Abstract
The magnitude of the Zöllner illusion was measured as a joint function of the angle of intersection between inducing and test contours and the orientation of the complete display. The intersect angle at which judgmental error was maximal varied as the display was rotated from 0 to 90 deg. An explanation of the Zöllner illusion in terms of selective adaptation of neural orientation specific detectors accounts for the interactive effects of display orientation and intersect angle if it is assumed that different orientation detectors have different tuning characteristics.
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This experiment was conducted at the University of Otago. New Zealand. Jeffrey Eichengreen and Robert H. Cormack contributed some especially useful comments towards the revision of the manuscript
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White, K.G. Orientation effects on contour interaction in the Zöllner illusion. Perception & Psychophysics 17, 387–392 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199351
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199351