Friday, February 10, 2012

370: Perceiving Depth and Size



VISUAL ANGLE

Visual angle can help a person to determine both size and distance.  However, there have been studies done that show that visual angle alone, without other depth cues, is not adequate to help individuals determine size of an object.  

ILLUSIONS

Muller-Lyer Illusion

Ponzo Illusion
This illusion takes advantage of how parallel lines converge in the distance.  So if you have a railroad track that is converging in the distance and put 2 white lines over top of the railroad at different points the one that is further away will appear to be much larger than the one that is closer.  This is a very powerful illusion.

The Ames Room


The Moon Illusion
When you see the moon coming up over the mountain it can look really large but right above you it doesn't look as large.  So the moon on the horizon seems much larger than the moon in the sky.  There a few explanations of this.  The first is the Angular size contrast theory.  When the moon appears next to the mountains, which are huge, the comparison makes the moon appear larger.  When the moon is above you we don't have the mountains to compare it against.

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