Mercedes Gaffron, born in Lima, Perù, in 1903, later emigrated to Germany and then to the United States, is a somewhat obscure yet crucial figure in 20th-century psychology studies. An expert in art, she is primarily remembered for her essay “Die Radierungen Rembrandts. Originale und Drucke. Studien über Inhalt und Komposition” in which she demonstrates that Rembrandt’s etchings reveal their true meaning only when we see them as the artist drew them on the plate, and not in the inverted prints, to which we are accustomed.

During her time at Duke University, she crossed paths with Karl Zener, and together, in 1962, they co-authored an article titled “Perceptual experience: An analysis of its relations to the external world through internal processings“. This article is fundamental for understanding the workings of the human mind and the potential use of corridors.

Mercedes Gaffron died in 1993.