Science Wire from the Exploratorium and Public Radio International

Mona Lisa

For nearly 500 years, people have stared at "the lady with the mystic smile"...and been baffled by it...especially by the smile's apparent tendency to fade, even disappear, and then return. Now, Harvard neuroscientist Margaret Livingstone claims to have solved the Mona mystery.

| REPORTS |
Hear Rebecca Roberts' report
(11/29/2000)

Read more about it from the San Francisco Chronicle

Prof. Livingstone researches how humans process visual information. Find out more about her work and read her explanation of the Mona Lisa effect.

Peripheral vision is the key to explaining how we see Mona's smile. Test your own peripherals, and see for yourself just how the world looks on the edges of your vision.