Geometrical Illusions: What they tell us about human vision in health and disease

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Background

Geometrical visual illusions may be defined “in terms of judgmental errors about isometries in figural illustrations that are composed from the elements of Euclidean geometry, that is, points (minuscule dots, to be visible), lines, and unfilled, plane areas”. Prime examples are the T, Oppel-Kundt, Müller-Lyer, Ponzo, Poggendorff, Zöllner, Hering, and Ebbinghaus. An example of an illusion that is not purely geometrical is Münsterberg’s “verschobene Schachbrettfigur” (“Shifted checkerboard figure”), or “Café wall illusion” because it contains areas filled with achromatic color.

Although, mathematically, geometrical illusions form a unitary group, multiple explanations have been offered for each of them. Can we find commonalities across the explanations for these illusions? The answer may have relevance for understanding the contrasting roles of dots, lines, and patches for vision, and, similarly, for the role in vision of isolated versus abutting versus crossed lines, and of textures composed of dots versus lines.

The first objective of the Research Topic is to assemble a state-of-the-art overview of research results obtained with the better-known geometrical visual-illusion figures, with a special emphasis on under-researched topics and methodology. The second objective of the Research Topic is to assemble a synopsis of explanatory accounts of geometrical visual illusions, with special emphasis on the possibility of falsification and the generation of new hypotheses. In assembling this synopsis, the goal will be to bring to light commonalities across the explanations and the classes of explanation that have been distinguished for the different illusions. The Research Topic will thereby seek to make progress toward an understanding of perceptual processing in general.

The Research Topic is interested in a broad range of behavioral data. Of interest are data from comparative judgments of linear extent, angle, orientation, curvature, and area, analyzed with regard to factors such as discriminative sensitivity, perceptual bias, and response bias. Methodologically, the Research Topic is interested in psychophysical experiments, ophthalmic investigations, and studies measuring and simulating neural activity. Results from clinical populations (i.e. dyslexia, autism, schizophrenia, etc.) are of particular interest, given that visual illusions are a great tool for studying perceptual mechanisms in such populations. Theoretically, the Research Topic is interested in neural, perceptual, and cognitive mechanisms, as well as psychological, biological, and developmental theories.

The Research Topic is interested in the following types of papers: Original research / Empirical studies, Reviews / Systematic reviews, Methods, Hypotheses and Theory

Keywords: Geometrical illusions, acuity and hyperacuity, psychophysical methods, neural mechanisms, symmetry

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