You’ve seen it. Honestly, everyone has. It’s that grainy, black-and-white sketch where you’re either looking at a glamorous lady with a feather in her hat or a hunched-over grandmother with a very large nose. It’s the picture of young woman and old woman, and it’s probably the most famous optical illusion in history.
But why do we care?
Because your brain is literally lying to you.
It’s called "My Wife and My Mother-in-Law." It didn’t start on a Reddit thread or a TikTok challenge. This thing has been around since at least 1888, appearing on a German postcard before a British cartoonist named W.E. Hill made it a sensation in 1915. He titled it "My Wife and My Mother-in-Law. They are both in this picture — find them."
It’s weird. You can’t see both at the same time. You just can’t. Your neurons flip a switch, and suddenly the "necklace" of the young woman becomes the "mouth" of the old woman. The "ear" of the girl becomes the "eye" of the grandmother. It’s a total cognitive tug-of-war.
The Science of Why You See What You See
Psychologists love this image. They’ve been poking at it for over a century. A pretty famous study back in 2018 from Flinders University in Australia actually suggested that your age might dictate which woman you see first. They looked at 393 participants. The younger crowd? They tended to see the young woman first. The older folks? They saw the grandmother.
It’s about "own-age bias." Basically, our brains are wired to recognize faces that look more like us or the people we spend time with. If you’re 20, your brain is primed for "young woman." If you’re 70, you’re tuned into different facial cues. It’s not a hard rule, but it’s a fascinating look at how our social environment builds our visual filters.
But there’s more to it than just age.
The picture of young woman and old woman is a "bistable" perception. Think of it like a light switch that’s halfway between on and off. Your brain hates ambiguity. It wants to solve the puzzle. So, it picks a "winner" and presents it to your conscious mind as the absolute truth. When you finally see the other one, it’s like a physical pop in your head.
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Breaking Down the Anatomy of the Illusion
Let’s get technical for a second, but not too boring.
To see the young woman, you have to look at the tiny ear and the chin line. She’s looking away from you, over her right shoulder. Her necklace is a thin black line around her throat.
To find the old woman, you have to realize that the "chin" you were looking at is actually a massive nose. The "ear" is an eye. The "necklace" is a mouth.
It’s a masterclass in "Gestalt psychology." This is the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts. If you focus too hard on one line, you lose the face. You have to let your eyes go a bit soft to see the transition.
Why This Specific Image Went Viral Before the Internet
W.E. Hill was a genius. He didn’t just draw a picture; he drew a psychological trap. In 1915, the world was messy. People were looking for distractions. When this appeared in Puck magazine, it spread through word of mouth. It was the "The Dress" (blue and black or white and gold?) of the early 20th century.
What’s crazy is that the illusion works across cultures. It’s not just a Western thing. While some nuances might change based on what kind of clothing people are used to seeing, the core mechanics of the facial features remain a universal brain-teaser.
People used to write letters about this. They’d argue at dinner tables. "How can you not see the old lady? She’s right there!" It’s the exact same energy as a heated Twitter thread today. We haven't changed that much.
The Role of Top-Down Processing
Most people think vision works from the eye to the brain. Light hits the retina, signals go up, and the brain says, "That’s a dog."
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Wrong.
A lot of vision is "top-down." Your brain has expectations. It has memories. It has a library of faces. When you look at the picture of young woman and old woman, your brain is actually making a guess before the data even finishes loading. If you were just looking at photos of fashion models, you’re almost guaranteed to see the young woman. If you were just visiting your grandma, the old woman will jump out.
Your past experiences are literally tinting your vision.
It’s Not Just One Drawing
While the Hill version is the GOAT, there are others. You’ve got the "Rubin Vase," where you see either a vase or two faces looking at each other. You’ve got the "Necker Cube," that wireframe box that seems to flip inside out.
But the picture of young woman and old woman hits differently because it’s human. We are social animals. We are obsessed with faces. We have a specific part of the brain—the fusiform face area (FFA)—dedicated specifically to this. This illusion hijacks that very specific hardware.
How to Train Your Brain to Flip the Switch
If you’re stuck seeing only one, don't worry. You aren't "broken." Some people have more "cognitive flexibility" than others, but you can learn to see the flip.
Try this:
- Cover the left side of the image entirely.
- Focus only on the "nose" of the old woman.
- Imagine that nose is actually the cheek and jaw of a young girl.
- Slowly uncover the rest.
Conversely, if you can only see the girl, look at her ear. Tell yourself, "That is an eye." Stare at it until it stops being an ear. The moment it becomes an eye, the rest of the old woman’s face will rush into view.
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It’s a weirdly satisfying feeling. It’s a tiny hit of dopamine when the "other" image finally clicks.
Beyond the Illusion: What This Teaches Us About Real Life
The picture of young woman and old woman isn't just a party trick. It’s a reminder that two people can look at the exact same thing—a political candidate, a movie, a work project—and see two completely different realities. And both are "right" based on the data their brain is processing.
It’s a lesson in empathy, honestly.
If your brain can be so easily fooled by a few charcoal lines on a piece of paper, imagine how much it’s distorting in the real world. We see what we expect to see. We see what we’re trained to see.
Actionable Insights for Your Brain
Stop taking your first impressions so seriously. Your brain is a "prediction machine," not a video camera. It’s skipping steps and filling in blanks to save energy.
If you want to get better at seeing "the other side" of things—whether it's an optical illusion or a complex life problem—you have to consciously break your own patterns.
- Change your perspective physically. Literally tilt your head or move back from the screen.
- Isolate the parts. Stop looking at the whole "face" and look at the individual lines.
- Label the features. Verbally say, "This is a nose," or "This is a chin." Forcing your brain to use the language center can sometimes override the visual center.
The next time someone shows you the picture of young woman and old woman, or any viral illusion, don't just find the hidden faces. Think about the fact that your brain is making a choice without asking your permission. That’s the real mystery.
Check out the original W.E. Hill sketch in a high-resolution archive if you can. The subtle shading he used is actually designed to confuse your depth perception. It’s a masterpiece of psychological engineering. Explore other bistable images like the "All is Vanity" drawing by Charles Allan Gilbert, which flips between a woman at a vanity and a giant skull. It uses the same principles of shared contours and it's equally haunting. Understanding these visual shortcuts doesn't just make you better at puzzles; it makes you a more critical thinker about how you perceive the world every single day.