Orbison illusion
The Orbison illusion (or Orbison's illusion) is an optical illusion that was first described by American psychologist William Orbison (1912–1952)[1] in 1939. It consists of a figure placed over a background of concentric circles or radial lines. The bounding rectangle and the inner figure 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. An explanation for this phenomenon has not yet been provided. The Orbison illusion is a variant of the Hering illusion, and is similar to the Wundt illusion.[2]
Description
The Orbison illusion consists of a two dimensional figure, such as a circle or square, superimposed over a background of radial lines or concentric circles. 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.[3]
References
Footnotes
- ^ Roeckelein, Jon E. (2006). Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 651. ISBN 9780444517500.
- ^ "Orbison illusion". opticalillusions.info. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
- ^ "Orbison illusion". newworldencyclopedia.org. New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
General References
- 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.
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