Faces Gallery

Hollow-face illusion, artwork

Hollow-face illusion, computer artwork. This is an optical illusion where the perception of a concave (hollow) mask of a face appears as a normal convex (protruding) face. This is because the brain has a strong bias for seeing faces as convex, which counteracts competing depth perception information, such as highlights and shadows

© DAVID MACK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Goblet illusion

Goblet illusion. This image is simultaneously a drawing of a goblet and two faces. When there are two competing interpretations of an ambiguous image the brain will often switch between them. So a viewer of this image, which has been around in some form since the 18th century, may see a white goblet for a while, but then change to seeing two black faces in profile. It is impossible to see both at the same time. It is also impossible to view this as abstract shapes - once the brain knows the form of a goblet and of a face in profile it must assign one of the two to its interpretation of this image

© SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Portrait of an older man. Our Asian Neighbours - India

A close up portrait of a man in a loose white headdress, who wears a trimmed grey moustache and beard. This image is taken from Swami Shyan': A guru and his followers live in an ashram in Kulu Valley, which is part of the Himalayan region of India. Swami Shyan is an episode of Our Asian Neighbours - India 1977, a 14-part series that takes a personal look at the lives of a variety of individuals in India

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