Abstract

Subject of study. We studied the mechanisms of optical illusions, in which the shapes of images were deformed. These were the checkerboard illusion, where straight lines appear curved as a result of white spots on black cells, and the Wundt–Hering illusion, in which straight lines seem curved when fan lines are superimposed on them. Aim of study. The goal was to describe and analyze the mechanisms generating these illusions, compare them, and test them in experiments. Methods. Psychophysical methods were used. A spatial frequency analysis of the images was carried out, and the obtained data were compared with the results of studying other illusions. Main results. Estimates of curvature in the checkerboard illusion were obtained for the first time. It was found that the checkerboard illusion intensified as the image size increased up to 2° and then weakened. The results of the experiments were consistent with the data from an optical irradiation phenomenon study, the neurophysiological correlates of which were represented by the receptive fields of neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus. At the same time, the Wundt–Hering illusion was associated with the tilt illusion caused by the interaction between the spatial frequency channels formed by the receptive fields of cortical neurons. Analyses of other image-shape deformation illusions made it possible to attribute their mechanisms to one of the above types: the influence of optical irradiation or interaction between orientational spatial frequency channels. Practical significance. The irradiation phenomenon was described by the Naka–Rushton equation in the system of opponent receptive field neurons. The obtained results could be used in image processing and analysis, as well as in the development of adversarial artificial neural networks, which are analogs of opponent natural neural networks.

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