Abstract
The Poggendorffillusion has often been explainedas purely an interactionbetween the parallels and the transversals. The present study demonstrates that additional spatial context exerts an influence on this illusion. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of a surrounding tilted frame (complete and degraded versions) on collinearity adjustments iatheuprightandrotatedPoggendorfffigures. The frame’s orientation was always oblique. Relative to the no-frame condition, frames decreased error in collinearity adjustments in the upright-Poggendorff figure, and increased error in the rotated Poggendorfffigure. In Experiment 2, a circumscribing circle did not cause an orientation-inhibition effect (Ebenholtz & Utrie, 1982, 1983), suggestingthat the effect ofthe frame on the Poggendorif illusion may not be closely related to the rod-and-frame effect. In Experiment 3, orientation of a central texture modulated the magnitude ofthe illusion. The results do not serve to explain the mechanisms behind the Poggendorffillusion, but they do demonstrate the importance of visual reference frames in understanding perceived misalignment.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asch, S. E., &Witkin, H. A. (1948), Studies in space orientation: I. Experiments on peree99on of the upright with displaced visual fields.Journal of Experimental Psychology,38, 325–337.
Beh, H. C., Wenderoth, P.M., &Purcell, A. T. (1971). The angular function of a rod-and-frame illusion.Perception & Psychophysics,9, 353–355.
Bux, M. (1902). Die sog. Poggendorff sche optische Tauschungen.Scandinavian Archives of Physiology,13, 193–228.
Carmer, S. G., &Swanson, M. R. (1973). An evaluation of ten pairwise multiple comparison procedures by Monte Carlo methods.Journal of the American Statistical Association,68, 66–74.
Coren, S. (1970). Lateral inhibition and geometric illusions.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,22, 274–278.
Day, R. H. (1973). The oblique line illusion: The Poggendorif effect without parallels.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,25, 535–541.
Day, R. H., &Dickinson, R. G. (1976). The components of the Poggendorff illusion.British Journal of Psychology,67, 537–552.
Day, R. H., &Kasperczyck, R. T. (1985). Apparent displacement oflines and dots in a parallel-line figure: Aclue to the basis of the Poggendorff effect.Perception & Psychophysics,38, 74–80.
Ebenholtz, S. M. (1977). Determinants of the rod and frame effect: The role of retinal size.Perception & Psychophysics,22, 531–538.
Ebenholtz, S. M. (1985a). Absence of relational determination in the rodand-frame effect.Perception & Psychophysics,37, 303–306.
Ebenholtz, S. M. (l985b). Blur-modulated orientation perception in the rod-and-frame task.Perception & Psychophysics,37, 109–113.
Ebenholtz, S. M. (l985c). Depth separation fails to modulate the orientation-inhibition effect.Perception & Psychophysics,37, 533–535.
Ebenholtz, S. M., &Utrie, J. W., Jr. (1982). Inhibition of the rodand-frame effect by circular contours.Perception & Psychophysics,32, 199–200.
Ebenholtz, S. M., &UtriE, J. W., Jr. (1983). Peripheral circular contours inhibit the visual orientation control system.Aviation, Space, & Environmental Medicine,54, 343–346.
Findlay, J. M., &Hotoef, W. H. N. (1985). Eye movements and illusions of alignment.Perception,14, 387–391.
Gillam, B. (1971). Adepth processing theory of the Poggendorff illusion.Perception & Psychophysics,10, 211–216.
Gillam, B. (1980). Visual illusions.Scientific American,242, 102–112.
Goldstein, M. B., &Weintraub, D. J. (1972). The parallel-less Poggendorff: Virtual contours put the illusion down but not out.Perception & Psychophysics,11, 353–355.
Green, R. T., &Hoyle, E. M. (1964). The influence of spatial orientation on the Poggendorff illusion.Acta Psychologica,22, 348–366.
Gregory, R. L. (1966).Eye and brain. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Greist-Bousquet, S., &Schiffman, H. R. (1981). The Poggendorff illusion: An illusion of linear extent?Perception,10, 155–164.
