Cite as:
Kogo N, Drożdżewska A, Zaenen P, Wagemans J, 2011, "Depth perception of illusory surfaces and its effect on the brightness illusion" Perception 40 ECVP Abstract Supplement, page 170

Depth perception of illusory surfaces and its effect on the brightness illusion

N Kogo, A Drożdżewska, P Zaenen, J Wagemans

When four black pacmen are aligned in a square-like configuration, the central area is perceived as a surface closer to the viewer and whiter than the background. The goal of this study was to measure the depth perception of this Kanizsa square, and to investigate its interaction with the brightness perception. A Kanizsa figure or a variation (with pacmen replaced by concentric circles) was presented side-by-side with its non-illusory variation (with pacmen replaced by four crosses) in a stereoscope while the stereo disparities of the central region in the non-illusory figure varied. Subjects had to decide which central region in these two figures appeared closer. The results indicate that the illusory surface was perceived to be closer when the inducers were constructed with concentric circles than with pacmen. This effect persisted when black and white circles were placed on a mid-gray background. We hypothesize that perceived depth is enhanced when a textured surface is occluded. Next, we asked subjects to match the perceived brightness of the central region with the background by changing its gray scale value while the stereo disparity of the central region varied. The results indicate that increased depth perception was associated with increased brightness perception.

These web-based abstracts are provided for ease of seaching and access, but certain aspects (such as as mathematics) may not appear in their optimum form. For the final published version of this abstract, please see
ECVP 2011 Abstract Supplement (complete) size: 2206 Kb

[Publisher's note: The abstracts in this year's ECVP supplement have been published with virtually no copy editing by Pion, thus the standards of grammar and style may not match those of regular Perception articles.]