PEOPLE are better at spotting imperfect circles than dodgy squares.
Johannes Zanker at the Australian National University in Canberra asked five
people to distinguish perfect circles from minutely stretched ellipsoids, and
squares from 鈥渘ear-square鈥� rectangles (Naturwissenschaften, vol 86, p
492). The observers were more sensitive to the deviations in the circles than
the distorted squares.
People鈥檚 brains judge spatial relationships best when they see whole curved
shapes, Zanker believes. 鈥淏y investigating such problems, we get clues about the
strategies and tricks which the brain is using to help us survive in a demanding
visual environment,鈥� he says.
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