Helmholtz, H. Von (1962).Hehnholtz’s treatise on physiological optics (J. P. C. Southall, Trans.) New York: Dover. (Original work published 1910)
Hotopf, W. H. N. (1981). Mistracking in alignment illusions.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Hwnan Perception & Performance,7, 1211–1246.
Hotopf, W. H. N., &Ollerearnshaw, C. (1972). The regression to right angles tendency and the Poggendorff illusion: I.British Journal of Psy’ chology,63, 359–367.
Hotopf, W. H. N., Ollerearnshaw, C., &Brown, S. (1974). Theregression to right angles tendency and the Poggendorffillusion: ifi.British Journal of Psychology,65, 213–231.
Imai, S. (1973). Experiments on Poggendorff illusion.Journal of Social Sciences & Hwnanities,90, 1–35.
Krantz, D. H., &Weintraub, D. J. (1973). Factors affecting perceived orientation ofthe Poggendorff transversal.Perception & Psychophysics,14, 511–517.
Predebon, J. (1983). Recognition processes and occurrence of the dot Poggendorif illusion.Perceptual & Motor Skills,56, 471–474.
Pressey, A. W. (1967). Field dependence and susceptibility to the Poggendorff illusion.Perceptual & Motor Skills,24, 309–310.
Pressey, A. W. (1971). An extension of assimilation theory to illusions of size, area, and direction.Perception & Psychophysics,9, 172–176.
Quina, K., &Pollack, R. H. (1973). Attraction of parallels as a function of intercontour distance.Perceptual & Motor Skills,36, 934.
Spivey-Knowlton, M. (1992). The virtual axis: A computational model of direct and indirect tilt illusions. Paper presented at the McDonnell Summer Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth Medical School.
Tong, L., &Weintraub, D. J. (1974). Contour displacements and tracking errors: Probing ’twixt Poggendorff parallels.Perception & Psychophysics,15, 258–268.
Weintraub, D. B., &Krantz, D. H. (1971). The Poggendorff illusion: Amputations, rotations, and other perturbations.Perception & Psychophysics,10, 257–264.
Weintraub, D. J., Krantz, D. H., &Olson, T. P. (1980). The Poggendorif illusion: Consider all the angles.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Perfonnance,6, 718–725.
Wenderoth, P. (1974). The distinction between the rod-and-frame illusion and the rod-and-frame test.Perception,3, 205–212.
Wenderoth, P., Beh, H.[C.], &White, D. (1978). Alignment errors to both ends of acute- and obtuse-angle amis.Perception & Psychophysics,23, 475–482.
Wenderoth, P., &Johnstone, S. (1988). The differential effects of brief exposures and surrounding contours on direct and indirect tilt illusions.Perception,17, 165–176.
Wenderoth, P., &Wade, N. J. (1981). An investigation of line and dot forms of the Muller-Lyer and Poggendorff illusions,Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,33A, 77–85.
Wenderoth, P., &Van Der Zwan, R. (1989). The effects ofexposure duration and surrounding frames on direct and indirect tilt aftereffects and illusions.Perception & Psychophysics,46, 338–344.
Wenderoth, P., Van Der Zwan, R., &Johnstone, S. (1989). Mechanisms of orientation illusions. In D. Vickers, & P. Smith (Eds.),Human information processing: Measures, mechanisms and models (pp. 83–106). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Wilson, A. E. (1983). Assessment of apparent length and angle explanations of the Poggendorff effect.Perceptual & Motor Skills,57, 539–546.
Witkin, H. A., &Asch, S. E. (1948). Studies in space orientation: IV. Further experiments on perception ofthe upright with displaced visual fields.Journal of Experimental Psychology,38, 762–782.
Wundt, W. (1893).Grundzlige der physiologischen Psychologie. Leipzig: Engelmann.
Zanuttini, L. (1976). A new explanation for the Poggendorff illusion.Perception & Psychophysics,20, 29–32.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported in part by AFOSRGrant 90-0095 to B.B. and by a Sproull Graduate Fellowship from the University of Rochester and a Research Training Grant Award from the National Research Council to M.S.-K.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spivey-Knowlton, M.J., Bridgeman, B. Spatial context affects the Poggendorff illusion. Perception & Psychophysics 53, 467–474 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205194
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205194