From Galen Strawson
I had always believed that it was impossible, when looking at the “image-flip” picture of two faces and a vase, to see the faces and the vase simultaneously (20 October, p 10). I resolved to try again, using your picture. It took me about 10 seconds to succeed the first time, holding the picture about a foot from my face, and it took less time subsequently.
One achieves and can sustain a kind of letting-go, similar to that required when looking at Magic Eye 3D pictures: neither the two-faces aspect nor the vase is the focus of attention, though there is full awareness of both. If MRI imaging is used to examine the neurology of image-flipping, perhaps it should also be used to examine the neurology of this state.
The brain can “consciously perceive both versions simultaneously” if it imagines twins pressing their faces against a vase. It would be interesting to see a photo of twins doing that.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Advertisement
Reading, UK
