Abstract

The best known example of illusory contours is the Kanizsa triangle consisting of three disks with a sector removed. The disks and sectors are arranged so that they form the comers of a triangle. Although the sides of the triangle are not physically present, they are clearly visible. In our experiments the inducing disks of an illusory (Kanizsa) triangle were presented sequentially. We varied the sizes and/or distances of the disks and asked the subjects whether they saw the triangle or only a temporal sequence of disks. The subjects adjusted the duration of presentation to find out the longest (critical) duration that allowed the perception of the illusory triangle.

© 1991 Optical Society of America