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The Leaning Tower of Pisa effect: an illusion mediated by colour, brightness, and motion
T Ditzinger1, V A Billock, J A Kelso
1Center for Complex Systems, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA.
Abstract:
We report a novel, easily observed, and extraordinarily striking optical illusion mediated by interactions of colour, brightness, form, and motion perception--the Leaning Tower of Pisa (LTOP) illusion. Under some circumstances, the perception of orientation of coloured forms is radically altered by rotary movement. We demonstrate that this kinetic effect--easily reproduced with a common record turntable--is optimised by particular colour and brightness differences between foreground and background with an illusory tilt of 8 degrees and more. The described illusions can be easily studied at home by downloading the colour figures from www.perceptionweb.com/perc1000/ditzinger, printing them on a common colour printer and placing them on a rotating record turntable.
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