Before you post. please, be truethfull. the pic isnt all that clear. nearly everyone will think they are inside, and its either a picture or a window. now, unless your life is always outside because thats where you live. please, post that you saw what the pic is. or if you have already seen the picture and learned what it was. but its pitifull for people to lie so they can “seem” smart or something to other they dont even know. i personally saw them inside a house, or on an inclosed porch. thinking the square shape is a picture.

By No one on Feb 21, 2008

that dog looks like a kangaroo

By mike on Feb 21, 2008

i see dead people.

damn.

By TzG on Feb 25, 2008

Betcha lots of folks don’t even know what a Corvette is, never mind worship one!

By Uncle B on Nov 26, 2008

The rectangle over the woman’s head does not look like it is something balanced on her head. If it were balanced on top of her head, the woman’s hair would be compressed under it.

The corner of the room simply looks like a corner of a less than good dwelling that might have a leak, resulting in some staining. You would really have to strain to imagine that it is a tree.

The fact that all of the people in the drawing are barefoot indicates that it is in some part of the world where it is quite warm, & the fact that most of the people are sitting on the floor indicate that it is a less affluent part of the world = possibly somewhere in the third world. However, it must be a family group or else (in a third world country) it would be rare for men & women to be sitting together. It would also be rare, in a third world setting, for the people to have a pet with them. It is, over-all, an ambiguous drawing.

By Linda Hottel on Nov 29, 2008

I see a mediocre, maybe intentionally ambiguous drawing. If it were better executed and better composed there would be no question. It’s a trap, in a sense. ;)

By Isa on Nov 30, 2008

I see a very poor drawing. Certainly the artist was attempting to make the scene appear in two ways, thus the overworked “corner” and the picture frame connecting with the woman’s head. The children are drawn so badly that the smaller one looks like a little man. In a drawing where everything is poorly rendered and deliberately vague it is hard to concentrate on anything other than how it could have been drawn better.

By PW on Nov 30, 2008

This drawing is a great example of how cultural experience can affect perception. While a cue such as the woman’s hair not being compressed under the weight on her head might be obvious to someone used to seeing people indoors and looking out windows; to a person who sees women carrying heavy items on their heads many times a day, the idea of “thing over head = item being carried on head” may be overpowering. Seeing the expected, an item on a woman’s head, makes the small visual inconsistency,a fluffy fro, invisible.

By Phil Cantor on Nov 30, 2008

Of course it is drawn ambiguously.. that’s totally the point.
You guys are stupid.

By uhhh on Dec 1, 2008

What I notice, is that the thing on the lady’s head cannot be a box or anything but a window (including a picture frame) because the perspective would look completely different. I agree that these are warm climate people and that their housing is substandard. I do not agree that the drawing is poorly done. It only looks like one thing to me.

By Heather on Dec 2, 2008

That chick with the can on her head is eyeing up that dude in the chair. Bet she hates him. Id hate him too if Id been walking around all day with a can on my head, for him to grab the last chair. What a douche.

By Mr Meeegageee on Dec 3, 2008

the guy sitting on the chair has no toes! so is this picture also implying pre-evolution ahha

By hehe on Dec 7, 2008

I don’t believe this study. The window can not be a box or a picture. You can clearly see the depth of the wall on the inside surface of the window, plus a box wouldn’t be sitting on her head without pressing her hair down. The tree thing is plausible though.

By Andrew on Dec 14, 2008

I think the Africans just hadn’t been exposed to enough pictures. It wasn’t because they lived outside a lot.

By Andrew on Dec 14, 2008

Well, at first I saw them sitting inside. On further inspection I saw the corner as a tree, but i also see how, at a quick glance the window can look like a box of some kind. Truthfully it would be impossible for the window to be a box, it appears as an opening, not a box, it even has depth, the angles of the corners of the box point toward a window, and in no way a box or picture.
however i will give credence to the study. If you had never really seen a window, then it would appear to be a box or picture; however, if its a picture how could it be outside?

By Lennon on Jan 17, 2009

the family indoors and the woman’s head is a window…I come from Asia.Haha

By Naoleiying on Mar 22, 2009

I’m pretty sure there would be no disagreement if the image in question was a photograph with reasonable resolution. That said, I initially saw the drawing as an indoor scene, as expected of me.

