Literature DB >> 794813

Did Ptolemy understand the moon illusion?

H E Ross, G M Ross.   

Abstract

Ptolemy is often wrongly credited with an explanation of the moon illusion based on the size-distance invariance principle. This paper elucidates the two Ptolemaic accounts: one in the Almagest, based on atmospheric refraction, and the other in the Optics, based on the difficulty of looking upwards. It is the latter passage which has been thought to refer to size-distance invariance, but it is more probable that it refers to the idea that the visual rays are diminished by the force of gravity (i.e. that the retinal image is reduced in size). Alhazen was probably the first author to explain the illusion by the size-distance invariance principle, and Roger Bacon the first to explain the enlarged apparent distance of the horizon by the presence of intervening objects. Della Porta was the first to credit Ptolemy with these explanations, and this mistake was repeated by many subsequent authors.

Entities:  

Mesh:

Year:  1976        PMID: 794813     DOI: 10.1068/p050377

Source DB:  PubMed          Journal:  Perception        ISSN: 0301-0066            Impact factor:   1.490


  4 in total

1.  Moon illusions redescribed.

Authors:  D McCready
Journal:  Percept Psychophys       Date:  1986-01

2.  How accurate is size and distance perception for very far terrestrial objects? Function and causality.

Authors:  A Higashiyama; K Shimono
Journal:  Percept Psychophys       Date:  1994-04

3.  Ibn al-Haytham's ground theory of distance perception.

Authors:  H A Sedgwick
Journal:  Iperception       Date:  2022-09-04

4.  Ibn Al-Haytham: father of modern optics.

Authors:  Abdelghani Tbakhi; Samir S Amr
Journal:  Ann Saudi Med       Date:  2007 Nov-Dec       Impact factor: 1.526

  4 in total

北京卡尤迪生物科技股份有限公司 © 2022-2023.