter-subjective gazing" (in en). Consciousness and Cognition 22 (1): 324–329. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2012.08.007. ISSN 1053-8100. PMID 22981318. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810012001924. 
  18. ↑ Caputo, Giovanni B. (2015-08-30). "Dissociation and hallucinations in dyads engaged through interpersonal gazing" (in en). Psychiatry Research 228 (3): 659–663. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2015.04.050. ISSN 0165-1781. PMID 26112448. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178115003212. 
  19. ↑ Caputo, Giovanni B.; Ferrucci, Roberta; Bortolomasi, Marco; Giacopuzzi, Mario; Priori, Alberto; Zago, Stefano (2012-09-01). "Visual perception during mirror gazing at one's own face in schizophrenia" (in en). Schizophrenia Research 140 (1): 46–50. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2012.06.029. ISSN 0920-9964. PMID 22835808. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0920996412003465. 
  20. ↑ Caputo, Giovanni B. (2019-08-08). "Strange-face illusions during eye-to-eye gazing in dyads: specific effects on derealization, depersonalization and dissociative identity". Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 20 (4): 420–444. doi:10.1080/15299732.2019.1597807. ISSN 1529-9732. PMID 30938658. 
  21. ↑ "Monsters in the Mirror: No Really, Literal Monsters" (in en-US). http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/making-sense-chaos/201408/monsters-in-the-mirror-no-really-literal-monsters. 
  22. ↑ "Mirror Scrying - Troxler Effect - Crystalinks". https://www.crystalinks.com/mirrors.html. 




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