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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
 Posted - 05/27/2008 : 18:33:59
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Look at the image below. It looks like a young who?
Then turn around and walk fifteen feet from your computer screen.
Look at it again! What young celebrity does it look like now?
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Vegeta
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
238 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2008 : 21:55:19 [Permalink]
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| unfortunately my room is nt 15 feet across but the name of the jpeg is a bit of a giveaway |
What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a pink shirt before?
"I was asked if I would do a similar sketch but focusing on the shortcomings of Islam rather than Christianity. I said, 'No, no I wouldn't. I may be an atheist but I'm not stupid.'" - Steward Lee |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2008 : 00:58:29 [Permalink]
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This is one of the least explored effects of Special Relativity. Its buried in the equations. When one approaches the speed of light, time slows down BUT - simultaneously, old German scientists are transformed into sexy actresses.  |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2008 : 15:29:17 [Permalink]
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Why does it work?
Any optical engineers out there or folks with enough curiosity to check it out?
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2008 : 19:03:52 [Permalink]
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When you're close the small scale structures become visible, and the brain focus on them. When you get farther from the pic, the small scale structure becomes too small to pick up, and the brain starts interpreting the large scale structure instead.
This is not based on any specifik knowledge, but rather plain resoning on my part which may or may not accurately describe reality. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2008 : 00:37:21 [Permalink]
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Excellent partial analysis, Dr. Mabuse, except that the "large scale structure" is as visible to close obsevation as it is to distant viewing! Why does one take precedent over the other when both are evident?
Any other observations, you insatiably curious skeptics? |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2008 : 10:29:30 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by bngbuck
Excellent partial analysis, Dr. Mabuse, except that the "large scale structure" is as visible to close obsevation as it is to distant viewing! |
Yes, it is. But when you're close, large scale structures have to compete with the small scale structure.
Why does one take precedent over the other when both are evident?
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Obviously, the smallest perceptible structure is the most important. It is what traditionally enabled us to pick out the minute details of a camouflaged predator against large scale structure of the savanna. An evolutionary trait. Also, there is a benefit to have the brain automatically set to interpret small scale structures: you can always easily switch focus by taking a few steps back or squint. This is not as easy if the brain is reversed.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 05/29/2008 10:31:18 |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2008 : 13:31:13 [Permalink]
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Dr. Mabuse.....
BNG wrote
Why does one take precedent over the other when both are evident?
Obviously, the smallest perceptible structure is the most important. |
Not quite, but you are on the right track! The visual construct is an example of the kind of perception phenomena that led to the development of an entire school of experimental psychology wirh heavy emphasis on visual perception - by Max Wertheimer and others in Germany in the early 1900's.
From wiki
| Gestalt psychology (also Gestalt of the Berlin School) is a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies; or, that the whole is different than the sum of its parts. The classic Gestalt example is a soap bubble, whose spherical shape is not defined by a rigid template, or a mathematical formula, but rather it emerges spontaneously by the parallel action of surface tension acting at all points in the surface simultaneously. This is in contrast to the "atomistic" principle of operation of the digital computer, where every computation is broken down into a sequence of simple steps, each of which is computed independently of the problem as a whole. The Gestalt effect refers to the form-forming capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves. |
Salvador Dali took advantage of this aspect of visual perception to create Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln - Homage to Rothko (first version)(below)
As it's lengthy title suggests, the cubist image resolves into a portrait of Abraham Lincoln if viewed from a distance (as determined by the size of the image)
This phenomenon is related to but not identical to the trompe l'oeil painting technique in which an illusion of 3-D is created by inclusion of a perspective drafting into a planar image.
Dr. Mabuse, a reflexive mental activity does take place with respect to the relationship of large and small elements of the image, but contrast of color and shading is also involved, as well as involvement of memory of known and familiar images as related to what the eye is seeing in the illusory image as the viewing distance changes.
This is an interesting field of study, as it involves mechanical optics, the physiology of vision (poorly understood, even today) and, in the instance of trompe l'oeil, the functioning of stereoscopic vision.
All in all, a fascinating aspect of the study of perception!
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Who is it?
