This powerful expectation overrides visual cues, like shadows and depth information, that indicate anything to the contrary.

But patients with schizophrenia are undeterred by implausibility: They see the hollow face for what it is. About seven out of 1000 Americans suffer from the disease, which is characterized by hallucinations, delusions, and poor planning. Some psychologists believe this dissociation from reality may result from an imbalance between bottom-up and top-down processing — a hypothesis ripe for testing using the hollow mask illusion.

In healthy viewers, the illusion is so powerful that even when aware of the illusion (see video below), they are unable to see the concave face — the mind just flips it back. Though the illusion is strong for faces, it doesn’t work well with other objects, or even with upside-down faces. This bias is likely due to the special relationship we humans have with faces. Many neuroscientists believe we have brain regions dedicated to processing faces, and some brain injuries can leave patients unable to recognize faces, even though their vision and other memories remain intact.

Schizophrenics aren’t the only ones who see the concave face — people who are drunk or high can also ‘beat’ the illusion. A similar disconnect between what the brain sees and what it expects to see may be occurring during these drug-induced states.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QbKw0_v2clo#!

Whoa.

90 degrees off topic: Brad Pitt says he can't recognize individuals' faces.

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2013/05/23/Actor-Brad-Pitt-says-he-cant-recognize-faces/UPI-31401369308229/

Is that possible?!

Arrested Development Season 4 joke here : "Same"

Worth rushing to see ADs4, or worth waiting until I have more time?

(Game of Thrones is on, dammit...)

(Wedding crashers!)