The Relation of Distance to the Apparent Size of Figural After-Effects

Abstract

The dependance of the size of negative after-images on Emmert''s Law, as well as the facts of size-constancy, suggests that retinal size is only one of a number of inter-acting determinants of apparent size. This study has measured the size of the Koehler-Wallach effect with distance varying and has shown that apparent rather than angular size determines the size of the ''satiated'' area. The results lend themselves to the hypothesis that visual size is centrally detd. as a result of interactions among various retinal and other stimuli, but that the entire complex is satiated as a unit.