Further Studies of the Café Wall and Hollow Squares Illusions

Woodhouse, J. Margaret; Taylor, Steve

doi:10.1068/p160467

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Lavatory wall illusion (Woodhouse & Taylor, 1987). The conditions that produce such an illusion are not clear in the photo reported in Woodhouse and Taylor's article.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

The effect of luminance variation on the apparent position of an edge

Roncato

2000

Perception & Psychophysics

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A gray outline against a white (or black) ground appears to deviate when one of the divided regions turns into black (white). The direction of shift is not predictable on the basis of luminance profile and polarity contrast of this part of contour, called gray edge (to indicate a stepwise gradient from black to gray and from gray to white). Rather, it appears to depend on the luminance profiles of the collinear regions: A gray edge shifts toward the dark side whenever collinear with a gray line traversing a white ground. The same gray edge takes the opposite direction whenever it extends against a black ground. This rule proved to be successful in predicting the illusory convergence of the sides of a square that formed the stimuli of the first experiment, but the magnitude of the phenomenon was affected by luminance ratios and polarity contrasts of the gray edges, in agreement with the fmdings of the experiments on gray or blurred edge misalignment. A second experiment tested some hypotheses predicting the combined effects of two or more distorting sources. These hypotheses, suggested by the physical theory of vector sum, were partially disproved. A new model is proposed that assumes different ways ofintegrating local distortions. The third experiment tested predictions of how distorting pulses in opposite directions combine. The illusory misplacement of edge studied in this experiment is proposed as the underlying phenomena of the cafe wall illusion, the hollow square illusion, and other illusory phenomena observed with blurred areas. A connection with the induction grid phenomena is hypothesized.

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“…Lavatory wall illusion (Woodhouse & Taylor, 1987). The conditions that produce such an illusion are not clear in the photo reported in Woodhouse and Taylor's article.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

The effect of luminance variation on the apparent position of an edge

Roncato

2000

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…For example, figure 7A shows the`Montalvo illusion' which contains a continuum of gray scales. First presented by Fanya S Montalvo in 1980 (Sakane 1980) it has since been termed the Lavatory Wall illusion (Woodhouse and Taylor 1987). Here a line is sandwiched between two rows of opposed sawtooth gratings and as a result its trajectory appears to tiltöCCW for a black line, and CW for a white one.…”

Section: Related Illusionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrast Polarities Determine the Direction of Café Wall Tilts

2004

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We propose an explanatory approach to Café Wall type illusions that is simple yet fairly comprehensive. These illusions are constructed out of basic elementary units in a jigsaw-like manner. Each unit, in general, contains both a solid body and a thin tail: the contrast polarity between the two determines the direction of the contributory illusory tilt produced by that element-according to a heuristic rule illustrated in figure 1. Ensembles of these elements exhibit illusory tilts only when the tails of the elements align along a common line in an additive manner. When elements of opposing polarity alternate, the illusion is cancelled. This approach extends and supersedes those presented in Pinna's illusion of angularity and Kitaoka's 'acute' corner effect. Furthermore, it appears to be, in part, compatible with existing mechanisms proposed to account for the emergence of local tilt cues, and it suggests several novel variations on the Café Wall theme.

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“…This model satisfactorily explained most tilt illusions that resemble the Café Wall illusion, such as the illusion of shifted gradations (Kitaoka, 1998) (Figure 19) and the Montalvo illusion (Lavatory Wall illusion) (Sakane, 1980; Woodhouse & Taylor, 1987) (Figure 20). Moreover, the model produced “new” illusions, such as the reverse Café Wall illusion (Figure 21) and the Café Wall illusion of black and white squares (Figure 22).…”

Section: Café Wall Illusionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Tilt illusions after Oyama (1960): A review¹

Kitaoka¹

2007

Jpn Psychol Res

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This article reviews the study of tilt illusions by focusing on new illusions or new demonstrations reported by Japanese researchers after the review of Oyama (1960). Steady progress was observed in a variety of illusions. In particular, the development of the study of the Café Wall illusion and its related illusions during the past decade was remarkable. The study of the spiral illusion has also progressed dramatically.Key words: tilt illusion, orientation, Zöllner illusion, Fraser illusion, Café Wall illusion, spiral illusion.Visual illusion refers to the phenomenon that some properties of the percept of an object are different from those as they "really" are. Visual illusion includes the illusion of shape, lightness, color, motion, etc. (see Kitaoka, 2005a). The illusion of shape, traditionally called "geometrical" illusion, includes the illusion of orientation, size, and position (Robinson, 1972). This article focuses on the illusion of orientation, that is, tilt illusion.Tilt illusion refers to apparent tilt of a line, bar or an edge. For example, parallel lines do not appear to be parallel, a straight line appears to curve, or the angle formed by two lines appears to be larger or smaller than it really is. The aim of this article is to review the study of tilt illusions reported by Japanese researchers after the review of Oyama (1960), with a focus on new illusions or new demonstrations. Zöllner illusion Zöllner illusionThe Zöllner illusion is the apparent expansion of the acute angle formed by two crossing lines. Figure 1 shows an example in which a horizontal line appears to tilt clockwise because it is crossed by oblique lines that tilt counterclockwise from the horizontal.The Zöllner illusion is observed when the acute angle is between 0 ° and 90 ° (Morinaga, 1933;Parlangeli & Roncato, 1995;Wallace & Crampin, 1969), but the maximum magnitude is obtained when the acute angle is between 10 ° and 30 ° (Maheux, Townsend, & Gresock, 1960;Morinaga, 1933;Oyama, 1975;Wallace & Crampin, 1969). The Zöllner illusion is stronger when induced lines are rotated 45 ° from the vertical or horizontal than when they are vertical or horizontal, respectively (see Oyama, 1960). Oyama (1975Oyama ( , 1977 revealed that, in the Zöllner illusion, interactions between two lines are limited to narrow visual fields and he 1 Part of this research was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research awarded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Nos. 18203036 and 16530480). Deep gratitude is extended to Dr Tadasu Oyama for his encouragement.2 Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to: Akiyoshi Kitaoka, Department of Psychology, Ritsumeikan University, Toji-in Kitamachi, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8577, Japan. (Email: akitaoka@lt.ritsumei.ac.jp) Figure 1. The Zöllner illusion. The horizontal line appears to tilt clockwise.

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Further Studies of the Café Wall and Hollow Squares Illusions

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

The effect of luminance variation on the apparent position of an edge

The effect of luminance variation on the apparent position of an edge

Contrast Polarities Determine the Direction of Café Wall Tilts

Tilt illusions after Oyama (1960): A review¹

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Further Studies of the Café Wall and Hollow Squares Illusions

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

The effect of luminance variation on the apparent position of an edge

The effect of luminance variation on the apparent position of an edge

Contrast Polarities Determine the Direction of Café Wall Tilts

Tilt illusions after Oyama (1960): A review1

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Tilt illusions after Oyama (1960): A review¹