Elmo Recio
Cognitive Psychology
Psych 330-001
WEEK 2 SUMMARY 1
This week i picked up a neat little
article off of the net (http://www.yehouda.com/mirror.html)
that described the reason why humans are affected by mirror symmetry so
radically, versus other forms of symmetry.
Yehouda Harpaz begins with stating
at all humans are born with the ability to detect symmetry. This is a "built
in" function or instinct. He says, "symmetrical objects or pictures have
internal control." But continues to explain that mirror images have an
even greater "control" over standard points of symmetry.
Harpaz states that humans have a preference
for mirror symmetry or vertical symmetry. He gives this elongated mathematical
hypothesis on his theory of why we have this preference. Harpaz quickly
continues to explain his hypothesis in `English' (this I understood). In
a nutshell, the way the information gets carried and translated to the
brain from the eye, there are impulses that get `lost' and are rerouted
to its opposite quadrant (+ -> - or - -> +). Since the mirror image has
the same exact information in either quadrant (+ or -), then the rerouted
impulses do not degrade the image. Hence a mirror symmetry becomes crystal
clear... much clearer than a normal image or an image with some other sort
of symmetry.
Amazed at what a five minute endeavor
on the internet allowed me to discover, prompted me to do a little work
with Adobe Photoshop and a picture of myself. I let out a small laugh as
I realised that mirror images affected me quite differently than any other
symmetical version of my face. This also prompted me in thinking that this
might be why babies have an easy time of recognising faces of their mothers
over any other face. They have to do little work in composing the image.
Those last two statements may be wrong, but this is to be discovered this
week in class as the topic of pattern recognition unveils.