The surrealist paintings of mustached maestro Salvador Dalí were all about bet with our minds . One of his most famous piece , “ Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire , ” is now being used by researcher from Glasgow University to understand how our brain process optical entropy . The subject field is published inScientific Reports .
The fossil oil picture from 1940 sport an designed optical deception , in which the fount of French philosopher Voltaire is made from the image of two nun - like anatomy . Although you may see both images after you look foresighted and tough enough , citizenry find fault up on one before the other .
The investigator studied the brain natural process of player while they watch the painting , and then asked them to say which of the two figure of speech they saw . As anticipate , they noticed that the right cerebral hemisphere of the mental capacity process the left side of the image , while the left side of the brain work on the correct side of the mental image . Within a fraction of a 2nd , however , the two hemispheres begin to transmit with each other and spell together the whole word picture .
Image credit : Philippe Schyns et al./University of Glasgow / Scientific Reports
Speaking to theBBC , Professor Philippe Schyns say : " We happen very betimes on , after around 100 milliseconds of processing post - stimulation , that the learning ability process very specific features such as the left eye , the right heart , the corner of the nozzle , the turning point of the mouth . ”
" But then subsequent to this , at about 200 milliseconds … we also establish that the brain transfers features across the two hemispheres for retrace a full representation of the stimulus . "
The mystery of the brain continues , however . The researchers still are n’t clear about the mechanism that dictates which image we initially see . Nevertheless , the team are keen to carry on their enquiry on perception and cognition . Professor Schyns also told the BBC that the research will go on to help develop the ability of robots to work visual data , so they can see the public just like their creators .
primary image viaWikipedia
