Psychology Atlas

How The Mind Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Psychological Phenomena

Ebbinghaus Illusion

Perception and Psychophysics Effects

The Ebbinghaus illusion is a visual illusion of relative size perception, named for the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, in which two identical circles are placed near each other, one surrounded by a ring of large circles and the other by a ring of small circles. The circle surrounded by larger circles appears smaller than the circle surrounded by smaller circles, even though both central circles are actually the same size.

Facts
Core Claim
The Ebbinghaus illusion, also called Titchener circles, is an optical illusion of relative size perception. 1
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Perceptual Phenomenon 1
Connections

Associated With

Hermann Ebbinghaus, Psychologists

The size-contrast illusion is named for and credited to Hermann Ebbinghaus.

In Branch

Sources
1. Ebbinghaus illusion, Wikipedia
  • opening definition paragraph
    The Ebbinghaus illusion or Titchener circles is an optical illusion of relative size perception.
  • lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
    The Ebbinghaus illusion is a visual illusion of relative size perception, named for the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, in which two identical circles are placed near each other, one surrounded by a ring of large circles and the other by a ring of small circles.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.