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The strange-face-in-the-mirror illusion.

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Did it, I don't know what people are so afraid of, only saw my face covered in blood, at least 5 ghost killed in different forms and a demon trying to possess me, pretty normal stuff
 
I just did this. It looked like my face started smiling almost in a Cheshire Cat fashion. So much for sleep tonight.
 
I just did it and it was pretty awesome/spooky. My experience was that as it was getting darker, I couldn't see my eyes in the reflection anymore, and it was pretty clear that my mind was trying to fill in the gaps of what I couldn't see with some weird distorted smudges.
 
I tried it when I read it was a form of meditation.

I believe its just the trick of your eyes actually trying to focus on themselves, it seems that it can't be done without distortion. But it you scare easily don't try it, the trick can really mess with your mind.
 
Eh just tried it.

Face kind of deepened and I had 3 eyes.

Didn't last very long though. My eyes kept making quick movements which would cause the allusion to disappear.
 
The small reflection on my bright eyes made it look like a really grim oil painting, but that's about it.

I've read that looking at your own reflection on a dream can trigger the worst. Never experienced it, but it makes me feel a bit curious and thrilled.
 
Didn't see anything interesting. Every time I'd blink there'd be light some sort of emanating glow (very subdued) aroundside my hair or so. Sometimes It was hard to grasp the way my face looked and my glasses looked funky every 10 seconds or so.
 
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Didn't see much, my eyes sorta looked black and soulless after about 30 seconds in. It did feel like someone was watching me, I got outta there quick, boys.

Reminds me too much of that Mirrors movie.

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Yes, this is pretty interesting. I wonder what they mechanism at play is? I haven't done it for a while, so thanks for reminding me OP.

Also, can't believe people are too scared to even try this.

I thought it was because your senses are wired to registre changes. To save 'bandwith' your brain starts to fill in what does not change itself (it ignores the signals of stuff that doesn't change after a while). Because you stand still in the mirror your brain stops really listening to your eyes, which results in strange stuff.

I'll try to find where i read this. I think cracked

Edit: got it : http://www.cracked.com/article_19506_6-scary-tricks-that-amazed-us-as-kids-explained-by-science.html
 
Well Duh this is how you transfer into the mirror universe. How many of you are unaware of which universe you are in right now?
 
It happens because your brain cannot fully process [periferal] visual imagery and starts filling in the blanks itself. And as we all know, the brain is as powerful as it is bizarre.

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It happens because your brain cannot fully process [periferal] visual imagery and starts filling in the blanks itself. And as we all know, the brain is as powerful as it is bizarre.

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n5zlgQ6.gif
Yeah it's similar to where our brain will see motion in images when there is none because it tries to guess ahead at what the image will be because we can't process quick enough. It was in the fastball thread.
 
I sometimes do this when I get up at night to pee. When I'm washing my hands I sometimes stare at myself in the mirror half-awake. Try going back to sleep after that, thanks brain.
 
So I lit a candle, turned off the light, closed the bathroom door and looked in the mirror

And turned the light on after 1 second, lol
 
I did this a few weeks ago right on the tail end of an acid trip, the effect was very noticeable. I could turn my face almost at will into different people and even animals.
I'd think of a women and because of the lack of lighting the brain would fill in the gaps and reinforce those features.
Then I'd think of a gorilla and that worked as well, even an alien and a reptilian creature. If there was shadow on my chin I could imagine that was my mouth and suddenly I'd look like my mouth was open.
Normally I think that would be pretty scary but all I could think about was pattern recognition, and how similar the brain works to the deep learning neural nets that are being developed today.
 
They really are trying to make more of what it actually is, I've done this in the past and I didn't know it was anything special or an illusion, it's definitely not as scary or mystical like seeing a dead relative.

I do believe your own imagination plays a role in what you think you saw in the mirror which can differ from person to person.

Its the same as two people staring at the same cloud yet both see something different in it.
 
When I looked into my left eye in the mirror my head seemed to disappear, like in BTTF. When I looked into my right eye I got flashed of face going all smudgy and eyes going black.

Kind of cool but not scary at all. Should try with a flashligh/candle in pitch black if I get anything different.
 
Tried it just now and there was definitely some sort of effect, nothing "monstrous" though. My features started shifting and became more fuzzy - perhaps it's because it's dark and your brain is essentially trying to fill in the gaps of what you can't quite make out?
 
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