title: The Mona Lisa effect: is 'our' Lisa fame or fake?
abstract: This demonstration uses one of the most famous human faces, the portrait of Mona Lisa, La Gioconda, by Leonardo da Vinci. Usually, we have a very accurate and stable representation of the exact configuration of such a familiar face. Typically, we are able to rapidly recognise even subtle configural changes. However, here we show that an exposure to specific alterations performed on a familiar face substantially reduces this ability even over a time period as long as 80 min. This demonstration illustrates the flexibility of the perceptual system and adaptation to new information.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, Department of Psychological Basic Research, University of Vienna, Austria. ccc@experimental-psychology.com
authors.forename: Claus-Christian
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Carbon
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leder
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors