Orbison illusion - Visiome Platform

Detail

Language

English

Title

Orbison illusion

Free Keywords

orbison illusion, concentric circles, object distortion

Description

An Orbison illusion is an optical illusion where straight lines appear distorted. There are several variants of the Orbison illusion. Orbison explained these illusions with the theory that fields of force were created in the perception of the background patterns (‘shape as a function of the vector field’, Orbison 1939). He suggested three types of background patterns: radiating lines, concentric circles and pattern of angles. Any line that intersected these fields would be subsequently distorted in a predictable way. If the square is superposed on the pattern of radiating lines or pattern of angles, it appears to bulge. The image we present here shows a square and a triangle superposed on the background pattern of concentric circles. The sides of the square or triangle appear to be bent inward in the case when the center of concentric circles remains inside the area of the square or triangle. If objects are moved to the left or to the right so the center of concentric circles remains outside of the square/triangle area, the sides of the triangle or the square now appear to bulge (to be distorted outward).
This is dynamic drag-and-drop flash application which allows user to move the square/triangle across the surface. Press and hold down the button on the mouse to "grab" the square/triangle, and drag the object to the desired location. "Drop" the square/triangle by releasing the button. If the square/triangle is moved to an adjacent white surface, we can see that the square/triangle is not distorted.

The zip file contains Adobe Illustrator file, jpg image and drag and drop flash app.

Date

Oct 12, 2011

Last Modified Date

Oct 12, 2011 13:38:51

Created Date

Oct 12, 2011 13:38:51

Contributor

Stevanov (Jasmina)

Item Type

Stimulus

Change Log(History)

Stimulus type

Picture

Developer

Jasmina Stevanov

Preview

Stimulus file

Orbison illusion with square and triangle drag and drop.zip

Type	: application/x-zip
Size	: 2.6 MB
Last updated	: Oct 12, 2011
Downloads	: 8

Total downloads since Oct 12, 2011 : 8

Readme

Orbison, W. D., 1939: “Shape as a Function of the Vector-Field”,  American Journal of Psychology, 52, pp 31-45.

Rights

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

Index

/ Public / Stimulus

Related to