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From: rob@amadeus.UUCP
Newsgroups: sci.misc
Subject: Re: quick question
Message-ID: <3033@zeus.TEK.COM>
Date: 24 Jan 88 08:07:09 GMT
References: <760@aucs.UUCP> <1170@petsd.UUCP>
Sender: news@zeus.TEK.COM
Reply-To: rob@amadeus.UUCP (Dan Tilque)
Distribution: na
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.
Lines: 24
Posted: Sun Jan 24 03:07:09 1988

C. J. Henrich writes:
>In article <760@aucs.UUCP> 820785gm@aucs.UUCP writes:
>>
>>	So just why DOES a mirror reverse left and right, but not up and down?
>Here's an explanation I find satisfying; I read it in some fairly
>level-headed magazine.
>
>The mirror, by itself, reverses front-to-back.  Our sense of vision,
>seeing the result, mentally applies a rotation to the mirror image.
>(Why? I suppose, to get it as close as possible to one's "body
>image.")  The axis chosen is from head to feet, in most
>circumstances.

Not quite true.  Mirrors do reverse front-to-back.  But we interpret our
body image as if we were meeting someone else.  Thus we expect our image's
right hand to be on the left.  Since it's on the right (where it should
be but not expected) we think that it's reversed left-to-right.


---
Dan Tilque

This is a borrowed account, so be sure to indicate that replies are for me 
and not for Rob.