Distortions of perceived length in the frontoparallel plane: tests of perspective theories.
The perceived length of a line segment in a frontoparallel plane is sometimes affected by the presence of other line segments in the visual field. Perspective theories attribute such interactions to size-constancy scaling: The configuration of line segments present in the visual field includes depth cues that trigger size scaling of each line segment. In three experiments, we test this claim for a range of simple configurations composed of two line segments joined at a point. These configurations include the inverted T configuration of the bisection illusion, as well as the L configuration of the horizontal-vertical illusion. We conclude that the available depth cues, even when supplemented by known biases in perspective interpretations, do not account for observed distortions in judgments of relative length.
Wolfe
Uta
U
New York University, New York, New York, USA. uwolfe@hws.edu
Maloney
Laurence T
LT
Tam
Mimi
M
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009903:Optical Illusions; D011582:Psychological Theory; D014796:Visual Perception