AUTHOR=Tseng Chia-Huei , Gobell Joetta L. , Sperling George 

TITLE=Factors that Determine Depth Perception of Trapezoids, Windsurfers, Runways

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2015

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00182

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2015.00182

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=We report here a windsurfer1 illusion, a naturally occurring trapezoidal illusion in which the small end
of the sail viewed at a distance appears to be pointed away from the observer even when it is closer.
This naturally occurring illusion is so compelling that observers are unaware of their gross perceptual
misinterpretation of the scene. Four laboratory experiment of this kind of trapezoidal illusion investigated
the joint effects of retinal orientation, head position, relative motion, and the relative direction of
gravity on automatic depth perception. Observers viewed two adjacent white trapezoids outlined on a
black background rotating back and forth +/- 20 deg on a vertical axis much like the sails of two adjacent
windsurfers. Observers reported which side of the trapezoids (long or short) appeared to be
closer to them (i.e., in front). The longer edge of the trapezoid was reported in front 76+/-2% of trials
(“windsurfer effect”) whether it was on the left or on the right. When the display was rotated 90 deg to
produce a runway configuration, there was a striking asymmetry: the long edge was perceived to be
in front 97% when it was on the bottom but only 43% when it was on top (“runway effect”). The runway
effect persisted when the head was tilted 90 deg or when displays on the ceiling were viewed
from the floor. 95% of the variance of the variance in the strikingly different 3D perceptions produced
by the same 2D trapezoid image was quantitatively explained by a model that assumes there are just
three additive bias factors that account for perceiving an edge as closer: Implicit linear perspective,
lower position on the retina (based on an automatic assumption of viewing from above), and being
lower in world coordinates.