Extinction illusion

Access since July 1, 2006



"Tatewaku extinction illusion 2"

*Tatewaku = a Japanese pattern

Colored dots appear to disappear if we fix our eyes on the cross.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2009 (November 16)



"Tatewaku extinction illusion"

*Tatewaku = a Japanese pattern

Colored dots appear to disappear if we fix our eyes on the cross.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2009 (November 16)



"Troxler effect with three colors"

Colored patches appear to disappear if we fix our eyes on the cross.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2009 (July 16)


"A demonstration for blind spot completion"

The animal appears to disappear with the appropriate visual distance if we close the left eye and fix the right eye on the cross.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2009 (July 17)


"Ceramic asagao"

The yellow dots placed off the center of sight appear to vanish. The upper half of the image appears to move leftward while the lower one rightward.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2008 (August 16)


"Asagao"
a remake

The yellow dots placed off the center of sight appear to vanish. "Asagao" is a plant with flowers.

Copyright Akiyoshi Kitaoka 2007


"Hotaru"*

*Hotaru = fireflies

When observers approach the image keeping their eyes on the center of the image, fireflies of blue light appear to escape. Then, some or all of them appear to extinguish (Troxler effect).

Copyright Akiyoshi .Kitaoka 2006 (July 1)


"Asagao"

The yellow dots placed off the center of sight appear to vanish. "Asagao" is a plant with flowers.

Copyright A.Kitaoka 2003


"Sakura"

The red dots placed off the center of sight appear to vanish. "Sakura" is a cherry blossom.

Copyright A.Kitaoka 2003


"The music"

Illusory black dots abruptly appear or disappear in white circles when we see the figure freely (= the scintillation grid illusion*1). On the other hand, the white circles disappear when we fixate at the center (the vanishing disk illusion*2,*3).

Copyright A.Kitaoka 2002 (December 28, 2002)

*1For the scintillation grid illusion, see:

Schrauf, M., Lingelbach, B., Lingelbach, E., Wist, E.R. (1995) The Hermann grid and the scintillation effect. Perception, 24, suppl. 88-89
--- It should be noted that actually the third author Elke Lingelbach discovered the effect.
Schrauf, M., Lingelbach, B., Wist, E.R. (1997) The scintillating grid illusion. Vision Research, 37, 1033-1038.
Institut fur Augenoptik Aalen --- Click "Taushungen" (illusions).

*2For the vanishing disk illusion, see:

McAnany, J. J., & Levine, M. W. (2002). The vanishing disk; a revealing quirk of the scintillating grid illusion [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 2(7), 204a, http://journalofvision.org/2/7/204/, DOI 10.1167/2.7.204

*3For the vanishing disk illusion, I think that Ninio and Stevens's paper might be the first report:

Ninio, J. & Stevens, K. A. (2000). Variations on the Hermann grid: an extnction illusion. Perception, 29, 1209-1217.

<I thank Bernd for giving me beautiful panels and information>


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