Visual recognition is a thing that is applicable to many different types of complex images. The human brain has areas that specialize in recognizing specific categories such as faces or landscapes, but just about any type of scene or image can trigger the brain’s visual recognition hardware. I was just having a quick read of yesterday’s West, Wednesday May 11th 2011, and I looked at a colour photo of a model named Sarah Pauley modelling Maticevski on page 3 of the fashion feature bit, and something about her skirt and legs and feet looked very familiar to me. The image is very similar but not identical to the one at this link:
http://img814.imageshack.us/i/5812791n.jpg/
The difference was that the image in The West Australian newspaper had her right leg crossed over in front of her left leg, with her toe more pointed and her shoes less noticeable, making her right leg look like one long line right down to her red toenails, crossing in front of the rest of her body. Then I remembered what image it is that this fashion photo reminds me of. It is a very old painting from the Symbolist movement, a painting that has fascinated me for many years – The Apparition by Gustave Moreau:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freeparking/1526581181/
Am I a super-recognizer? 
