Mirror Reflections: Unraveling the Mysteries of Self-Perception
Mirrors have long been associated with superstitions and folklore. Once a blurry pool of water or distorted image in polished obsidian and polished copper, the mirror evolved to create a perfect, undistorted reflection of our image. Mirrors are mysterious natural and man-made creations. To see oneself reflected back upon one’s own eyes for the first time must be quite a marvel, as in modern times, we form long before consciousness.
I cannot remember the first time I saw my own reflection. I remember showing my baby his reflection at about 6 months of age. He recognized me in the mirror but stared for minutes at this little being sitting on my lap. He would look up to affirm that I was holding him and look around, perhaps trying to identify the other things in the reflected space; as seconds passed, he soon reached for his reflection. At first, he thought it was another baby doing the same as him. In time, he realized it was his own reflection, and the mirror became an opportunity for self-study.
But when does self-study in a mirror become something else?
Have you ever walked past a mirror and not recognized yourself? Or perhaps you have seen your mother or father in the mirror in place of you? You may have seen something like a shadow in the background?
In 2014, a study titled Visual Perception during Mirror-Gazing at One’s Own Face in Patients with Depression discovered a strange phenomenon. The study sought to examine the behaviors of depressives toward their own reflection. What they found was those non-depressives, or, as the researchers defined, “normal observers,” reported more strange-face illusions or apparitional experiences than the depressive.
In a study set-up, under controlled laboratory conditions, 50 healthy young adults, after about one minute of mirror-gazing, began to perceive strange-face apparitions. These included huge deformations of one’s own face (reported by 66% of individuals), a monstrous face (48%), an unknown person (28%), an archetypal face (28%), a face of a parent or relative (18%), and an animal face (18%). (Caputo et al., 2014)
However, depressive observers reported a much lower percentage of distortions. It is thought that because depression creates an immobility in facial expression, the depressive observer is taking in its reflection like a “statue of death” (Caputo et al., 2014).
Since our faces convey essential information, such as identity, age, sex, eye gaze, and emotional expression, which are necessary for social communication and interpersonal interaction. Face-to-face interactions are reciprocally intertwined between two people. It is how we recognize emotional states and expressions; it is how we imitate and synchronize to create relationships (Caputo et al., 2014).
Mirror-gazing at one’s own face is similar to an interpersonal encounter with itself. In the case of mirror-gazing, the subject’s facial expressions are reflected in the mirror and then perceived and recognized by the subject itself.
This dynamic self-reflection can produce, within the subject, recognition-expression or perception-action loops. Hence, mirror-gazing can involve, within the subject, mimicry, synchronization, emotional connectedness, and so forth, all implicated during face-to-face interactions (Caputo et al., 2014).
Thus, the distortions one often sees after prolonged gazing can be associated with the ego’s self-image, self-knowing, and even self-loathing.
Like Narcissus, one can gaze too long upon one’s reflection. Mirrors are tools, tools of self-discovery but also tools of self-destruction. They can reflect body awareness or hinder body image. They can reflect beauty or highlight our perceived faults. They can illuminate our inner awareness or darken our self-knowledge with deception.
How we choose to use our mirror is a matter of choice. But if you gaze upon your reflection for minutes on end, do not be misguided by what is reflected; it may be far from the truth or the truth itself.
Reference
Caputo GB, Bortolomasi M, Ferrucci R, Giacopuzzi M, Priori A, Zago S. Visual perception during mirror-gazing at one’s own face in patients with depression. ScientificWorldJournal. 2014;2014:946851. doi: 10.1155/2014/946851. Epub 2014 Nov 20. PMID: 25506077; PMCID: PMC4258311.