Now I don’t need an intelligent mirror to tell me that I’m not, in fact, the fairest of them all at seven in the morning, but there are some more interesting uses. Intelligent mirrors, including camera, processor, and display, are currently being developed as health monitors and coaches for in the bathroom, and serve as stylists in the dressing room. In 2005, Accenture introduced the ‘persuasive mirror’ concept, for example. Based on behavioral analysis (think of sleep, physical activity, diet et cetera) the mirror creates a digital extrapolation of someone’s appearance onto the looking-glass. A smoker? You’ll see your reflection turning ashen and weary in twenty virtual years’ time.

Despite the fact we don’t always appreciate what our reflections show us -be they extrapolations of the future or not- we are attached to them. Like Narcissus, one of Greek mythology’s tragic figures, we all have a subconscious, but strong preference for people who are like us in appearance and/or behavior. Research by Jeremy Bailenson of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab showed that when swing voters in the US were presented with a political candidate that had been morphed with a picture of that specific voter, their vote would swing to the candidate resembling them, rather than to the candidate that hadn’t been morphed. Another study from the same lab proved that when a virtual character mimics your head movements (with a slight delay), test subjects were likely to classify that character as nicer, more competent and more convincing.

Since education at TU/e is benefiting from ICT implementations more and more, my students will soon be treated to a virtual edition of their teacher - one who seems nicer, more competent and more convincing than ever. And the fountain of youth morphing me with a twenty-year-old student probably won’t hurt, either. Oh, mirror, mirror…

Wijnand IJsselsteijn is professor of Cognition and Affect in Human Technology Interaction.