Do You See Marilyn Monroe or Albert Einstein in This Photo? An Amazing Eye Test Based on MIT Research

This visual curiosity beats the black/gold dress craze of last month. The video above asks you to look at a photo and decide whether you see Albert Einstein or Marilyn Monroe — two 20th century icons who look pretty much nothing alike. If you say Albert, your eyes are in good shape. If you say Marilyn, it’s apparently time to pay a visit to the optometrist.

MonroeEnstein_AudeOliva2007

The science discussed here is based on the research of Aude Oliva, who works on Computational Perception and Cognition at MIT.  You can see the original “Marylin Einstein” hybrid image above, which Aude created for the March 31st 2007 issue of New Scientist magazine. More background info on hybrid images can be found on this MIT page. Plus find a gallery of hybrid images here.

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Related Content:

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