The Müller-Lyer illusion explained by the statistics of image-source relationships.
Publication
, Journal Article
Howe, CQ; Purves, D
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
January 2005
The Müller-Lyer effect, the apparent difference in the length of a line as the result of its adornment with arrowheads or arrow tails, is the best known and most controversial of the classical geometrical illusions. By sampling a range-image database of natural scenes, we show that the perceptual effects elicited by the Müller-Lyer stimulus and its major variants are correctly predicted by the probability distributions of the possible physical sources underlying the relevant retinal images. These results support the conclusion that the Müller-Lyer illusion is a manifestation of the probabilistic strategy of visual processing that has evolved to contend with the uncertain provenance of retinal stimuli.
Duke Scholars
Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats
Published In
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DOI
EISSN
1091-6490
ISSN
0027-8424
Publication Date
January 2005
Volume
102
Issue
4
Start / End Page
1234 / 1239
Related Subject Headings
- Visual Perception
- Space Perception
- Probability
- Orientation
- Optical Illusions
- Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
- Form Perception
Citation
APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Howe, C. Q., & Purves, D. (2005). The Müller-Lyer illusion explained by the statistics of image-source relationships. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(4), 1234–1239. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0409314102
Howe, Catherine Q., and Dale Purves. “The Müller-Lyer illusion explained by the statistics of image-source relationships.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102, no. 4 (January 2005): 1234–39. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0409314102.
Howe CQ, Purves D. The Müller-Lyer illusion explained by the statistics of image-source relationships. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2005 Jan;102(4):1234–9.
Howe, Catherine Q., and Dale Purves. “The Müller-Lyer illusion explained by the statistics of image-source relationships.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 102, no. 4, Jan. 2005, pp. 1234–39. Epmc, doi:10.1073/pnas.0409314102.
Howe CQ, Purves D. The Müller-Lyer illusion explained by the statistics of image-source relationships. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2005 Jan;102(4):1234–1239.
Published In
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DOI
EISSN
1091-6490
ISSN
0027-8424
Publication Date
January 2005
Volume
102
Issue
4
Start / End Page
1234 / 1239
Related Subject Headings
- Visual Perception
- Space Perception
- Probability
- Orientation
- Optical Illusions
- Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
- Form Perception