What do you see first: a square or a circle?

In my last webinar, I started with an optical illusion that would also make a great contribution to my “The Goody I Found” (TGIF) series …

When you look at the image above, what do you see first: 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀?
Probably the same as me: rectangles!
But now look at the spaces between the rectangles… and now?
Oops, circles?!?!

This optical illusion – a Coffer illusion – was used by a group of researchers to understand whether and how different cultural influences affect visual perception. To this end, people from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Namibia were shown this illusion.

The result is impressive:
“… a full 𝟵𝟳% of U.S. and U.K. participants saw rectangles first. In the Himba villages in Namibia, however, 𝟵𝟲% 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝗰𝗶𝗿𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁.”

The researchers suspect this is because we are surrounded by rectangular architecture, an idea known as the carpentered world hypothesis. In contrast, the traditional 𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗶𝗺𝗯𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝘂𝘁𝘀 surrounding a circular livestock corral.
I’ll attach a picture of a typical Himba village in a comment.

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Have a nice weekend,
Lars

This file is licenced under the Creative Com