Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Apr 2015)
Factors that Determine Depth Perception of Trapezoids, Windsurfers, Runways
Abstract
We report here a windsurfer1 illusion, a naturally occurring trapezoidal illusion in which the small endof the sail viewed at a distance appears to be pointed away from the observer even when it is closer.This naturally occurring illusion is so compelling that observers are unaware of their gross perceptualmisinterpretation of the scene. Four laboratory experiment of this kind of trapezoidal illusion investigatedthe joint effects of retinal orientation, head position, relative motion, and the relative direction ofgravity on automatic depth perception. Observers viewed two adjacent white trapezoids outlined on ablack background rotating back and forth +/- 20 deg on a vertical axis much like the sails of two adjacentwindsurfers. Observers reported which side of the trapezoids (long or short) appeared to becloser to them (i.e., in front). The longer edge of the trapezoid was reported in front 76+/-2% of trials(windsurfer effect) whether it was on the left or on the right. When the display was rotated 90 deg toproduce a runway configuration, there was a striking asymmetry: the long edge was perceived to bein front 97% when it was on the bottom but only 43% when it was on top (runway effect). The runwayeffect persisted when the head was tilted 90 deg or when displays on the ceiling were viewedfrom the floor. 95% of the variance of the variance in the strikingly different 3D perceptions producedby the same 2D trapezoid image was quantitatively explained by a model that assumes there are justthree additive bias factors that account for perceiving an edge as closer: Implicit linear perspective,lower position on the retina (based on an automatic assumption of viewing from above), and beinglower in world coordinates.
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