Pinhole Viewing Strengthens the Hollow-Face Illusion

Koessler, Trent; Hill, Harold

doi:10.1177/0301006615599304

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…Objectively blurred dots that were intended to open-loop accommodation were less effective than equivalent sharp dots in disambiguating depth. This is consistent with previous evidence suggesting that disrupting accommodation strengthens the illusion (Hill et al, 2012;Koessler & Hill, 2015) although blur affects many aspects of visual processing and alternative explanations cannot be ruled out. In this sense accommodation behaves like other depth cues that help disambiguate the illusion at close distances such as the binocular disparities lost by monocular viewing.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…This suggests that ocular depth information may be of particular importance in disambiguating the concave shape of 3D masks at close distances. A role for accommodation in disambiguating the mask is also consistent with previous findings that refractive error (Hill, Palmisano, & Matthews, 2012) and pinhole viewing (Koessler & Hill, 2015) both strengthen the illusion as both manipulations would be expected to disrupt accommodation despite their very different effects on blur. The effectiveness of the hollowface illusion (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%

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Focusing on an illusion: Accommodating to perceived depth?

Koessler

Hill

2019

Vision Research

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Ocular accommodation potentially provides information about depth but there is little evidence that this information is used by the human visual system. We use the hollow-face illusion, an illusion of depth reversal, to investigate whether accommodation is linked to perceived depth. In Experiment 1 accommodation, like vergence, was in front of the physical surface of the mask when the mask was upright and people reported experiencing the illusion. Accommodation to the illusory face did not differ significantly from accommodation to the physically convex back surface of the same mask. Only accommodation to the inverted mask seen as hollow was significantly less and, like the physical surface, beyond the mid-plane of the mask. The effect on accommodation was the same for monocular as binocular viewing, showing that accommodation is not driven by binocular disparities through vergence, although voluntary vergence remains a possibility. In Experiment 2 a projected random dot pattern was used to flip perception between convex and concave in all presentation conditions. Accommodation was again in front of the physical surface when the illusion was experienced. Experiment 3 showed that projected dots are more effective in disambiguating the illusion as concave when they are sharp and provide a good accommodative stimulus than when they are objectively blurred. We interpret Experiments 1 and 2 as showing that accommodation is tied to perceived depth, directly or indirectly, even in a situation where multiple depth cues are available and feedback is not artificially open-looped. Experiment 3 is consistent with accommodation helping to disambiguate depth while not ruling out alternative explanations.Abstract: Ocular accommodation potentially provides information about depth but there is little evidence that this information is used by the human visual system. We use the hollowface illusion, an illusion of depth reversal, to investigate whether accommodation is linked to perceived depth. In Experiment 1 accommodation, like vergence, was in front of the physical surface of the mask when the mask was upright and people reported experiencing the illusion.Accommodation to the illusory face did not differ significantly from accommodation to the physically convex back surface of the same mask. Only accommodation to the inverted mask seen as hollow was significantly less and, like the physical surface, beyond the mid-plane of the mask. The effect on accommodation was the same for monocular as binocular viewing, showing that accommodation is not driven by binocular disparities through vergence, although voluntary vergence remains a possibility. In Experiment 2 a projected random dot pattern was used to flip perception between convex and concave in all presentation conditions. Accommodation was again in front of the physical surface when the illusion was experienced. Experiment 3 showed that projected dots are more effective in disambiguating the illusion as concave when they are sharp and provide a good accommodative stimulus than ...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 89%