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 ClaimThe Ebbinghaus illusion, also called Titchener circles, is an optical illusion of relative size perception. 1 Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
Associated With
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
Named for its discoverer, the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909), the illusion was popularized in the English-speaking world by Edward B. Titchener in a 1901 textbook of experimental psychology, hence its alternative name. In the best-known version of the illusion, two circles of identical size are placed near each other, and one is surrounded by large circles while the other is surrounded by small circles.
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