Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Visual Illusions, Models of

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

  • 374 Accesses

Synonyms

Computational models of visual illusions; Perceptual errors; Visual illusions

Definition

A visual illusion is a discrepancy between perception and reality that stands out as an anomaly. This entry describes general approaches as well as specific models that have influenced our current understanding of the mechanisms leading to visual illusions. A “model” here means a set of computations aimed at making quantitative predictions about the appearance of a visual stimulus. In some cases the computations are couched in terms of neural machinery, and in others the language of perceptual psychology. All the models discussed are generic in the sense that they aim to explain more than one illusion; however, none can be said to be truly universal. Importantly, the models are not necessarily mutually exclusive: many of them echo back to the “perceptual hypothesis” approach that is first described. Each model is accompanied by an example or two of the illusions it aims to explain. The...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adelson EH (1993) Perceptual organization and the judgement of brightness. Science 262:2042–2044

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Adelson EH (2000) Lightness perception and lightness illusions. In: Gazzaniga M (ed) The new cognitive neuroscience, 2nd edn. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 339–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson BL (1997) A theory of illusory lightness and transparency in monocular and binocular images: the role of contour junctions. Perception 26(4):419–453

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson BL (2001) Contrasting theories of White’s illusion. Perception 30:1499–1501

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson BL, Winawer J (2005) Image segmentation and lightness perception. Nature 434:79–83

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blakemore CB, Carpenter RHS, Georgeson MA (1970) Lateral inhibition between orientation detectors in the human visual system. Nature 228:37–39

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blakeslee B, McCourt ME (1999) A multiscale spatial filtering account of the White effect, simultaneous brightness contrast and grating induction. Vision Res 39:4361–4377

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blakeslee B, McCourt ME (2012) When is spatial filtering enough? Investigation of brightness and lightness perception in stimuli containing a visible illumination component. Vision Res 60:40–50

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blakeslee B, Pasieka W, McCourt ME (2005) Oriented multiscale spatial filtering and contrast normalization: a parsimonious model of brightness induction in a continuum of stimuli including White, Howe and simultaneous brightness contrast. Vision Res 45:607–615

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowers JS, Davis CJ (2012) Bayesian just-so stories in psychology and neuroscience. Psychol Bull 138(3):389–414

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bressan P (2006) The place of white in a world of grays: a double-anchoring theory of lightness perception. Psychol Rev 113:526–553

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bulatov A, Bertulis A, Mickienė L, Surkys T, Bielevičius A (2011) Contextual flanks’ tilting and magnitude of illusion of extent. Vision Res 51(1):58–64

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carandini M, Heeger DJ (2012) Normalization as a canonical neural computation. Nat Rev Neurosci 13:51–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter RHS, Blakemore CB (1973) Interactions between orientations in human vision. Exp Brain Res 18:287–303

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conway BR (2001) Spatial structure of cone inputs to color cells in alert macaque primary visual cortex (V-1). J Neurosci 21:2768–2783

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Craven BJ (1993) Orientation dependence of human line-length judgments matches statistical structure in real-world scenes. Proc Royal Soc Lond, B 253:101–106

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dakin SC, Bex PJ (2003) Natural image statistics mediate brightness ‘filling-in’. Proc R Soc Lond B 270:2341–2348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekroll V, Faul F, Niederee R (2004) The peculiar nature of simultaneous colour contrast in uniform surrounds. Vision Res 44:1765–1786

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Georgeson M (1973) Spatial frequency selectivity of a visual tilt illusion. Nature 245:43–45

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson JJ (1937) Adaptation, after-effect, and contrast in the perception of tilted lines. II. Simultaneous contrast and the areal restriction of the after-effect. J Exp Psychol 20:553–569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilchrist A (1988) Lightness contrast and failures of lightness constancy: a common explanation. Percept Psychophys 43:415–424

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gilchrist A (2006) Seeing black and white. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 180–187

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gilchrist A, Delman S, Jacobsen A (1983) The classification and integration of edges as critical to the perception of reflectance and illumination. Percept Psychophys 33:425–436

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gilchrist A, Kossyfidis C, Bonato F, Agostini T, Cataliotti J, Li X, Spehar B, Annan V, Economou E (1999) An anchoring theory of lightness perception. Psychol Rev 106:795–834

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillam B (1998) Illusions at century’s end. In: Hochberg J (ed) Perception and cognition at century’s end. Academic, San Diego, pp 95–136

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory RL (1966/1967) Eye and brain. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregory RL (2004) Illusions. In: Gregory RL (ed) The Oxford companion to the mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 426–443

