Eli5: do we look different to ourselves in the mirror than to other people, or the same just flipped; how does the brain process faces in that regard?

Question

Eli5: do we look different to ourselves in the mirror than to other people, or the same just flipped; how does the brain process faces in that regard?

In: 5

Answer 1

Your appearance in a mirror is left-right flipped from how other people and cameras see you. That’s why you may feel like you look different in a camera image because it differs from a mirror image. The effects of the camera lens can also affect your facial features.

Luckily, most people’s faces are mostly left-right symmetric so the brain doesn’t need to process any more to identify a face.