By Mike on Mar 24, 2009

OK, I am going to confess! I loooked before I had centered the whole picture. I see a waterfall! And being shoeless could mean it is a location where people do not wear their shoes indoors. I see a people who are extended family listening to an elderly wise man speak. H is the only one with a chair. Am almost afraid of any oncoming comments.

By peg on Mar 24, 2009

Suck my dick hole!

By dr.seuss on Mar 28, 2009

wow, even scientists are getting stupider these days, or maybe they just have trouble thinking outside the box. the reason people in america don’t see a woman balancing something on her head is because that’s not a common image in america, and in east africa they don’t have lame decorations or plants in their walls.

By richard bernstein on Apr 8, 2009

first

By wanker on Apr 10, 2009

So, I checked out your website, you pretty much copied and pasted. The website itself didn’t cite any sources either. So I’m pretty much coming to the conclusion that this thing just isn’t real. All in all this seems like random conjecture without any real evidence.

To the guy saying it’s pro-evolution, you’re ignorance is overwhelming, losing toes have nothing to do with evolution.

And lastly, is your shift key broken?

By Well on Apr 11, 2009

When I first looked at it I was confused. I did see the square as a window, but I seen the tree as well. I can see the box. I can’t see the corner though.
What does it mean if you can see a bit of both, like I do?

By Bordom on Apr 11, 2009

Photoshopped!

By Rwar on Apr 14, 2009

i can see what you are saying that, depending on the surrounding culture, you can see different things but common sense points to the fact that that is a window due to the perspective. if it were a box then it’d be inverted and would make no sense

By MIke on Apr 17, 2009

OMG! I read Linda Hottel’s post and I had to re-read the part that says “However, it must be a family group or else (in a third world country) it would be rare for men & women to be sitting together.”

WHAT ARE WE TO YOU? OMG… I was borned and raised in the rural side of Costa Rica which is a 3rd world country (still live here, yes we have PCs, yes we use clothes, yes I I was raised between cows and horses and chicken but i know how to use the internet lol ) and I cant make any sense out of that, how come because we are from a 3rd world country only families sit toguether on man/woman mixed groups? Get your facts straight, i dont see why wouldnt we mix even on the poorest areas. I mean we are still human LOL

By Adriana on Apr 20, 2009

ya fuck you linda hottel

By richard bernstein on Apr 27, 2009

people don’t have pets in a third world country?? what you think that’s something unique to our society, fuck noting pisses me off more than a dumb know it all bitch

By richard bernstein on Apr 27, 2009

Learn to spell you foolish man. Since instead of sense makes no sense you stinky poop dad.

By Ben Cossum on May 8, 2009

Ok if this was meant for people living out in the desert why is the guy on a chair? If it was meant for people in the civilized world, what is the woman with the thing above her head sitting on? And why is everyone sitting around like that? They in a cult or something? The truth is that thing in the background is the alien mothership, and the woman is sitting on a cerebral upload unit. The glyph above her head is allowing the other cult members to know she has arrived aboard the mothership safely.

By mixmaster on Sep 6, 2009

Well, to be honest that picture amazed me.
Whatever you said.. it was true and If you really want to know what I saw, well I saw a room with people. And I`m still seeing that.

I don`t know if this is because I`m so familiar with architecture design or not, but I definitely see a room.

I can`t figure how that`s a woman keeping an object on her head.

Anyway, as you said..
“The influence of culture and environment can have an effect on our visual perception”.

True…
Best Regards,
The admin from ExtremeGamers.info

By ExtremeGamers.Info on Sep 12, 2009

silly people, open your minds a bit.
thinking it must be a warm part of the world because people are barefoot? hey, i live in sweden - and expecting snow any day now - and i’m always barefoot when in the house. wearing shoes indoors all day is dirty, bad for the floors and furniture and not very healthy for your feet. smart people know that.
second; why do they have to be poor and primitive just because they’re sitting on the floor? some people find it comfy. besides, assume the host of this gettogether is single and living in an apartment suited for one person. why on earth would he/she have a whole bunch of chairs around the room?

not everything is as black and white as you want it to be.

