Monday, February 26, 2007

Young or Old?


This is Boring's 'Old/Young Woman'. It is a figure which is reversible. The figure can be perceived as the profile of a young woman's face with the tip of her nose just visable, or a much older woman, where the young woman's chin can be seen as the nose of the older woman.

18 comments:

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

Thanks kindly to David Anthony, who left the internet link to this image. Michelle

David Anthony said...

Strange. Now you have put it on your site, I can only see the young woman...

Big Brother said...

Funny how we can switch from one to the other but not see both. I can consciously switch but I couldn't tell how the switch occurs. Greta illusion Michelle.

Big Brother said...

*Great illusion* typing too fast I guess.

Big Brother said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ian Lidster said...

I've always seen the pretty young woman in this one. Oh well, maybe that is just a reflection of a proclivity of mine.

Ian

Anonymous said...

She's definitely a younger woman in mye yes too.

Maalie said...

Well, I've seen this before. I normally see the old woman first but this time I saw the young girl and it took me a while to "flip". I guess nuances of light and shade (e.g. on computer screen as opposed to printed page) must make a difference as to how one first perceives it.

Hmmm. Very Freudian, don't you think, doctor?

jmb said...

Well even squinting I find it hard to see the old woman, and I am old! Unless I really concentrate I can only see the young one. Yearning perhaps?
Regards
jmb

Anonymous said...

no matter how hard I try I can only see the young woman

Anonymous said...

wow amazing i just got the old womans face too...

SeaSpray said...

Only the young woman for me too until you mentioned the chin. On your other post I saw both the faces and the vase. :)

Anonymous said...

Interesting - unlike the previous image were I could see both images - in this image I don't see the old lady.

Anonymous said...

I've seen the old woman now too, what an interesting image.

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

So many thanks for all your comments here - this picture is a personal favourite of mine and I'm glad to see you all enjoyed spotting the 2 faces in one picture. Thanks again for all your kind comments. All the very best. Michelle

Man in a Shed said...

What is interesting here is the inability to hold both versions in your head at the same time.

Is there some psychological principle in play here ?

I have to confess I saw the young woman first in this case (maybe being brighter on a computer screen helps)- but when looking at the same picture in other books I've always seen the old woman and had real trouble switch to the younger.

heiresschild said...

try as i might to see the older woman, i was only able to see the young woman.

simon said...

well, I have looked and looked, and I only saw the young woman!

then jsu at the last, I glimpsed the old woman but she disappeared!