title: The Honeycomb illusion: Uniform textures not perceived as such.
abstract: We present a series of patterns, in which texture is perceived differently at fixation in comparison to the periphery, such that a physically uniform stimulus yields a nonuniform percept. We call this theHoneycomb illusion, and we discuss it in relation to the similar Extinction illusion (Ninio & Stevens, 2000). The effect remains strong despite multiple fixations, dynamic changes, and manipulations of the size of texture elements. We discuss the phenomenon in relation to how vision achieves a detailed and stable representation of the environment despite changes in retinal spatial resolution and dramatic changes across saccades. The Honeycomb illusion complements previous related observations in suggesting that this representation is not necessarily based on multiple fixations (i.e., memory) or on extrapolation from information available to central vision.
authors.affiliation: University of Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertamini
authors.affiliation: Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.affiliation: Università di Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bruno
keywords: Extinction illusion; Honeycomb illusion; Texture; crowding; peripheral vision; suppression