Light & contrast / 1979
White’s illusion
Equal gray bars look different inside a striped pattern.
TRY THIS
Compare the gray segments that interrupt the light stripes with those interrupting the dark stripes. They have the same shade.
THE IMAGE IN THIS ARCHIVE
Lloyd TheCheeseKing
Original file & attribution · CC0
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What is White’s illusion?
Equal gray bars look different inside a striped pattern.
What should I look for in White’s illusion?
Compare the gray segments that interrupt the light stripes with those interrupting the dark stripes. They have the same shade.
What explains White’s illusion?
How edges are grouped and how the segments sit within the grating influence their apparent lightness. Simple lateral inhibition alone predicts the wrong direction in standard versions.
Another way to see it
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Scintillating grid
James R. Bergen; later Bernd & Elke Lingelbach, Michael Schrauf & E. R. Wist
Black dots flicker across a grid of white dots.