Oppel-Kundt illusion balance

Abstract

Perceptual estimates of spatial dimensions of visual objects depend on their shape and surface attributes. The present psychophysical study emphasizes two main contributors to the Oppel‑Kundt illusion: the outline of the filled space and the mode of filling. In past experiments, both factors have been considered significant. Our experiments were performed by using combined stimuli of the Oppel‑Kundt figures and supplementary objects situated within the empty intervals of the figures. Line segments, empty and filled rectangles, blurred contours, and grey and color images were used for the supplementary stimuli role. The experimental data demonstrated an innate property of the objects to balance the illusion of distance if they were placed within the Oppel‑Kundt figure and to create an illusion of extent when compared with an empty space interval. Both the balance magnitude and the induced illusion strength varied depending on the objects' spatial structure. The supplementary objects showed a tendency to differ from each other by their functional capacity and were ranked from lowest to highest: a line segment, a solid bar with a blurred outline, a contour of a rectangle, a solid fill rectangle, greyscale patterns, and color pictures. The experimental findings provided support for an explanation of the Oppel‑Kundt illusion in terms of the spatial‑temporal summation of excitations representing the object outline and surface attributes at the lower cortical levels of the visual system. Along with the facts already established in current literature, the experimental data gave rise to the assumption that any visual object could appear larger than its occupied area, and that the Oppel‑Kundt illusion could become a separate case in the common sensory phenomenon of object size illusion.