Venus effect

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An illustration of the Venus Effect from Velázquez's Rokeby Venus.
An illustration of the Venus Effect from Velázquez's Rokeby Venus.

The Venus effect is a phenomenon in the psychology of perception, named after Diego Velázquez's painting Rokeby Venus. Viewers of the painting assume that Venus is admiring her own reflection in the mirror. However, since the viewer sees her face in the mirror, Venus would actually be looking at the viewer, not at herself. [1]

This psychological "trick" is often used in the cinema, where an actor will be shown apparently looking at himself in the mirror, with the camera just out of shot. In fact, the actor will be looking at the camera and just be pretending to see himself in the mirror.

The difference in relative sizes of the real face and the reflected face makes it possible to estimate the distance the viewer was from the object when they formed the image.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bertamini, M; Latto, R. Spooner, A. (2003). "The Venus effect: people's understanding of mirror reflections in paintings" (pdf). Perception (journal) 32: 593–599. doi:10.1068/p3418. Lay summary (2005-03-22). 
  2. ^ Bertamini, M; Parks, T.E. (2005). "On what people know about images on mirrors" (pdf). Cognition (journal) 98: 85–104. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2004.11.002. 

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