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May 19, 2009 by Vurdlak | Share  

Hey people! Just came home from Korcula island. I had a great time, except it was the worst moment to have hosting problems (when images were down). Gladly, all is fixed now! Let’s proceed with new post… In the Illusion of Sex Change, by Richard Russell of Harvard University, two faces are perceived as male and female. However, rest assured that the both faces are actually versions of the same androgynous face (neither male, nor female). One face was created by increasing the contrast of the androgynous face, while the other face was created by decreasing the contrast. The face with more contrast is perceived as female, while the face with less contrast is perceived as male. The Illusion of Sex Change demonstrates that contrast is an important cue for perceiving the sex of a face, with greater contrast appearing feminine, and lesser contrast appearing masculine. This optical illusion won the prize in 2009 optical illusion contest as well.

androgynous face optical illusion

Comments

72 Responses
  1. Gary says:

    Interesting…
    Shows how easily we jump to conclusions.

  2. Uni-crazy says:

    It all boils down to our brain:

    Men Historically worked, and hence got tan.

    Women stayed inside and ‘made’ babies.

  3. Anonymous says:

    It seems strange that the higher contrast picture does not produce a higher contrast on the lips. The “female” has darker lips than the “male.” I would think that the higher contrast would also produce a higher contrast on the lip color. Maybe that is the illusion. The more defined lips actually is what produces the more “female” appearance.

    Hmmmmmmmm

  4. Samuel says:

    Pretty friggin awesome

  5. Anonymous says:

    NO SHIT?

  6. Anonymous says:

    remarkable site.love it. DIETER from XANTEN.

  7. Anonymous says:

    the one on the left looks more female because the face is brighter and there is better color difference between the lips. the one on the right looks more male because all of the colors blend toghether. in the real world, females tend to have better color differences in their skin/lips because they wear lipgloss and lipstick. females also tend to wear lotions to make their skin appear brighter.

  8. Alan Parekh says:

    That is an amazing illusion. It sure looks like a different image but if you look at each section piece by piece sure enough it is the same image!

  9. MeMe says:

    First to vote :) will be raiding other posts too mwhahaha- i thought this one was most interesting out of this page, so i thought i’d give this one a vote, as it doesn’t deserve nil points.

  10. CEDEOTE says:

    Huh, I saw it as the other way around.

  11. Datgirl says:

    Its definitely same person, same face. I cant identify now which is which. Bcoz it was edited very well. It so tough though!

  12. VOLTAGE34 says:

    i want to thank the person who did his

  13. Ahmed Sabry says:

    the roght one is male & the 2nd is female ??
    is that true ?

  14. Cheriel says:

    OF course the darker image looks male. Even a very carefully shaved male face is darker just because of the beard.

  15. Lai-Lai says:

    While I agree that the enhanced light makes the left look slightly more femanine, both images look masculine to me.

  16. kathy says:

    i must admit i once considered it.
    very strongly.

    i don’t much about this but

    i think if doctors can do this.
    why not just take a mans penis and transplant it so if a woman changes to a male.
    she has the real deal.

  17. smartypants says:

    Both are female, you can see by the eyebrows. They are plucked and look very smooth. Although if you replaced the eyebrows on the ‘man’, ‘he’ would look more like a man.

  18. Anon says:

    DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY

  19. Robbie Jones says:

    This illusion shows how subtle the human mind is. Given the smallest of differences, it makes a picture of reality. Instantly it decides for you, without you having to think about it. It is not a matter of male of female, right or wrong. We live in a frenetic world of uncertainty, the brain has chosen, and it is up to you to act upon it.

  20. HOLLY says:

    Hmmmm,
    I don’t think the higher contrast face looks feminine, I think both faces look male, but the higher contrast face looks like a younger male, and the low contrast face looks like an older male. This is very interesting…
    HOLLY

  21. Metqa says:

    Hmm, so how would that work with dark skinned people? or very pale skinned people?

  22. fowz says:

    she or he , they are one person but the photoshop can do maney thing

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