How far can attraction-caused misalignment account for the Morinaga misalignment effect?
When a line (the pointer) is collinear with a dot, the addition of a second line (the induction line) contiguous with the dot or near it may cause the pointer to appear to be collinear with a point further along or nearer to the induction line. The geometrical relations upon which this effect (which we call attraction-caused misalignment) depends, have been studied with the Obonai and Wundt-Loeb (Hotopf, 1981; Hotopf & Brown, 1988) figures. Drawing upon the studies of misalignment in the Morinaga figure carried out by Restle (1976), Day, Bellamy, and Norman (1983), and Day and Kasperczyk (1985), as well as upon two new experiments, we show that misalignment in the Morinaga figure is also attraction-caused misalignment, as previously defined. We conclude with a discussion of a number of theories that aim at accounting for attraction misalignment.
Hotopf
W H
WH
Department of Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
Brown
S
S
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003867:Depth Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D008297:Male; D009903:Optical Illusions; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics