The moon illusion: a different view through the legs.
The fact that the overestimation of the horizon moon is reduced when individuals bend over and view it through their legs has been used as support for theories of the moon illusion based upon angle of regard and vestibular inputs. Inversion of the visual scene, however, can also reduce the salience of depth cue, so illusion reduction might be consistent with size constancy explanations. A sample of 70 subjects viewed normal and inverted pictorial arrays. The moon illusion was reduced in the inverted arrays, suggesting that the "through the legs" reduction of the moon illusion may reflect the alteration in perceived depth associated with scene inversion rather than angle of regard or vestibular effects.
Coren
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Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
D003463:Cues; D003867:Depth Perception; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D016081:Moon; D011187:Posture; D012858:Size Perception