New study debunks myth about popular optical illusion (Update)
Silhouette Illusion. If the foot touching the ground is perceived to be the left foot, the dancer appears to be spinning clockwise (if seen from above); if it is taken to be the right foot, then she appears to be spinning counterclockwise. Image: Wikipedia.
A psychology professor has found that the way people perceive the Silhouette Illusion, a popular illusion that went viral and has received substantial online attention, has little to do with the viewers' personality, or whether they are left- or right-brained, despite the fact that the illusion is often used to test these attributes in popular e-quizzes.
Niko Troje says that a reported preference for seeing the silhouette spinning clockwise rather than counter-clockwise is dependent upon the angle at which the viewer is seeing the image.
"Our visual system, if it has a choice, seems to prefer the view from above," says Dr. Troje. "It's a perceptual bias. It makes sense to assume that we are looking down onto objects that are located on the ground below us rather than floating in the air above us."
In the Silhouette Illusion, a silhouetted woman is seen spinning on one foot, her leg extended. The appeal of the illusion is in the way the woman is spinning – she can be perceived as spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Dr. Troje and his team found that a view-from-above bias (VFA) is what makes the viewer prone to seeing the silhouette in a certain way, not one's personality or whether the viewer is left- or right-brained. When shown the silhouette illusion, the study's 24 participants most often reported that the woman was spinning counter-clockwise if viewed from above, and clockwise if viewed from below. Thus, the viewing angle causes the difference in perception.
Watch a video demonstrating the researchers' findings below.
This video is not supported by your browser at this time.
The theory can also be applied to other popular illusions, including Neckar Cubes, that are often used in online personality tests.More information:
-- The study was published this week in i-Perception, the new open-access sister journal of the established British journal Perception.
-- http://www.biomoti … mbiguity.php
-- Silhouette Illusion: http://www.michael … e/index.html
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Queen's University
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Dec 21, 2010
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/sarcasm
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If you look to the opposite side, relative to her foot, of the box just as her foot reaches the closest point to either side, she'll rotate back and forth, but never around in a circle.
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I agree the direction one sees the image spinning has little if anything to do with left-right brain biases and other popular myths but find the contention that viewing angle has anything to do with it equally ridiculous ie total rubbish. I see the image rotating in either direction and do not change viewing angle to do so and do not subjectively see any change in viewing angle.
The only viewing angle anomaly that I can see is when the image is viewed at an angle beyond the blind spot (eg left of the left blind spot). In this case no rotation is seen ~ the image is not interpreted as rotating so the image is seen as it actually is (pre-interpretation ~ if anything it looks like she's skating
Dec 22, 2010
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I don't think the solution is quite as obvious as the angle. . . It makes sense that looking down or up at the picture has an effect as described. BUT, that doesn't explain variations in perception for the ambiguous angles. Does everyones perception shift at exactly a specific angle above or below horizontal with the eyes? if so does turning the body upside down or leaning forward or backward significantly affect the angle of ambiguity? Slumped over or sitting up strait?
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"Was this a test?"
He said, "Yes."
"And what does it mean?"
He said, "Well, had you eaten the ears first you would have been normal; had you eaten the feet first you would have had an inferiority complex; had you eaten the tail first you would have had latent homosexual tendencies; and had you eaten the breasts first you would have had a latent oedipal complex."
I said, "Well, go on. What does it mean when you bite out the eyes and scream, 'Stop staring at me!'?"
Shamelessly stolen from comedian Emo Phillips
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Also, the caption of the image and the video disagree with each other regarding which foot on the ground signifies which direction of rotation.
In the still, my mind made its determination based on what appears to be perspective. The lifted foot appears to be smaller, therefore, further away. Also the hand and ARM sizes didn't look right for an on-coming direction.
Dec 25, 2010
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It means you didn't click Enlarge and actually see the spinning image. XD
Dec 27, 2010
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The more "reliable" 'cues' turn out to be, (whether the illusion depicts clock or counter clockwise motion or whether the figure is approaching or receding) the greater the 'bias' towards "reliable" cues become through experience. The reliance on experience is an illusion. Experience relies on environment. For example: no color of an object we 'perceive' here on earth will be the same color perceive on Mars. The definition of color remains unchanged.
As if Physics provides a perceive 'need' for a 'reference' that is absolute. Or 'reliable' reference.
There is no escaping indulgence. Nature's.