Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Measuring Sensitivity to Viewpoint Change with and without Stereoscopic Cues
Published on: December 4, 2013
Through the looking glass: how the relationship between an object and its reflection affects the perception of
Luke A Jones1, Marco Bertamini
1Division of Psychology, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. luke.jones@manchester.ac.uk
Abstract:
This is the first study to test the extent to which reflections help locate objects in space and perceive their size. For planar mirrors, the relative size of a target and its reflection is informative about the absolute distance of the target in units of the distance between target and mirror surface. When the target is near the mirror, target and reflection are similar in size; as the target moves away from the mirror, the difference in size increases. Observers saw a pair of objects in front of a mirror and judged relative size and distance (separately). Other visual cues to size and distance were eliminated, except lateral offset, which was tested in experiment 3. Experiment 2 controlled for the presence of directional feedback. Results showed orderly psychophysical functions for both size and distance with steeper slopes for distance judgments. In experiments 4 and 5 stereograms were used. Even when binocular information was present, the additional cue provided by reflections increased the accuracy of size and distance judgments. The same pattern of results was observed in the absence of feedback.
Related Concept Videos
The Looking Glass Self
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case, then the...
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Focusing of Light in the Eye
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison

