What Is The Ponzo Illusion And How Does It Work?

Aug 11, 2022, 15:08 IST

The Ponzo Illusion is a famous optical illusion discovered by Italian Psychologist Mario Ponzo. It tricks our eyes into believing that two identical length objects are of different lengths due to the effect of perspective. 

Ponzo Illusion - How It Works
Ponzo Illusion - How It Works

Ponzo Illusion: Ponzo Illusion is a type of optical illusion where the perception of two identical lines appears distorted due to the pair of converging lines that follow them.

It is very helpful for neuroscientists to study the functioning of the brain and other visual systems and the way they interpret and perceive images.

What is Ponzo Illusion?

Ponzo Illusion is an optical illusion that was discovered by Mario Ponzo, an Italian psychologist. The first published paper on Ponzo Illusion in 1911 by Mario Ponzo was titled Regarding Some Illusions in the Field of Tactile Sensations After the Illusion of Aristotle and Analogous Phenomena. 

In the Ponzo Illusion, an image of two converging lines resembling the lines of a railway track which disappear into the distance. Two horizontal bars are placed at two different places in this image, one higher than the other.

 

When we observe the two lines, the bar that is placed higher appears to be longer in size than the bar placed at the lower part of the image.

The converging lines are closer to each other as the track expands higher.

The main theme of Ponzo Illusion is that in this illusion, the central subject of the image, like the length, the parallelism of lines or its straightness, appears to be distorted due to the secondary subjects of the image.

These secondary aspects are lines of the background or foreground and other intersecting lines or shapes.

These types of illusions fall under the category of geometrical optical illusions.

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How Ponzo Illusion Works

The workings of the Ponzo Illusion can be explained by the linear perspective, which states that our brains interpret the converging sides of the track as parallel lines that recede into the distance.

This makes us believe that the line that is further from our sight appears longer when in reality, it is of equal length.

It happens due to the effect of foreshortening.

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Recommended Reading:

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Jagran Josh
Jagran Josh

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