scholarly journals Aspects and Abstracta

2014 ◽  
pp. 41-66
Author(s):  
B. Madison Mount
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Necker Cube ◽  
Philosophical Magazine ◽  
Apparent Position ◽  
Reversible Figures

Philosophers of perception and psychologists first studied ‘multistable’ or ‘reversible’ figures, Kippbilder, in the nineteenth century. The earliest description of the phenomenon of a ‘sudden and involuntary change in the apparent position’ of a represented object occurred in a letter written by Louis Albert Necker in Geneva to Sir David Brewster on 24 May 1832 and published six months later in the Philosophical Magazine. The picture in question would become known as the Necker cube.

A New Twist on the Rotating-Trapezoid Illusion: Evidence for Neural-Adaptation Effects

Perception ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 619-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald M Long ◽  
Thomas C Toppino
Keyword(s):  
Opposite Direction ◽  
Necker Cube ◽  
Selective Adaptation ◽  
Neural Adaptation ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Reversible Figures ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Basic Similarity ◽  
Adaptation Effects

In a series of experiments, the selective-adaptation paradigm was applied to the rotating-trapezoid illusion in an effort to demonstrate neural-adaptation effects in the figural reversal of this classic illusion. Prior to viewing the standard trapezoid, the observer adapted to a rectangle rotating unambiguously in the same direction as the trapezoid or in the opposite direction. In accordance with the neural hypothesis, illusion strength was greatest when the two figures rotated in the same direction and weakest when the two figures rotated in opposite directions. Results were confirmed with two separate dependent variables: the observer's ‘first look’ at the illusion after adaptation and the observer's reversal rate during a test period. These findings were discussed in terms of (a) the basic similarity of results for the rotating trapezoid and reversible figures such as the Necker cube and (b) the need for a multiprocess model of both classes of illusions which emphasizes bottom—up and top—down processes.

Fluctuations in Perceptual Organization and Orientation and Perception of Apparent Movement

1968 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy B. Mefferd
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Organization ◽  
Necker Cube ◽  
Frontal Plane ◽  
Apparent Movement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Central Unit ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Central Section ◽  
Apparent Position

Three main percepts of a static flat stimulus were reported, one veridical and two with apparent internal depth but which varied in the degree of perceptual organization. In one of these, the entire stimulus formed a single perceptual unit which “reversed” perspective as a unit in a fashion similar to a Necker cube. This percept elicited no reports of apparent movement, but the other percept did. In the latter, the offset central section formed one perceptual unit that was blurred, and the sharp, distinct parts on either side of it formed another unit. The central unit underwent figure-ground reversals, while the adjacent slats of both elements “changed” orientation independently. The changes in apparent position accompanying the latter fluctuations were often perceived as being due to movement of the central section in the frontal plane.

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