The Bourdon Illusion Occurs with Straight-, Right-angle-, and Parallel-edge Figures

The Bourdon illusion is the apparent bentness of the straight edge of a figure consisting of two elongated triangular components arranged apex to apex. In three experiments, the illusion was shown to occur in the opposite direction, with the components arranged base to base. It was also shown to occur with the component edges at right angles and parallel. With the edges at right angles, the illusion also occurred in one direction when the components were apex to apex and occurred in the opposite direction when they were base to base. Supplementary observations indicated that the illusion is stronger when the components are relatively small and widely separated and eliminated when one of the two edges is curved.