Are You Detective Material? Practice Your Visual Intelligence | Amy Herman | Big Think

Are You Detective Material? Practice Your Visual Intelligence |
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Are you detective material? This visual intelligence test will make you think twice about accuracy and just how much details matter.Amy Herman’s visual intelligence tests and exercises are best done with a friend, because every time they unveil something about perspective that you didn’t expect. Herman created and teaches a course called The Art of Perception to doctors, intelligence analysts and the NYPD, and while her lessons are entertaining for individuals looking to have their minds blown, they are immensely relevant for businesses and even more so for criminal investigations.

Here she uses one of Rene Magritte’s artworks to demonstrate the dangers of assumptions – both in observations, but also in communicating those observations. Her example from a real criminal investigation in Texas will spark an awareness of the different ways people see identical objects and our varying understandings of exactly the same words. Fine-tuning our visual intelligence makes us more careful, considered, and accurate – something so important when lives and money are at stake.

Amy Herman is the author of Visual Intelligence:Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life.
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AMY HERMAN :

Amy E. Herman, JD, MA, designed, developed and conducts all sessions of The Art of Perception. While working as Head of Education at The Frick Collection, she instituted the program for medical students to improve their observation skills. After expanding the medical program to seven medical schools in New York, Ms. Herman adapted the program for law enforcement professionals across a wide range of agencies including the New York City Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice and the Secret Service. Ms. Herman holds a BA in International Affairs from Lafayette College, a JD from the National Law Center, George Washington University, and an MA in Art History from Hunter College.
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TRANSCRIPT:

Amy Herman: This is an interesting painting and I want you to just take a look at it for a few seconds before we talk about it. I've looked at this painting a thousand times. I use it in my classes, I've seen it in art museums when it's been on view and there is so many subtleties. But one of the assumptions that I made, not as an art historian but just a viewer of art is that what I was looking at on the plate was a piece of meat like a piece of ham with and eye in the center. And when I first showed it at one of my classes I said okay who's going to tell me what they see and someone raised his hand and said that's a big old pancake on the plate. And I would have never considered that it was a pancake. Is it a material distinction? Maybe, maybe not. But he was so sure that it was a pancake and I was so sure that it was a piece of meat, while it might seem like a really subtle distinction it's not if you think about something like eyewitness testimony. Well, he was wearing a red sweater. No, he was wearing a blue sweater. That's a big difference.

And one of the things that reminded me of the Magritte painting there was a crime scene in Texas and they were speaking to a witness and they said what did he look like? What did the suspect look like? And the witness said he had a cowboy hat on. So everyone was looking, and in Texas lots of people wear ten-gallon hats. So they were looking for a suspect with a cowboy hat on. Well, it turns out the suspect was wearing a Dallas Cowboys cap. So the choice of words it wasn't a cowboy hat it was a Dallas Cowboys hat. The idea of a saying what you see and being sure about what you say that's how communication lines can get crossed. And another interesting thing about that Magritte painting that I found fascinating, one of the wonderful things about writing the book is people write to you. They read your book and they send you their own observations and I received an email from a woman who said has anyone ever told you when they look at that painting and describe it to you that the fork to the right of the plate is turned upside down and the tines are facing into the table. I had never noticed that. I had a look at the painting a thousand times. And again, material difference? No. Critical? No. Important? Yes. It's one of those details because if someone said to me describe the silverware in the painting I would've said you have a knife and a fork. And sometimes it's those very small details of the tines facing the table that can bring a whole case together or crack a case or be that one detail that brings all the other pieces together.

[Modenut]

If you look really closely you can see there is a wine bottle to the right of the glass.

[elvisitor]

As the good detective I am I did some research... (*lights cigarette*)... the painting is done by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte... (*takes a zip of the cigarette*)... This painting depicts an almost photo-realistic table setting with a slice of ham in the center... (*blows out the smoke*)

[redispink]

The painting, for some reason, made me think it meant "watch what you eat."

[Antoish]

I saw a pancake and an upside down fork.

[SennaAugustus]

Either way it looks like a really boring meal.

[renragged]

The upside down fork was the first thing I noticed. I also thought it was a pancake, but that said pancake looked a lot like meat as well. I missed my calling...

