A New Version of the Beuchet Chair Illusion.

Richard Wiseman

doi:10.1177/2041669516679168

Abstract

The Beuchet Chair is a powerful and highly popular optical illusion. The illusion involves two reasonably large pieces of apparatus: an oversized chair seat and four normal-sized chair legs. When properly arranged and viewed from a precise location, a person standing on the seat appears to be much smaller than they actually are. Although compelling, the illusion is relatively challenging and expensive to construct, requires a large amount of space to stage, and is not especially portable. Here, I outline a new version of the illusion that just involves a small piece of cardboard, a cloth, and a tripod. This new version costs almost nothing to create, is highly portable, and requires far less space than the original.

Highlights

The Beuchet Chair is a powerful and highly popular optical illusion
The four chair legs are arranged in an upright position a few meters from an observer, and the seat is placed on the ground a few meters beyond the legs
I recently devised a very different way of creating the illusion that overcomes all of these difficulties

Summary

Introduction

The Beuchet Chair is a powerful and highly popular optical illusion. The illusion involves two reasonably large pieces of apparatus: an oversized chair seat and four normal-sized chair legs. Created by French psychologist Jean Beuchet (1963), the illusion involves two pieces of apparatus: an oversized chair seat and four normal-sized chair legs. When observed with monocular vision, the seat and legs visually fuse together to create what appears to be a normal chair.

Results

Conclusion