Our visual realities are flooded with complex and robust natural scenes. New findings in curvature estimation illustrate where our expectations of reality can break down under very simple mechanisms as concrete geometries become perceptually fluid.
Recent experiments in curvature estimation demonstrate that it is possible to induce a perception of increased or decreased curvature on a line (Takahashi 2017). We can exploit the perceptual curvature distortion of this effect, thinking of it as a building block for generating unique shape geometries beyond simple sinusoidal wave forms, as originally demonstrated. In the demonstration below, I apply contrast polarity reversal onto complex fixed paths modulated through time. The alternating increasing and decreasing curvature distortions generate perceptually fluid geometries from rigid forms.