[cerata]

I actually saw the fork having inverted shading as well sugesting it was being seen by the back. I saw that the first time I saw it but I wondered if she would mention that or not. Or also the fact that while there is a shadow for both the glass and the drink. Neither shadow is the exact same shape as the items themselves. Which to me made me think there were not one but two lights above our view in this image. One directly above our head except slightly ahead of it in order to not cast our own shadow on it. And another light slightly to the left but still a good bit further ahead. I also wondered whether or not the plate was living due to the eye or not but I knew for sure it looked like a pancake at quickest glance. Also, when the gray background and the line between the supposed table meet. It makes me wonder whether or not we see these set on a table or on a floor pained tan, With gray walls. However, it went off screen too quickly for me to see if anything was off about the knife. Oh, and by the way I'm only 16. Do what you will with that knowledge. 😆
(Edit for correct English writing)
All that was after my first view of it in the Video after she said she used this painting to test whether or not they had "Visual intelligence?".

[antoniotorres]

I noticed that the wine shadow stops at an obvious point, until you look at the shadows on the knife, as if they were extended

[MikaHyx]

Oh my… The fork being turned was the first thing I noticed… And she didn’t see that even after looking at the painting a thousand times… I feel like I could be a detective someday 😂👌😌

[vopall]

Noticed the fork thing! Where's my cookie?
Short but sweet, thanks

[noahcrow]

Nobody noticed that the fork is on the wrong side of the table? If had be set properly it would be on the left because it's not that could mean the painter or the person eating is right handed more evidence supporting that is that the glass and the bottle are more on the right side once again suggesting that it's a right handed person. Also the reflections of light on the cutlery and the bottle. if the place is outside could lead to the time it was painted or the time the person was eating. It could be 9:00 am or 12:00 am or even 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The shadows are the other evidence to prove that the light source isn't from behind you or behind to left side/right side. However the shadows are long and dark which points more towards the morning time rather than a afternoon time.

[ekathe]

I noticed the upside down fork almost immediately, but honestly, the word "detective" in the title made me prone to watch for the slightest details.

[internisus]

I noticed the fork being overturned right away, and I also thought it was a pancake, although after watching the video I've come around to the idea that it's a slice of ham; the white around the outside looks like fat, and the edge looks thin and sudden like a slice rather than thick and rounded like a pancake would be. (It would also explain the bottle of wine, which would go better with meat than a pancake!) Very cool painting. I love Magritte's style, but I hadn't seen this one before.

[MindManiacMarcus]

I thought it was a non-distinct circular thing, I couldn't tell, and I definitely noted the fork tines facing down.

[ItsFate]

This was recommended to me and in that painting I was more focused on which way the fork was placed. Because it looks like it could go both ways.

[jibb]

The lighting is casted from the upper left, down to the right. However, the left brim of the cup doesn't shine correctly. The light should rap around to the RIGHT side of the brim, yet doesnt properly. The food on the plate is either a pancake or a piece of meat presumably. The fork is unnaturally set curved side up, instead of down. The reflection in the eye of the food, doesn't account from the present upper left hand light source in the reflection off the pupil. I picked up on these before she mentioned anything about the painting. So I am Sherlock Holmes right?

[UMosNyu]

I first thougth we are looking at soup. because the shadow of the plate seems to big for a flat plate.

[kratos_motivation_videos]

My observations, there is no cork in the wine bottle, but the bottle looks filled normally meaning this is a painting of a meal just before it was eaten, can't really tell if the meat is cooked or not but if it isn't the eye can represent the horror associated with it also the fork is flipped i don't really get it why, but it will make it easier for the person to lift it up and start the meal directly

[Xaeravoq]

i noticed that the fork was upside down in about 5 seconds. hard to believe she looked at this painting a thousand times and never noticed

[nickmagrick]

theres a line across the large bottle, where a paper sign would have been peeled off. It could be a table off the floor or a set on the floor up against the wall, or a table up against another material, but not to far because of the light source. The plates shadow has more depth than it should. The liquid inside the wine bottle is a solid dark color and reflects light at the top, but in the center theres a reflection on the right sight suggesting the light would be going through it, or a light source on the other side. The fork is casing an extra shadow on the knife even though its extension ends before it. Theres a strange feather like symbol marking the top of the bottle on the right side of the neck. Two parallel vertical lines in the small glass indicating another light source, but doesnt appear on other objects. (looking at it closer the big bottle has a second fainter shadow)
the small glass has a weird curve with less volume on the left side, but that could just be how he drew and not intentional.

It seems like a lot of things were thrown in here that were just barely off.

oh shit I just noticed theres like an aura type thing around the wine bottle. The light is slightly brighter around the whole thing.