Akiyoshi Kitaoka (北岡 明佳, Kitaoka Akiyoshi, born August 19, 1961) is a Professor of Psychology at the College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan, who has been referred to as "a master of optical art".[1]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Peripheral_drift_illusion_rotating_snakes.svg/400px-Peripheral_drift_illusion_rotating_snakes.svg.png)
In 1984, he received a BSc from the Department of Biology, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, where he studied animal psychology (burrowing behavior in rats) and (at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience) neuronal activity of the inferotemporal cortex in macaque monkeys. After his 1991 PhD from the Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba,[2] he specialized in visual perception and visual illusions of geometrical shape, brightness, color, in motion illusions and other visual phenomena like Gestalt completion and Perceptual transparency, based on a modern conception of Gestalt Psychology.[3]
The authors of a review of the last 25 years of motion psychophysics wrote,[4]
At about the same time that the Pinna illusion was published, Akiyoshi Kitaoka started to produce seemingly unending variants of images that contain illusory motion. Perhaps the most famous of these, entitled 'Rotating snakes', involves several components, as, perhaps, all good illusions do...
The Rotating Snakes[5][6] peripheral drift illusion has been widely circulated, as have many of his other images.[7][8] Backus and Oruc wrote that Kitaoka created these images by a kind of "evolutionary process": "Patterns that gave rise to the maximum illusory motion were selected, and new patterns were made by varying them in an iterative cycle."[9]
In 2008, his designs were the inspiration for the experimental pop band Animal Collective's critically acclaimed album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, which features a leaf covered optical illusion.[10]
He was asked by Jeff Koons to provide illusions for the interior packaging of Lady Gaga's 2013 album Artpop, and a version of his "Hatpin urchin" image appears on the CD itself.[11]
Awards
editIn 2006, he received the Gold Prize of the 9th L'ORÉAL Art and Science of Color contest.
In 2007, he received the Award for Original Studies from the Japanese Society of Cognitive Psychology.[12][13][14]
References
edit- ^ Seckel, A. (2004). Masters of Deception: Escher, Dalí & the Artists of Optical Illusion. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-4027-0577-9.
- ^ under the guidance of the late Japanese Gestalt psychologist and professor emeritus Osamu Fujita
- ^ Noguchi, K., Kitaoka, A., and Takashima, M. (2008) Gestalt-oriented perceptual research in Japan: Past and present. Gestalt Theory, 30, 11-28
- ^ Burr, David; Thompson, Peter (2011). "Motion psychophysics: 1985–2010". Vision Research. 51 (13). Elsevier BV: 1431–1456. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2011.02.008. ISSN 0042-6989.
- ^ Murakami, I.; Kitaoka, A.; Ashida, H. (2010-03-19). "Artificial image oscillation enhances the rotating snakes illusion". Journal of Vision. 6 (6): 551–551. doi:10.1167/6.6.551. ISSN 1534-7362.
- ^ Lombrozo, Tania (March 24, 2014). "The Rotating Snakes Are All In Your Mind". NPR. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Dizzying optical illusions by Akiyoshi Kitaoka – in pictures". the Guardian. October 19, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ "Professor Akiyoshi Kitaoka's optical illusions". The Telegraph. August 5, 2014. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ^ Backus, Benjamin T.; Oruç, Ipek (December 30, 2005). "Illusory motion from change over time in the response to contrast and luminance". Journal of Vision. 5 (11). Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO): 10. doi:10.1167/5.11.10. ISSN 1534-7362.
- ^ "Cubism on A Pop Song: Animal Collective's Tangerine Reef and 5 other audio-visual spectacles". proxy music. 2018-07-20. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
- ^ Kitaoka, Akiyoshi (2014). "Visual illusion in ARTPOP and pop art". The Japanese Journal of Psychonomic Science. 32 (2): 232–234. doi:10.14947/psychono.KJ00009351489. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ Kitaoka, A. (2008) Cognitive psychology of visual illusion. Japanese Journal of Cognitive Psychology,5, 177-185 (in Japanese with English abstract)
- ^ Kitaoka, A. (2007) Psychological approaches to art. Japanese Journal of Psychonomic Science,26, 97-102 (in Japanese with English abstract)
- ^ Kitaoka, A. and Ashida, H. (2007) A variant of the anomalous motion illusion based upon contrast and visual latency. Perception, 36, 1019-1035.
External links
edit- "Rotating snakes" can be downloaded for non-commercial purposes from the website (RIKEN institute project)[1]
- Akiyoshi's illusion pages
- ^ Like many of his motion illusions based on the interaction between the peripheral and the foveal visual system. Explanation details in German in: Hans-Werner Hunziker, (2006) Im Auge des Lesers: foveale und periphere Wahrnehmung - vom Buchstabieren zur Lesefreude, Transmedia Stäubli Verlag Zürich 2006 ISBN 978-3-7266-0068-6