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Helmholtz H (1866/1962) Treatise on physiological optics, vol II (trans: Southall JPL). Dover, New York, pp 264–301. (vol II originally published in 1866)

    Google Scholar 

  • Howe CQ, Purves D (2002) Range image statistics can explain the anomalous perception of length. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99:13184–13188

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hürlimann F, Kiper D, Carandini M (2002) Testing the Bayesian model of perceived speed. Vision Res 42:2253–2257

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom FAA (1997) Simultaneous contrast: the legacies of Hering and Helmholtz. Perception 26:673–677

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom FAA (2008) Perceiving light versus material. Vision Res 48:2090–2105

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom FAA (2011) Lightness, brightness and transparency: a quarter century of new ideas, captivating demonstrations and unrelenting controversy. Vision Res 51:652–673

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom FAA (2013) Mach bands: contrast normalization? J Vis 13(9):1146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom FAA (2014a) Colour assimilation. In: Shapiro A, Todorovic D (eds) The Oxford compendium of visual illusions. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom FAA (2014b) When light looks like paint. In: Shapiro A, Todorovic D (eds) The Oxford compendium of visual illusions. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom F, Moulden B (1992) A multi-channel approach to brightness coding. Vision Res 32:1565–1582

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdom FAA, Yoonessi A, Gheorghiu E (2007) The leaning tower illusion: a new illusion of perspective. Perception 36:475–477

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knill DC, Kersten D (1991) Apparent surface curvature affects lightness perception. Nature 351:228–230

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Logvinenko AD (1999) Lightness induction revisited. Perception 28:803–816

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Logvinenko AD, Adelson EH, Ross DA, Somers D (2005) Straightness as a cue for luminance edge classification. Percept Psychophys 67(1):120–128

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Monnier P, Shevell SK (2003) Large shifts in color appearance from patterned chromatic backgrounds. Nat Neurosci 6:801–802

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Monnier P, Shevell SK (2004) Chromatic induction from S-cone patterns. Vision Res 44:849–856

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan MJ, Hole GL, Glennerster A (1990) Biases and sensitivities in geometrical illusions. Vision Res 30:1793–1810

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morrone MC, Burr DC (1988) Feature detection in human vision: a phase dependent energy model. Proc R Soc Lond B 235:221–245

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Motoyoshi I, Kingdom FAA (2003) Orientation opponency in human vision revealed by energy-frequency analysis. Vision Res 43:2197–2205

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Purves D, Lotto B (2003) Why we see what we do: an empirical theory of vision. Sinauer, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson AE, Hammon PS, de Sa VR (2007) Explaining brightness illusions using spatial filtering and local response normalization. Vision Res 47:1631–1644. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2007.02.017

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz O, Sejnowski TJ, Dayan P (2009) Perceptual organization in the tilt illusion. J Vis 9(4):1–20

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro A, Knight E, Lu Z-L (2008) Lightness, brightness and luminance: spatial scale models of lightness illusions: contrast, anchoring, and tunable filters. J Vis 8(6):288a

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone LS, Thompson P (1992) Human speed perception is contrast dependent. Vision Res 32:1539–1549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todorovic D (1987) The Craik-O’Brien-Cornweet effect: new varieties and their theoretical implications. Percept Psychophys 42:545–560

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Todorovic D (2006) Lightness, illumination, and gradients. Spat Vis 19:219–261

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Todorovic D (2008) Gestalt principles. Scholarpedia 3(12):5345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wade NJ (2005) Perception and illusion: historical perspectives. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallis SA, Georgeson MA (2012) Mach bands and multiscale models of spatial vision: the role of 1st, 2nd and 3rd derivative operators in encoding bars and edges. J Vision 12(13):18, 1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Watt RJ, Morgan MJ (1985) A theory of the primitive spatial code in human vision. Vision Research 25:1661–1674

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss Y, Simoncelli EP, Adelson EH (2002) Motion illusions as optimal percepts. Nat Neurosci 5:598–604

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Westheimer G (2008) Geometrical-optical illusions and the neural representation of space. Vision Res 48(20):2128–2142

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White M (1979) A new effect on perceived lightness. Perception 8:413–416

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams SM, McCoy AN, Purves D (1998) An empirical explanation of brightness. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:13296–13300

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Further Reading

  • Shapiro A, Todorovic D (eds) (2014) The Oxford compendium of visual illusions. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, McGill Vision Research, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Frederick A. A. Kingdom

Authors
  1. Frederick A. A. Kingdom
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frederick A. A. Kingdom .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Kingdom, F.A.A. (2014). Visual Illusions, Models of. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_557-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_557-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation