Ames's Window in Proprioception

Abstract

When holding a small-scale model of Ames's trapezoidal window with the arms fully extended, several observers experience a striking proprioceptive distortion (eg one hand appears farther from the other, or one arm appears longer than the other). However, data from a matching experiment suggest that the proprioceptive misalignment of the hands is, in fact, rather less than the apparent slant of the window when this is not held. This finding argues against a 'visual-capture' account, supports an explanation in terms of bimodal integrative processes, and underscores the importance of supplementing phenomenological observations with objective measures.

Is predictive processing a theory of perceptual consciousness?

“…2 Secondly, some perceptual priors are stubborn: they are non-updatable, recalcitrant in the face of new evidence (Yon et al, 2018). Perhaps the most striking example of stubborn perceptual priors is the visual illusion of the Ames Window (Ames, 1951;Bruno et al, 2006). The Ames Window, as the name suggest, is a toy window that has a build-in perspective and rotates slowly in one direction.…”