Orbison illusion

Orbison illusion

The Orbison illusion is an optical illusion that was first described by the psychologist William Orbison (1909–1981) in 1939. It consists of a figure placed over a background of concentric circles or radial lines. The bounding rectangle and inner square both appear distorted in the presence of the circles or radiating lines. The background gives the impression that there is some sort of perspective; as a result, a distorted shape is seen. This is a variant of the Hering and Wundt illusions.

Description

The Orbison illusion consists of a two dimensional figure, such as a circle or square, superimposed over a background of radial lines. The result is an optical illusion in which both the figure and the rectangle which contains it appear to distorted; in particular, squares appear slightly bulged, circles appear elliptical, and the containing rectangle appears tilted.

References

General Reference

• Fineman, Mark (1996). The Nature of Visual Illusion. Dover Publications. pp. 152–153. ISBN 0486291057.
• Robinson, J.O. (1998). The Psychology of Visual Illusion. Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0486404493.