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Metaphysics & Psychology

Can you see a baby's face in this picture ?

By T.K. Randall
October 13, 2015 · Comment icon 64 comments

Can you see the face of a child in this picture ? Image Credit: University of Cambridge
Scientists have come up with a novel new way to determine whether someone is prone to hallucinations.
At first glance the black and white image may seem like nothing more than a random assortment of shapes, but if you stare at it long enough you may start to see the outline of a small child's face.

According to scientists at the Universities of Cardiff and Cambridge, the picture is able to test how good someone's brain is at predicting what it thinks should be there by filling in the missing gaps.

"Vision is a constructive process – in other words, our brain makes up the world that we 'see'," said Dr Christoph Teufel from the School of Psychology at Cardiff University.
"It fills in the blanks, ignoring the things that don't quite fit, and presents to us an image of the world that has been edited and made to fit with what we expect."

If you haven't been able to see the child in the picture yet, the original photograph on which the black and white image is based can be viewed by scrolling down the page - here.

"Having a predictive brain is very useful – it makes us efficient and adept at creating a coherent picture of an ambiguous and complex world," said Professor Paul Fletcher.

"But it also means that we are not very far away from perceiving things that aren't actually there, which is the definition of a hallucination."

Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (64)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #55 Posted by Ashyne 8 years ago
If you see Jesus in the black-and-white picture, you are likely to be religious.
Comment icon #56 Posted by HDesiato 8 years ago
Back in my teens and early 20s, I was an art major and went to an art school using this method I came across. Simply put: I would scribble and look for compelling Images or subject matter. Art history classes showed me I was not unique in the practice. It is counted among the various modern art techniques. I see cows.
Comment icon #57 Posted by barbco196 8 years ago
Nice. I saw the baby right away
Comment icon #58 Posted by NightScreams 8 years ago
I see an animal like thing lower right. cow head upper middle/right and upper left kind of looks like United states in a mirror at an angle...I see Alaska below the cow head.
Comment icon #59 Posted by markdohle 8 years ago
I did see it after I looked down at the baby picture.
Comment icon #60 Posted by markdohle 8 years ago
Those who can't, even after looking at the baby picture.....well....that is just sad maybe we should take up some sort of collection for them, or send them our old glasses to see if one works Bye Mark
Comment icon #61 Posted by Otto von Pickelhaube 8 years ago
I see Donald Trump!!
Comment icon #62 Posted by Mark One 8 years ago
I gave up. Couldn't discern anything worthwhile.
Comment icon #63 Posted by regeneratia 8 years ago
This black-and-white image looks random at first - but if you stare at it, you might be able to pick out a baby's face. If you look down at the photo below, the baby's face will leap right out at you. The images show how the brain 'fills in' the gaps in visual data, according to University of Cardiff and Cambridge researchers - closely related to why we hallucinate, and to psychotic symptoms. https://uk.news.yaho...76.html#JuTn8as i saw cattle at first. Two of them. Then, once seeing the photo, saw the baby face.
Comment icon #64 Posted by TruthSeekingSoul 8 years ago
I didn't see any baby, but instead I saw 2 animals. One of them is smiling and the other is frowning away.


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