So - what do you see in this pic (Scroll down for more info when done)

[The Straight Story]

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This one has been circulating the net lately, so it would be shame if I didn't share it with you guys as well. What is the story behind the picture below? The influence of culture and environment can have an effect on our visual perception - believe it or not. This theory was first explored by Robert Laws, a Scottish missionary working in Africa during the late 1800's. Take a look at the picture below - what you see will largely depend on where you live in the world. After that you have examined the picture, scroll below for a more detailed explanation. Original article can be found here.

So What Did You See - What is above the woman's head? When scientists showed a similar sketch to people from East Africa, nearly all the participants in the experiment said she was balancing a box or metal can on her head. In a culture containing few angular visual cues, the family is seen sitting under a tree. Westerners, on the other hand, are accustomed to the corners and boxlike shapes of architecture. They are more likely to place the family indoors and to interpret the rectangle above the woman's head as a window through which shrubbery can be seen.

http://www.moillusions.com/2007/11/psychological-optical-illusion.html

I saw it as a window.

[GaYellowDawg]

1. A window

With a tree outside.

[The Straight Story]

3. I added a new path to it - see if it shows up now

If not...I dunno :)

[GaYellowDawg]

5. Got it, thanks! I edited my response. nm

nm

[SoCalDem]

11. me too..but I understand why some would see the other

[The Straight Story]

17. My 7 yr old saw it as a window with a plant outside (nt)

[Clear Blue Sky]

2. I saw it as a box or basket on her head with a tree in the background.

Though I have no connection to Africa. I do recall many visits to the Caribbean as a kid seeing women walking the streets balancing huge baskets on their heads. Vivid memory for me.

[The Straight Story]

4. I could see that if they were walking

but sitting?

[RedCappedBandit]

8. yea - it doesnt make sense to me

why would anybody balance a box on their head while sitting in a circle

:shrug:

[Thickasabrick]

14. My thoughts too - we don't carry a lot of boxes on our head over here.

[RedCappedBandit]

6. first thing that came to mind was a painting

but now that i read "window" i see it as a window

[stevedeshazer]

7. A family in a room

The box seemed to me like a picture on a wall.

Guess I'm really out of it.

[Crunchy Frog]

9. Yeah, they used that picture (or a similar one)

in my psychology textbook. Doesn't really seem surprising to me that people relatively unfamiliar with windows, but very familiar with things on top of women's heads would see this picture differently than I do.

[SoCalDem]

10. In Panama, they even carried wicker clothes baskets with wet wash

Women always carried stuff that way.. Gotta have hands free..

[JDPriestly]

12. Interesting. Thanks.

[Fumesucker]

13. That culture and environment can influence perception

Seems self evident to me.

If people have never or very seldom seen a rectangular window or painting then of course they would not recognize such a thing easily.

I didn't even notice the environment, I was busy looking for strange things with the people and the dog.

[The Straight Story]

15. Well, that tells me a lot about you

:rofl:

[uppityperson]

23. Me too, starting to describe the people sitting around, clothing, dog, kids, etc

[Cirque du So-What]

16. It must be a very lightweight box atop her head

It's not even heavy enough to smoosh down her hair!

Interesting take on cultural differences, though.

[hyphenate]

18. Looks like 6 people and a dog

inside, with the small window above the woman, and what I assume is a large picture window behind the men on the right. The stuff behind the woman and the boy at first looked like a giant spider web, but that's where I got the idea there was a picture window on the right side, as the lines seem to suggest a corner of a room.

I'll presume that most of here at DU are most likely to view it as an indoors picture--I find it hard to imagine it as anything else.

[tomreedtoon]

19. It's a group of terrorists planning to destroy America.

Look at the clearly Asian woman on the left. Nobody wears outfits like that except kung-fu killers.

The kids in the middle are making a pledge to wear vests full of C4 and shrapnel and kill a bunch of people in an American shopping mall. Their dog will be wired as well.

The guy on the right is practicing the squished-up seating he has to adapt as a passenger on an American airliner. When the plane is in flight he will cut up a stewardess and crash the plane into John McCain.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a picture of evil.

[murielm99]

20. I didn't know Cheney posted here!

Imagine thinking this way all the time.

:scared:

[alittlelark]

21. I thought the 'box' was a recessed alcove in the wall.

I grew up in the SW US and thought it was obvious.......


Strange.

[Quantess]

22. The first thing I wondered about

was the right corner ceiling.
I think it looks suggestive.

[Hekate]

24. Window with tropical foliage. Family grouping mostly seated on floor, smiling--says "tropical" to me

I grew up where people left their shoes at the door and freely moved between chairs and floor cushions or mats.

Interesting about people whose dwellings don't have windows seeing the woman as balancing a can on her head -- in some countries women do carry cans of water or cooking oil on their heads, but it would be anomalous to sit down with one, so I imagine that would present some confusion in interpreting this sketch.

Hekate