Hybrid Images and Spatial Frequency Channels

[Third_Density_Resident]

I found this remarkable site that contains a series of so-called "hybrid images". Depending on the spatial frequency channel that the human visual system "tunes into", the same image will show different things. The easiest way to "switch channels" is to alter the distance between yourself and the picture. (You can also squint or blur your vision.) So for instance, the picture of the calm woman below will change into a picture of an angry man if you step back a few metres. All of this makes me think about why some people see UFOs and strange phenomena and others don't. Although the UFO thing is more to do with a "mental channel" than a visual one, I believe the analogy to be helpful.

A sample and explanation of hybrid images is included below, taken from _http://cvcl.mit.edu/hybrid_gallery/smile_angry.html:

Here is a series of hybrids in which facial expression changes. On the top row, up close, you can see that the man on the left is scowling, while the woman on the right maintains a placid facial emotion. Further back, however, the faces change expressions and even genders. If you squint, blink or defocus, the angry man turns calm, and the calm woman turns angry... and male.
In the bottom row, the woman on the left transforms into a happy man. On the right, the woman maintaining a similar emotion as the one above her transforms into something a little cheerier.
The hybrid illusion originally created by Dr. Aude Oliva and Dr. Philippe Schyns illustrates the ability of the visual system to separate information coming from different spacial frequency channels. These hybrid faces were on exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

The site has some more hybrid images in colour. You can even print the images out and the illusion still works well. (Great party trick!)

 

[Buddy]

Hi 3D Resident, I found this very interesting! As soon as I checked it out, I started thinking about ways this knowledge could possibly be used by 3rd and/or 4th Density STS to confuse and induce fear in unsuspecting persons during a possible 4th Density transistion. Of course, this is just my imagination getting fired up.

Here's some more info if anyone's interested:

Some more pictures (some in color):
_http://cvcl.mit.edu/hybrid_gallery/gallery.html

Some movies that show how it works so that the viewer doesn't have to move around:
_http://cvcl.mit.edu/movies/movies.html


Apparant explanation of how this all works:
"Spatial frequency channels in human vision as asymmetric (edge) mechanisms"
Source: _http://cornea.berkeley.edu/pubs/08.pdf (11 pages)


Related articles:

* The simultaneous spatial frequency shift: a dissociation between the detection and perception of gratings.

* Evolving concepts of spatial channels in vision: from independence to nonlinear interactions.

* Effects of acute ethyl alcohol consumption on a psychophysical measure of lateral inhibition in human vision.

* Lightness, filling-in, and the fundamental role of context in visual perception.
Source: _http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4446371

 

[Third_Density_Resident]

Thanks Buddy for those links. It certainly does make you think of the various ways this knowledge could be used in an STS way (as all knowledge is on the BBM).

That psychology journal article is certainly interesting and when time permits I'd like to look at it more in-depth.