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Abstract
Here, we introduce and explore Scintillating Starbursts, a stimulus type made up of concentric star polygons that induce illusory scintillating rays or beams. We test experimentally which factors, such as contrast and number of vertices, modulate how observers experience this stimulus class. We explain how the illusion arises from the interplay of known visual processes, specifically central versus peripheral vision, and interpret the phenomenology evoked by these patterns. We discuss how Starbursts differ from similar and related visual illusions such as illusory contours, grid illusions such as the pincushion grid illusion as well as moiré patterns.
Highlights
We introduce and explore Scintillating Starbursts, a stimulus type made up of concentric star polygons that induce illusory scintillating rays or beams
We explored a unique kind of stimulus that evokes ghostly or ephemeral illusory rays that appear to shimmer or scintillate
The number and orientation of rays in the illusory percept closely corresponds to what would be predicted from an Fourier transform (FT) of the stimulus
Summary
We introduce and explore Scintillating Starbursts, a stimulus type made up of concentric star polygons that induce illusory scintillating rays or beams. One important reason why studying these illusions can be helpful to understand visual processing is that they allow us to distinguish the mere sensation of physical object properties from the perceptual experience. This is perhaps clearest in the case of illusory contours. Illusory contours are not defined by changes in luminance and would be invisible to a photometer, whereas human observers readily perceive them. We are aware that this stimulus appears superficially similar to a number of previously described effects It differs from these in important and specific ways: 1. It differs from these in important and specific ways: 1. The pincushion grid illusion
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