Why does a mirror only flip left and right but not high and low? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by Zachariah@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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edit: Thank you to all who answered! I’m amazed at how many ways you came up with to answer this.

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[-] Kongar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 54 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

That’s the neat part - it doesn’t flip either. It’s your mind playing tricks on you.

Left and right, and the act of turning around are so common to you - that when you look at your reflection in the mirror, your brain expects that image to have turned around 180 degrees either left or right. Since that didn’t happen you think it’s “flipped”. But it’s not - your EXPECTATION is that it should be flipped.

Here’s another way to think about it. If it was common for us as humans to turn around by doing a handstand to look backwards - then you’d be complaining “why do mirrors flip up and down but not left and right?” But because that’s ridiculous and we don’t do that - you have no expectations that your mirror image should be standing on its head.

Trippy right? :)

this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024

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