Abstract
A REMARKABLE new visual illusion is described by Dr. James Fraser in the Journal of Psychology for January. In the first form of the illusion a word (such as “LIFE”) is printed in capital letters on a chequered background of black, grey, and white squares. The double outline of the letters is not traced in continuous lines, but is constituted by a band consisting of short lines, alternately black and white, slightly inclined to the direction of the limbs of the letter. This band may conveniently be regarded as representing a cord made of two strands, black and white, twisted together. In these circumstances the letters appear, in general, to be inclined several degrees from their actual directions, the sense of the deviation varying with the direction of the constituent lines of the illusory band (see Fig. i). A number of figures are given illustrating variants of this form of the illusion, and facilitating a study of the limits within which it persists.
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Visual Illusion and Fixation . Nature 78, 138 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/078138a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/078138a0