It is widely accepted that illusory contours have been first displayed and discussed by Schumann (1900, Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane23 1–32). Here we show that, before him, Jastrow (1899, Popular Science Monthly54 299–312) produced illusory contours consisting of a shadow word. A brief history of shadow writing in psychological literature from Jastrow to Brunswik is presented, in which the contributions of Pillsbury, Warren, Koffka, and Benussi are examined.
BenussiV, 1926Per il corso alla Scuola Filosofica. Elementi di teoria e tecnica della psicoanalisi (unpublished manuscript, the Vittorio Benussi's Archives, Didactic Series 9.6, Central Library, University of Milano-Bicocca).
3.
BerryW TJohnsonA FJaspertW P, 1962The Encyclopedia of Type Faces (New York: Pitman).
4.
BoringE G, 1950A History of Experimental Psychology2nd edition (New York: Appleton–Century–Crofts).
5.
BrunswikE, 1935Experimentelle Psychologie in Demonstrationen (Vienna: J Springer).
6.
BuchnerE F, 1901“Review of fact and fable in psychology”Psychological Review8187–193.
7.
CorenS, 1972“Subjective contour and apparent depth”Psychological Review79359–367.
8.
DumaisS TBradleyD R, 1976“The effect of illumination level and retinal size on the apparent strength of subjective contours”Perception & Psychophysics19339–345.
JastrowJ, 1900Fact and Fable in Psychology (Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin).
11.
KanizsaG, 1955“Margini quasi-percettivi in campi con stimolazione omogenea”Rivista di Psicologia497–30. [English translation by GerbinoW, “Quasi-perceptual margins in homogeneously stimulated fields”, in PetryMeyer (Eds), 1987, pp 40–49].
KoffkaK, 1922“Perception: An introduction to Gestalt-Theorie”Psychological Bulletin19531–585.
14.
MamassianPGoutcherR, 2001“Prior knowledge on the illumination position”Cognition81B1–B9.
15.
MelloneS H, 1902“Review of fact and fable in psychology by Joseph Jastrow”International Journal of Ethics12530–533.
16.
MeyerG EPetryS, 1987“Top–down and bottom–up: The illusory contour as a microcosm of issues in perception”, in Petry and Meyer (Eds), 1987, pp 3–20.
17.
PetrySMeyerG E, (Eds), 1987The Perception of Illusory Contours (New York: Springer).
18.
PillsburyW B, 1911The Essentials of Psychology (New York: Macmillan).
19.
SanfordE C, 1901“Review of fact and fable in psychology by Joseph Jastrow”The American Journal of Psychology12399–401.
20.
SchumannF, 1900“Beiträge zur Analyse der Gesichtswahrnehmungen. Erste Abhandlung. Einige Beobachtungen über die Zusammenfassung von Gesichtseindruken zu Einheiten”Zeitschrift für Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane231–32 [English translation by HoggA, “Contributions to the analysis of visual perception—First paper: Some observations on the combination of visual impressions into units”, in PetryMeyer (Eds), 1987, pp 21–34].
21.
SiegelSPetryS, 1991“Evidence for independent processing of subjective contour brightness and sharpness”Perception20233–241.
22.
von SziliA, 1895“Demonstrationen”, in Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte. Zweiter Teil. 2. Hälfte. Medicinischer Abtheilungen Eds WangerinATaschenbergO, pp 227–228.
23.
von SzilyA, 1921“Stereoskopische Versuche mit Schattenrissen”Albrecht von Graefes Archiv für Ophthalmologie105964–972 und Tafel VI [English translation in EhrensteinW HGillamB J, 1998 “Early demonstrations of subjective contours, amodal completion, and depth from half-occlusions: Stereoscopic experiments with silhouettes” by Adolf von Szily (1921)” Perception 271407–1416].