By carrotcake on Oct 1, 2009

I can kinda see it, but as an artist, why would you draw just part of a tree? Chances are you’re working on a large enough canvas to draw the whole tree, as the given detail clearly makes it not a palm tree, and even still, the given detail would require additional detail for palm leaves. If the canvas was not large enough, you’d probably realize that painting part of a tree is odd, and just omit it from your painting.
As for a box? a box with no front? What good would that do someone walking around? The stuff would drop out of it. Either the people in Africa would premise it with thats the strangest looking box someone would carry on their head, or ask if it had a removable front, and odd decoration on the inside since looking at it in that perspective makes it look totally 2-D. It no longer looks like it could be grass outside because of the frame of reference, the very same thing you are claiming makes the drawing be interpreted differently.
I imagine there might be a drawing that really could evoke such frame of reference changes, for example, make the “window” a more artistic shape. Many people in western civilization are quite used to odd shaped windows and would take it for granted. Don’t draw grass outside the window, it ruins the effect for the jar on the womans head. The “tree” could easily have more detail at the top and still look like a corner, or a tree. I think that about covers it. Nice try, and I am open minded, your picture isn’t.

By someone else on Nov 18, 2009

People didn’t see both? After reading the 1st paragraph - “What you see will largely depend on where you live in the world”, I was looking for multiple interpretations of the drawing. Both the tree/wall and window/box on the head popped into my thoughs immediately. Is that really so strange to see both? I think not… as the text indicates to look for it.

By Overthought on Nov 30, 2009

This test is flawed. I’ll prove it is a window, not a tree.

1. The woman’s hair is not matted down. If that were a box, it would be resting on her skull, not merely floating on thin hair (pun intended).

2. Look at the top left corner of the box. See how the left border reaches all the way to the top? The rest must be recessed, and therefore a box.

There is no way to misconstrue the window as a box upon examination, which would therefore lead you to assume that the lines behind them are a corner, not some poorly-drawn tree.

By Absolutely not on Dec 7, 2009

This picture gave Me The Horn

By tossa on Dec 16, 2009

Well, that dude is wearing short shorts… so. Case closed.

By Bris Guys on Jan 4, 2010

Wow, that animal looks like a kangaroo..and I though the thing in the corner was a tree, but I though that the thing in the window was a spirit/ghost and that the “people” in the picture were simply mere allusion of what we think we will look like as angels….. just so you know..I’m from Finland but a couple of years ago moved to America…if that helps explain why I saw what I saw..???

By Soul on Feb 6, 2010

Not confusing at all. A box has is multi dimensional from all angels..this is a hole in the wall with shrubbery in the background. They are in a house..a tree does not have tiny branches suddenly growing from the trunk..so no illusion..just a bullshit illusion

By tman on Feb 20, 2010

you are all wrong—– it’s an old drawing out of a 5th grade (1970’s)geography book in a section describing primitive culture in comparison to todays life styles.
how it wound up here is anybody’s guess (no, it wasn’t preconceived for the reasons stated on this site).

By you-are-all-insane on Feb 20, 2010

Well kids, lets throw a whole ‘nother level on the fire: if the idea was to extrapolate different cultural perecptive possibilities, why not perceive the animal as dinner? Although I did enjoy seeing the Lesbian couple and their kids chatting with the gay male couple…how refreshing. -smirk-

By Papa Bear on Feb 21, 2010

This drawing is ambiguous, merely a poor attempt at demonstrating a cognitive issue.

I live in a small country in Africa and people here have common sense. Everyone will see the box as a window, cause no one sits and relaxes wit a box on their head.

By nish on Feb 25, 2010

It made little sense to me!! but yes… dog looks like a kangaroo to me as well :)

By kamal thakur on Mar 12, 2010

Poor attempt at illustrating that different people have different perceptions. If you can see “the tree” or believe that there is a box or basket hovering over the one woman’s head then what you have proven is that you are easily led by knaves to a conclusion,that defies all evidence.

By J Dog on Jun 10, 2010