A Craik-O'Brien-Cornsweet illusion for visual depth

Abstract A stereo analogue of the Cornsweet luminance illusion was discovered, and measured by a null method. Two flat vertical textured surfaces in the frontoparallel plane met at a vertical boundary, at which the left-hand surface curved slightly forward and the right-hand surface curved back by an equal amount. The protruding left edge was jointed to the receding right edge by a step. Result: although the two flat surfaces were equidistant, the left surface appeared to be about half a centimetre nearer to the observer than the right surface.