2007 Kingdom, Yoonessi & Gheorghiu

We are thrilled to see how many CRS customers were competing in the contest over the past few years.

Last year, long time CRS customers Frederick Kingdom, Ali Yoonessi and Elena Gheorghiu, McGill University, Canada, won the competition with The Leaning Tower Illusion, pictured here.

" Here is a novel illusion that is as striking as it is simple. The two images of the Leaning Tower of Pisa are identical, yet one has the impression that the tower on the right leans more, as if photographed from a different angle. The reason for this is because the visual system treats the two images as if part of a single scene. Normally, if two adjacent towers rise at the same angle, their image outlines converge as they recede from view due to perspective, and this is taken into account by the visual system. So when confronted with two towers whose corresponding outlines are parallel, the visual system assumes they must be diverging as they rise from view, and this is what we see. The illusion is not restricted to towers photographed from below, but works well with other scenes, such as railway tracks receding into the distance. What this illusion reveals is less to do with perspective, but how the visual system tends to treat two side-by-side images as if
part of the same scene. However hard we try to think of the two photographs of the Leaning Tower as separate, albeit identical images of the same object, our visual system regards them as the ‘Twin Towers of Pisa’, whose perspective can only be interpreted in terms of one tower leaning more than the other."

Find out more about Frederick Kingdom and his work by clicking here.

Arthur Shapiro and Emily Knight of Bucknell University, USA came in the top three last year and are also valued CRS customers.

Last year, Arthur Shapiro and Emily Knight of Bucknell University, USA came in third place with an illusion called "Where did all the motion go?"  in which the removal of low spatial frequency information creates the perception of motion.  You can see that illusion and read more about it at the illusion contest web page by clicking here.

Here is a new illusion from Shapiro's laboratory, called "field of squares".  The pacmen are stationary, but they appear to move because of the contrast with the background.  The motion makes the Kanizsa squares appear to contort. Press the "click for steady background button" to stop the motion; or move the slider to change the angle of the pacmen.  (See also "Swimmers, eels, and other gradient-gradient illusions" at the illusion contest web page by clicking here)

To see more illusions, visit www.shapirolab.net

2007 Shapiro and Knight

Visual Illusions exhibition opening at the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Museum at the University of Nevada, Reno.

An opening reception Dec. 7, at the will kick off with a presentation by world-renowned scholar, Stuart Anstis, Ph.D., from the University of California, San Diego. The lecture, reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.
Perceptual Relativity, an interactive exhibition developed by the University of Nevada, Reno Department of Psychology and on display at the University’s Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center, explores individual perception through visual illusions — images that distort our perceptions in remarkable ways. It opened on December 7th at the Fleischmann Planetarium, kicking off with a presentation by Stuart Anstis, expert on human perception, from the University of California, San Diego.

The multimedia exhibit is a free, permanent installation, with several changing displays and new content in the new year. The exhibition will allow visitors to explore dozens of illusions that provide a powerful window into the workings of the human mind.

The Perceptual Relativity exhibit was created by faculty and students in the graduate program in cognitive and brain sciences in the University of Nevada, Reno Department of Psychology, and is supported by grants from the Optical Society of America and the University of Nevada, Reno College of Liberal Arts.

Click here to read more about the exhibit!

CRS to sponsor Prof. Michael F Land in this years W.S. Stiles Memorial Lecture

Professor Michael F Land FRS of the Sussex Vision Laboratory, University of Sussex will be giving his lecture ‘Eye movements and actions: knowing where to look’ on the 29th October at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London.

It will be this year's W.S. Stiles Memorial Lecture and the second time that we have sponsored a lecture by Prof. Land. Make sure you stay for the wine reception afterwards - wine provided by CRS!

The lecture will be added to the research topics section of our website, why not sign up to recieve our quarterly e-newsletter and be notified of when it is?

Click here to view the advert for the lecture.

CRS will be supporting Prof. Vincent DiLollo at the OPAM meeting in November 2007.

The 15th Annual Object Perception, Attention and Memory Meeting is taking place on the 15th November 2007 in Long Beach, USA. This year's Keynote Speak will be Professor Vincent DiLollo with a lecture entitled 'Memory and prediction: that's what the brain is in business for'.

Click here to visit the OPAM 2007 website to see the schedule and register for the event.

The lecture will be added to the research topics section of our website, why not sign up to recieve our quarterly e-newsletter and be notified of when it is?

We are happy to announce we are sponsoring Professor Stuart Anstis in his invited talk at the AVA Christmas Meeting.

The 12th AVA Christmas meeting will be held at Aston University, Birmingham, UK on the 17th December 2007. Professor Anstis, of the Psychology Department, University of California, San Diego, will be giving an invited talk on the day which we will be recording to put on the research section of our website.

The title is still to be announced, but why not sign up to recieve our quarterly e-newsletter and be notified of when the talk is available to watch?

Click here to see the details of the 2007 AVA Christmas meeting.