The Resonance Theory of Kinetic Shape Perception and the Motion-Induced Contour

Abstract

In the last century William James described the primal perceptual world as a “blooming, buzzing confusion.” In this century James Gibson observed that the confusion was only in the mind of the theorist. The term perceptual illusion is an ontological oxymoron. Traditionally, illusions were thought to provide insight into the nature of perceptual mechanisms by indicating when and how they are in error, the error being with reference to one’s preconceptions of the ideal perceptual response. Instead, one could modify one’s analysis of the nature of the effective stimulus to which the perceptual system is responding. Consider the geometric illusions in which straight lines appear curved. When analyzed in Euclidean terms the perceived curvature of the lines is illusory; however, if the lines are instead defined as geodesics, the perceived curvature provides the appropriate description of the visual space in which they occur (see Watson, 1978).