Visual Illusions and Perception of Classical Architecture

We carried out psychophysical experiments to study perception mechanisms of images that are elements of building projections in ancient and classical architecture. The curvature of isolated lines and lines superimposed on a fan picture (Wundt-Hering illusion), as well as the orientation of lines in the presence of distractors with varying inclination and separation (tilt illusion) were estimated. We used the methods of constant stimuli and the forced choice procedure. The experiments were carried out on three subjects with a large number of presentations of stimuli, which made it possible to evaluate the statistical significance of the obtained dependences. The values of distortions in the illusion of Wundt-Hering (WH) and in the tilt illusion were determined. It is shown that the curvature of single lines without fan lines is estimated adequately. The analysis of the results led to the conclusion that corrections of the orientation and curvature of elements in classical architecture compensate for the distortions of visual perception. At the same time, the curvature of some elements may be due to the aesthetics of perception.

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