Abstract
The perceived length of a line segment in a frontoparallel plane is sometimes affected by the presence of other line segments in the visual field. Perspective theories attribute such interactions to sizeconstancy scaling: The configuration of line segments present in the visual field includes depth cues that trigger size scaling of each line segment. In three experiments, we test this claim for a range of simple configurations composed of two line segments joined at a point. These configurations include the inverted T configuration of the bisection illusion, as well as the L configuration of the horizontal— vertical illusion. We conclude that the available depth cues, even when supplemented by known biases in perspective interpretations, do not account for observed distortions in judgments of relative length.
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This research was supported, in part, by Grant EY08266 from the National Institutes of Health and, in part, by Human Frontiers Science Program Grant RG0109/1999-B. Part of the work was carried out while L.T.M. was a visiting professor at the University of Padua in Italy.
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Wolfe, U., Maloney, L.T. & Tam, M. Distortions of perceived length in the frontoparallel plane: Tests of perspective theories. Perception & Psychophysics 67, 967–979 (2005). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193624
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193624