Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Samy Rima
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
Art experts have argued that the mirror reversal of pictorial artworks produces an alteration of their spatial content. However, this putative asymmetry of the pictorial space remains to be empirically proved and causally explained. Here, we address these issues with the “corridor illusion,” a size illusion triggered by the pictorial space of a receding corridor. We show that mirror-reversed corridors—receding respectively leftward and rightward—induce markedly different illusion strengths and thus convey distinct pictorial spaces. Remarkably, the illusion is stronger with the rightward corridor among native left-to-right readers (French participants, n = 40 males) but conversely stronger with the leftward corridor among native right-to-left readers (Syrian participants, n = 40 males). Together, these results demonstrate an asymmetry of the pictorial space and point to our reading/writing habits as a major cause of this phenomenon.
Author(s): Rima S, Khalil C, Cottereau BR, Trotter Y, Durand JB
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Vision
Year: 2019
Volume: 19
Issue: 4
Pages: 1-6
Online publication date: 18/04/2019
Acceptance date: 05/02/2019
Date deposited: 23/04/2019
ISSN (electronic): 1534-7362
Publisher: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
URL: https://doi.org/10.1167/19.4.22
DOI: 10.1167/19.4.22
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric