Illusions

Named static illusions with competing explanations side by side and stimulus figures drawn from the principle; effect strength comes from experiments.

3 entries so far

Illustration

Müller-Lyer Illusion: Nine Newly Sighted Children Saw It Too

Illusions

Equal lines, one usually judged longer: nine children responded to the Müller-Lyer illusion within 48 hours of gaining sight, as did blind people by touch.

Image credit

Illustration: Tricks of Ear and Eye. Generated schematic image — not a photograph, specimen record or perceptual simulation. Reuse permitted with this credit line; provided as is.

Vermeer's The Love Letter: a seated woman holds a letter, a maid beside her, seen through a doorway over a tiled floor

Checker-Shadow Illusion: Two Squares, One Gray Value

Illusions

Squares 1 and 2 in this checker-shadow figure, drawn here from the principle, store the same gray level. Four competing accounts of why one can look lighter.

Image credit

"The Love Letter" by Johannes Vermeer — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Love_Letter_-_Johannes_Vermeer.png — Public domain (Johannes Vermeer died 1675; public domain in the US (published before 1931) and in the EU (author died more than 70 years ago); PD-Art faithful reproduction by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-A-1595))

Illustration

Kanizsa Triangle: In Scans, Activity Rose on Missing Edges

Illusions

Three notched disks, no lines. In a 1984 abstract, monkey area 18 cells responded to illusory contours; 2021 fMRI of 16 adults found activity rising along them.

Image credit

Illustration: Tricks of Ear and Eye. Generated schematic image — not a photograph, specimen record or perceptual simulation. Reuse permitted with this credit line; provided as is.