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The article is just simply wrong. The mirror "person" also raises the right hand. Its just our brain tricking us into thinking that if we would be in the positi

by noxer 6y ago

The article is just simply wrong. The mirror "person" also raises the right hand. Its just our brain tricking us into thinking that if we would be in the position the mirrored person appears in (rotated 180 degree), that it would be our left hand but we cant be in a mirrored position ever.

quietbritishjim 6y ago
Indeed, like we physically did with the piece of paper, we have mentally chosen to think of our image in the mirror as like ourself but turned horizontally (around the verticle axis) to face us - ending up flipped left-to-right. If we instead think of our image as like ourselves but turned vertically (around the horizontal axis) - like you lept headfirst into the mirror and landed upright on your head - then you'll find that your left and right sides are the correct way round but the image is vertically flipped. It's very hard to think this way because (a) we're mostly symmetric horizontally, certainly a lot more than vertically, and (b) we very often interact with other people that have turned horizontally (around the verticle axis) to face us but very rarely interact with other people that have turned vertically to face us. Another aspect that makes this hard mentally is that if you have any identifying non-symmetrical features, like birthmarks, then they appear horizontally flipped in the mirror compared to photographs. Again, it's the photograph that's turned incorrectly. This one is particularly hard to sell, because surely a photo with a ground at the top can't be the right way round? The answer is, for the purpose of matching your left and right, the "correct" way round is for the photo to face away from you. Makes logical sense, but very unintuitive.
undersuit 6y ago
You see the mirror raising your mirrored hand. I see a two identical individuals raising their opposing hands in unison.
- noxer 6y ago
  You are tricked by what you see. You assume the other person is a person that looks like you but is rotated towards you, while in reality the other person would need to be a mirrored version of you. Your brain doesn't see that it's mirrored because you are used to see "yourself" this way.
  - undersuit 6y ago
    I'm not looking at my reflection. I'm looking at you and your reflection(or a very good clone). Depending on my orientation, I might not even be able to figure out which figure is the mirrored image.

by noxer 6y ago

quietbritishjim 6y ago

Indeed, like we physically did with the piece of paper, we have mentally chosen to think of our image in the mirror as like ourself but turned horizontally (around the verticle axis) to face us - ending up flipped left-to-right. If we instead think of our image as like ourselves but turned vertically (around the horizontal axis) - like you lept headfirst into the mirror and landed upright on your head - then you'll find that your left and right sides are the correct way round but the image is vertically flipped. It's very hard to think this way because (a) we're mostly symmetric horizontally, certainly a lot more than vertically, and (b) we very often interact with other people that have turned horizontally (around the verticle axis) to face us but very rarely interact with other people that have turned vertically to face us. Another aspect that makes this hard mentally is that if you have any identifying non-symmetrical features, like birthmarks, then they appear horizontally flipped in the mirror compared to photographs. Again, it's the photograph that's turned incorrectly. This one is particularly hard to sell, because surely a photo with a ground at the top can't be the right way round? The answer is, for the purpose of matching your left and right, the "correct" way round is for the photo to face away from you. Makes logical sense, but very unintuitive.

undersuit 6y ago

You see the mirror raising your mirrored hand. I see a two identical individuals raising their opposing hands in unison.

noxer 6y ago
You are tricked by what you see. You assume the other person is a person that looks like you but is rotated towards you, while in reality the other person would need to be a mirrored version of you. Your brain doesn't see that it's mirrored because you are used to see "yourself" this way.
- undersuit 6y ago
  I'm not looking at my reflection. I'm looking at you and your reflection(or a very good clone). Depending on my orientation, I might not even be able to figure out which figure is the mirrored image.