Visual Perception

The Thatcher effect or Thatcher illusion is a phenomenon where it becomes difficult to detect local feature changes in an upside down face, despite identical changes being obvious in an upright face. It is named after British former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on whose photograph the effect has been most famously demonstrated. This was originally created by Peter Thompson, who is a professor at the University of York, England (Thompson, 1980).




I'm finding this visual perception fascinating, and meshes well with the current research I have been doing into forensic art, visual recollection etc. My aim is to create an interactive piece which addresses these issues and also allows people to participate with others, and see how individual and collective responses differ.