Mystify Your Mind With Mirror Writing

Here's what it says:

"This is a sample of my mirror writing. Can you read it? I love to write like this in front of people because it totally freaks them out! They usually have a hard time reading it too, which makes it fun for games or treasure hunts! As you can see, it's not about simply reversing the order of the letters, but about actually constructing the letters backwards so that they're mirror images! I love it! It's so much fun!"

So, yes, this is my own mirror writing. I've been able to do it for years, but I thought that everyone could. I did it in front of a few people though, and realized that it's actually quite rare. It's also really amazing to people. They watch in shock that I can write backwards, and that I can do it fairly quickly.

There's a picture below of the same text, but a bit closer up (you can't see the whole thing) so it's easier to see.

Well, it's definitely not what's depicted in the illustration! It's not writing on a mirror!

But seriously, although we know what mirror writing is, no one is completely sure why it occurs, or how.

According to the leading researcher, Dr. Iain Mathewson, "Mirror writing is the ability to write from right to left, reversing each letter so that when held to a mirror the script appears normal. There is no information on the prevalence of this trait but a suggestion was received that it may be hereditary. A newspaper survey was carried out to discover the approximate prevalence and whether a hereditary factor is involved. The results indicated a prevalence of 1 in 6500. There is strong evidence that the trait is hereditary and is associated with non-right-handedness'. It is hypothesised that mirror writers may comprise a very small group of people who not only have bilateral language centres but also have an interconnecting pathway between these centres via the corpus callosum. The surprising genetic nature of a trait with no obvious evolutionary consequences is discussed. The data can best be explained on the basis of the trait being the phenotypic expression of an X-linked dominant gene, which does have evolutionary consequences. Similarities are noted between the proposed genetics of mirror writing and those of synaesthesia and of a few pathological X-linked dominant syndromes such as Rett syndrome. Other similarities and contrasts between mirror writing and synaesthesia are noted."

His summary statement is, "Mirror writing ability is genetic and probably transmitted as a sex-linked dominant trait: it is hypothesised that mirror writers have bilateral language centres with a callosal interconnection."

Photo Credit: lidiona on Photobucket.