Early Demonstrations of Subjective Contours,Amodal Completion,and Depth from Half-Occlusions: “Stereoscopic Experiments with Silhouettes” by Adolf von Szily (1921)
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online December, 1998
Early Demonstrations of Subjective Contours,Amodal Completion,and Depth from Half-Occlusions: “Stereoscopic Experiments with Silhouettes” by Adolf von Szily (1921)
If all-black figures are used, certain monocular appendages to binocular shapes are seen in depth, either nearer (when in a medial position) or further (when in a lateral position) than the binocular shape itself. These appendages also link to form subjective contours in front of the binocular shape or amodal completions behind it. These and other discoveries by von Szily, made before 1921, anticipate a number of modern findings.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonB L, 1994“The role of partial occlusion in stereopsis”Nature (London)367365–367
2.
AxenfeldT, 1921“A von Szily sen, Nachruf” [obituary on A von Szily, sen]Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde66131–134
3.
BarrandA G, 1979An Ecological Approach to Binocular Perception: The Neglected Facts of Occlusion PhD thesis (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY)
4.
EhrensteinW, 1941/1987“Über Abwandlungen der L Hermannschen Helligkeitserscheinung”Zeitschrift für Psychologie15083–91 [English translation by HoggA, 1987“Modifications of the brightness phenomenon of L Hermann”, in The Perception of Illusory Contours Eds PetrySMeyerG E, (New York: Springer) pp 35–39]
5.
GillamB JBlackburnS BNakayamaK, 1999“Unpaired background regions in binocular vision: Their critical role in depth and slant perception”Vision Research39493–502
6.
GillamBBorstingE, 1988“The role of monocular regions in stereoscopic displays”Perception17603–608
7.
von HelmholtzH, (1909–1911/1962) Handbuch der physiologischen Optik3rd edition, Eds GullstrandAvon KriesJNagelW, (Hamburg: Voss) [English translation by SouthallJ P C, Helmholtz's Treatise on Physiological OpticsAmerican Optical Society, 1925 (reprinted New York: Dover, 1962)]
8.
KanizsaG, 1955/1987“Margini quasi-percettivi in campi con stimulazione omogenea”Revista di Psicologia497–30 [English translation by GerbinoW, 1987“Quasi-perceptual margins in homogeneously stimulated fields”, in The Perception of Illusory Contours Eds PetrySMeyerG E, (New York: Springer) pp 40–49]
9.
KayeM, 1978“Stereopsis without binocular correlation”Vision Research181013–1022
10.
KüchleH J, 1981“Aurel von Szily—Sein Leben und Wirken” [Aurel von Szily—His Life and Work]Schriften der Vereinigung der Freunde der Medizinischen Fakultät der Westfalischen Wilhelms-Universität zu Münster Nr 3 (Münster: University Press) pp 11–55
11.
LinschotenJ, 1956Strukturanalyse der binokularen Tiefenwahrnehmung [Structural Analysis of Binocular Depth Perception], § 87 (Groningen: J B Wolters) pp 248–251
12.
MetzgerW, 1975Gesetze des Sehens [Laws of Vision], 3rd edition (Frankfurt am Main: W Kramer)
13.
MichotteABurkeL, 1951“Une nouvelle énigme de la psychologie de la perception: La ‘donnée amodale’ dans l'expérience sensorielle” [A new enigma in the psychology of perception: ‘amodal data’ in sensory experience], in Proceedings of the 13th International Congress of Psychology (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell) pp 179–180
14.
NakayamaK NShimojoS, 1990“Da Vinci stereopsis: Depth and subjective occluding contours from unpaired image points”Vision Research301811–1818
15.
NakayamaK NShimojoS, 1992“Experiencing and perceiving visual surfaces”Science2571357–1363
16.
PanumP L, 1858Physiologische Untersuchungen über das Sehen mit zwei Augen (Kiel: Schwers)
17.
RamachandranV S, 1987“Visual perception of surfaces: A biological theory”, in The Perception of Illusory Contours Eds PetrySMeyerG E, (New York: Springer) pp 93–108
SchumannF, 1900/1987“Beiträge zur Analyse der Gesichtswahrnehmungen—Erste Abhandlung: Einige Beobachtungen über die Zusammenfassung von Gesichtseindrücken zu Einheiten”Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane231–32 [English translation by HoggA, 1987“Contributions to the analysis of visual perception—First paper: Some observations on the combination of visual impressions into units”, in The Perception of Illusory Contours Eds PetrySMeyerG E, (New York: Springer) pp 21–34]
20.
von SzilyA, 1921“Stereoskopische Versuche mit Schattenrissen”Albrecht von Graefes Archiv für Ophthalmologie105964–972 und Tafel VI
