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Illusions exist in everyday life with natural stimuli: The banana-bisection Illusion
Morton A Heller1, Nelson Adams2
1Department of Psychology, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois, USA.
Abstract:
We report a novel visual illusion that is present in the natural environment. In attempting to cut a banana in half, many people make the side adjacent to the stem shorter, because they see it as longer than it is. This study tested the presence of the banana bisection illusion with outline drawings and a 3D realistic-looking plastic banana. According to Gibson (1966) illusions are the consequence of artificial and impoverished stimuli, such as line drawings. However, the banana bisection illusion was found with naturalistic-looking 3D stimuli. A second experiment with solid 3D plastic bananas found the illusion with and without the stem, but the illusion was larger with the stem present.
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