Why does a mirror image look left-right reversed? A hypothesis of multiple processes

Journal/Book: Psychonomic Bull Rev. 1998; 5: 1710 Fortview Rd, Austin, TX 78704. Psychonomic Soc Inc. 37-55.

Abstract: This paper proposes a solution to the mirror reversal problem: Why does a mirror reverse left and right but not up and down? The paper first reviews past hypotheses and shows that none of them has succeeded in explaining all the related phenomena It then proposes a multiprocess hypothesis based on the insight that what is called a mirror reversal is actually composed of three different types of reversal: The Type I reversal is produced by the discrepancy between an orientational framework that is aligned with a viewer's body and the one that is assumed in the viewer's mirror image; the Trpe II reversal is produced by the discrepancy between the mental representation of an object and its mirror image; and the Type III reversal is produced by a mirror's optical transformation. The proposed hypothesis is shown to provide reasonable accounts for all the related phenomena disputed in the past literature.

Note: Article Takano Y, Univ Tokyo, Grad Sch Humanities & Sociol, Dept Psychol, Bunkyo Ku, Tokyo 1130033, JAPAN

Keyword(s): MENTAL ROTATION; PERCEPTION; RECOGNITION; ORIENTATION; DIRECTION; OBJECTS; MAPS

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