With the classic Poggendorff illusion a set of parallel ‘induction lines’ will cause a set of oblique line segments to look misaligned even though they are collinear. A different kind of misalignment can be produced by placing the induction lines so that they form a corner. Under these conditions the obliques will appear to be angled slightly, one relative to the other. The effects are small, but can be seen and reliably reported by a group of naive subjects. The influence of the induction lines drops sharply as their relative position is moved from parallel to orthogonal, but there is a small residual influence which may be called the corner Poggendorff effect.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ErikssonE S, 1970“A field theory of visual illusions”British Journal of Psychology61451–466
2.
GreeneE, 1987“The relative contribution of contact and target lines in the magnitude of the Poggendorff effect”Perception16385–388
3.
HeringE, 1861Beiträge zur Physiologie (Leipzig: Engelmann)
4.
HotopfW H N, 1986“Illusions about the Poggendorff illusion: Comment on Poulton's ‘Geometric illusions in reading graphs”’Perception & Psychophysics39148–150
5.
JuddC H, 1899“A study of geometrical illusions”Psychological Review6241–261
6.
OrbisonW D, 1939“Shape as a function of the vector-field”American Journal of Psychology5231–45
7.
WatsonA S, 1978“A Riemann geometric explanation of the visual illusions and figural after effects” in Formal Theories of Visual Processing eds LeeuwenbergE L JBuffartH F J M (New York: John Wiley) pp 139–169
8.
WeintraubD JKrantzD H, 1971“The Poggendorff illusion: Amputations, rotations, and other perturbations”Perception & Psychophysics10257–264
