Is this a picture of [a] or [b]

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have noticed one of those pictures that, depending on how tricksy a mood your mind happens to be in, looks like something that it isn’t.

It is on the BBC news website (Under the ‘Also in the News’ section, and titled ‘Wii-type games linked to sprains’. I’d link to the article itself but then the picture would be too big and the effect probably wouldn’t manifest itself) …

Here is a picture of it on it’s own in case the above link updates and it goes away.

When I glance at it or see it for the first time (upon each visit to the site) I see it as…

A woman facing [my] left, holding her boob and a bit of fabric

But what it actually is (in case you are ONLY able to see what I’m seeing) is…

A woman facing right, holding her shoulder

In case you’re wondering why I spoilered those - it’s so you can look at the images without prior information about them and let your brain perceive them freshly.
I suspect I will be in the minority of people seeing what’s not there. :smiley:

2

Bias?
:wink:

3

It’s a shoulder, duh!

4

Yeah, shoulder. I can’t even flip the image mentally and get a boob out of it. Shame.

5

I saw a boob, too.

Er, I mean…I saw a woman facing to the left holding her breast.

:wink:

6

Thing is, once you’ve seen what the picture is, it’s very hard to then see it as the woman holding her boob.

7

Boob for me.

(Please.)

8

I am a straight woman, and all I can see is a boob. Weird.

9

All I could see was shoulder.

StG

10

Shoulder, although after reading the boob bit, yeah, I can see how one could see that as well.

11

I can see both, but I have to ignore parts of the image to see the boob.

12

Boob at first, but I pretty quickly saw it as a shoulder.

13

How could it be a boob? Where would the other boob be?

14

And what about the rest of the arm seen below the left hand?

15

How is anyone seeing a boob? It looks like an arm. There’s nothing round about it.

16

Totally not getting how you’re seeing a boob. Clearly a shoulder.

17

First thought on seeing the tiny pic; it looks like a boob but I know it’s not.

18

The hand is cupping it so the hand is obscuring the ‘roundness’. If you’re seeing boob you [r brain] seems to ignore the parts of the image that don’t fit the logic of a woman facing left cupping a boob.

Her hair (which is on her front) is seen as being on her back.

And when you’ve seen the right-facing shoulder-holding picture your brain has enough information to make it difficult to switch back to the left-facing boob-cupping picture.

In other words if you’re having a hard time seeing boob it’s because it’s too late. your brain has correctly interpreted the image.

19

The first thing I saw when I looked at it was a woman holding just under her armpit. I still see it when I glance at the photo, even though I know her arm is down.

20

Shoulder.