Young-old What do you see? 

-If you see an old lady, can you also see a young lady?
-If you see a young lady, can you also see an old lady?

Both are there! Lesson: there are frequently different, and equally valid, ways to read a situation. We better listen to complementary perspectives and ensure constructive teamwork.

Enjoy the day.

15 Responses to “Brain exercise: what do you see?”
  1. Melissaon 11 Sep 2006 at 1:33

    This is a fantastic eye-brain trick and no matter how many times i try it, it always remains enjoyable! What a sobering reminder it is, also, that our brain will determine what we "see". We must always retain an understanding that what we know is simply the amalgamation of what our senses have perceived and the way in which our brain has organized it all! Two fun things that this brings to mind...
    1) Those posters that we all used to do, where you have to stare at the poster long and hard enough until shapes emerge from the confusing background. Perhaps this is more related to eyesight and visual processing, but that's part of the brain too!
    and
    2) A FANTASTIC book, on the powers of the brain: Phantoms in the Brain, by V.S. Ramachandran, M.D. Ph.D. and Sandra Blakenee. A FANTASTIC read!

  2. Alvaroon 12 Sep 2006 at 10:04

    Melissa, thanks for the thoughts. Yes, it is sobering.

    I read that book, and really enjoyed it. Would you recommed another one by V.S. Ramachandran?

  3. [...] My favorite section of the sharpbrains blog is the brain exercises section. This section, which is updated with a new brain puzzles every few days, has you shuffle around different parts of your brain - sometime doing estimates and calculations, sometimes interesting word exercises, and my favorite is that Alvaro puts up many visual puzzles, such as the penny question, the Stroop test, and the classic old-lady/young-lady (see the post for an explanation of the below image): [...]

  4. freaky brown eyeson 23 Jan 2007 at 1:26

    Try circling your foot in a clockwise motion and drawing a six in the air with your finger. its impossible!

  5. [...] 10. What do you see? can you alternate between 2 views?. [...]

  6. JANICEon 26 Dec 2007 at 2:34

    hi. i really enjoy being here... learn a lot and am gonna share this to my friends!

  7. Alvaroon 27 Dec 2007 at 8:45

    Janice, thank you for the kind words :-)

  8. yahobahneon 20 Jan 2008 at 8:37

    an old lady with black hair, big nose, a hat and a black coat

  9. yahobahneon 20 Jan 2008 at 8:41

    the second picture inside the box is a young lady with her head turned to the left

  10. tracylynnon 21 Jan 2008 at 8:28

    I can only see the younger lady & not the old. I have tried to see the older & can not. Does this mean my brain is responding to the image differently than most.? I assumed from the message with the photo I should see the older lady & the younger would be more difficult. These are awesome! Thankyou.

  11. colyon 03 Mar 2008 at 11:55

    Tracy:
    The mandible of the young lady becomes the big nose of the old woman looking down, the necklace of the young is the mouth of the old and the hair of the young is the bushy bangs of the old. See it now?

  12. breanna mooreon 03 Jun 2008 at 5:30

    i c a prety lady and a old lady

  13. Mike Loganon 03 Jul 2008 at 5:50

    I use a necker cube in my Anger Management workshops for court ordered folks, and I ask if you see box a (the older lady, for example) and I see box b (the younger lady) who is right? Surprisingly enough, a large number of my clients get it that both perceptions are accurate. Gently borrowed From the book Visual Intelligence.

  14. Theofanison 04 Jul 2008 at 3:33

    I can see one young woman looking the screen and i can see one old lady looking on the left side of he screen. It's very good

  15. Erikaon 15 Jul 2008 at 7:47

    It's really hard for me to focus on the old woman. I keep switching back to the young woman. Every time I get the old woman back in focus, my mind just switches back to the young one.

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