Some well-known geometrical illusions disappear when the eyes are fixating and saccades are suppressed for a period of time. This disappearance is not accompanied by fading due to stabilisation of the retinal image. Any saccade made on purpose restores the illusion immediately. The fixation time after which some illusions disappeared was measured for four illusions and four subjects each. Effects of practice have been observed after measurements were repeated on successive days. Present theories of vision cannot readily explain the effect.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BurmesterE., 1896“Beitrag zur experimentellen Bestimmung geometrisch-optischer Täuschungen”Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane12355 – 394.
ClelandB GDubinM WLevickW R, 1971“Sustained and transient neurons in the cat's retina and lateral geniculate nucleus”Journal of Physiology217473 – 496.
4.
FindlayJ MHotopfW H N, 1985“Eye movements and illusions of alignment”Perception14387 – 391.
5.
FischerB., 1999Blick-Punkte: Neurobiologische Prinzipien des Sehens und der Blicksteuerung (Bern: Hans Huber).
6.
GerbinoW., 1978“Some observations on the formation of angles in amodal completion”Italian Journal of Psychology588 – 100.
7.
GiovanelliG., 1966“Stati di tensione e di equilibrio nel campo percettivo”Rivisita di Psicologia60327 – 335.
8.
HondaH., 1990Attention and Performance (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) pp 567 – 582.
9.
HondaH., 1991“The time courses of visual mislocalization and of extraretinal eye position signals at the time of vertical saccades”Vision Research311915 – 1921.
10.
HotopfW HOllearnshawC.BrownS., 1974“The regression to right angles tendency and the Poggendorf illusion”British Journal of Psychology65213 – 231.
11.
HotopfW H N, 1981“Mistracking in alignment illusions”Journal of Experimental Psychology71211 – 1246.
12.
LammeV ARoelfsemaP R, 2002“The distinct modes of vision offered by feedforward and recurrent processing”Trends in Neurosciences23571 – 579.
13.
MoklerA.FischerB., 1999“The recognition and correction of involuntary saccades in an anti-saccade task”Experimental Brain Research125511 – 516.
14.
MorganM JCascoC., 1990“Spatial filtering and spatial primitives in early vision: An explanation of the Zöllner–Judd class of geometrical illusion”Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B2421 – 10.
15.
MorganM JHoleG JGlennersterA., 1990“Biases and sensitivities in geometrical illusions”Vision Research301793 – 1810.
16.
MünsterbergH., 1897“Die verschobene Schachbrettfigur”Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane15184 – 188.
17.
OrbinsonW D, 1939“Shape as function of the vector-field”American Journal of Psychology5231 – 54.
18.
PonzoM., 1912“Rapports de contraste angulaire et l'appréciation de grandeur des astres à l'horizon”Archives Italiennes de Biologie58327 – 329.
19.
da PosOZambianchiE., 1996Visual Illusions and Effects (Milano: Guerini Studio).
20.
RamachandranV SRuskinD.CobbS.Rogers-RamachandranD.TylerC W, 1994“On the perception of illusory contours”Vision Research343145 – 3152.
21.
RodgersN., 1998Incredible Optical Illusions (New York: Barnes and Noble).
22.
SchlagJ.Schlag-ReyM., 1995“Illusory localization of stimuli flashed in the dark before saccades”Vision Research352347 – 2357.
23.
SteinmanB ASteinmanS BLehmkuhleS., 1997“Transient visual attention is dominated by the magnocellular stream”Vision Research3717 – 23.
24.
WhitakerD.McGrawP V, 2000“Long-term visual experience recalibrates human orientation perception”Nature Neuroscience313.
25.
ZöllnerF., 1860“Über eine neue Art von Pseudoskopie und ihre Beziehungen zu den von Plateau und Oppel beschriebenen Bewegungsphänomenen”Annalen der Physik und Chemie110500 – 523.
