Ritsumeikan University Research: Science of Illusion
(Nov. 2005) Kitaoka Akiyoshi, an associate professor in the College of Letters Department of Psychology, is one of the only scholars in Japan actively researching the science of visual illusions. Professor Kitaoka defines an illusion as a “misperception of a real object,” adding that defining what is “real” is a difficult task that depends on recognition and epistemology. An illusion is formed when the perceived characteristics of the object differ from the physical characteristics.
Professor Kitaoka first started studying visual illusions when working at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, before coming to RU. He currently researches geometrical, color, lightness, and motion illusions and visual completion, and has become a prominent expert in the field, publishing a wide range of articles on the subject as well as the popular books Trick Eyes, Trick Eyes 2, Trick Eyes Graphics, and the Handbook of the Science of Illusion.
According to Professor Kitaoka, illusion studies began in the 19 th century and many illusions were discovered in the late-19 th and early-20 th centuries. After many years of abundant research devoted to visual illusions, the study of illusions declined dramatically in the 1980s and early 90s. However, illusion studies have been revived recently due to the advancement of information technologies, including useful computer software and advanced printing technology, which allow more complex and precise illusions to be designed. Because recent drawing software offers the use of grey scale and gradation, as well as the ability to use many colors simultaneously, many new visual illusions are currently being discovered.
To create his illusions, Professor Kitaoka uses graphic design software such as CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, and the drawing software included in Microsoft Word in addition to making use of programming languages like Borland Delphi (Pascal). While many people find his illusions beautiful, he considers the illusion designs not art, but the results of scientific experiments. All of the images set out to test hypotheses that serve to advance his study of illusions and their applications for other visual functions. The goal of his research is to test visual mechanisms through visual illusions.
In a study to see why some people see illusions while others do not, Professor Kitaoka found a statistically significant correlation between age and the illusion magnitude, when using his popular “Rotating Snakes” illusion image. The issue of why an older person perceives less illusion magnitude than a younger person is currently under study by his collaborators, but he hypothesizes that it has to do with involuntary eye movement and that measuring eye movement will lead to an answer to the question.
Professor Kitaoka participates in the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), based in Florida, and the European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP). He also collaborates with international colleagues, including Italian illusion scholar Baingio Pinna of the University of Sassari, with whom he has published several papers. In addition, because his research approaches illusions from a phenomenological level, rather than a mechanical level, he often also works closely with psychophysicists within Japan, such as Professor Kuriki Ichiro at the NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Professor Ashida Hiroshi at Kyoto University, and Professor Murakami Ikuya at the University of Tokyo , whose works help to explain illusions with modeling studies. He would like to encourage fans of his work to try creating their own illusions because it is an enjoyable science that blurs the boundaries between psychology and art.
(Nov. 2005) Kitaoka Akiyoshi, an associate professor in the College of Letters Department of Psychology, is one of the only scholars in Japan actively researching the science of visual illusions. Professor Kitaoka defines an illusion as a “misperception of a real object,” adding that defining what is “real” is a difficult task that depends on recognition and epistemology. An illusion is formed when the perceived characteristics of the object differ from the physical characteristics. 
According to Professor Kitaoka, illusion studies began in the 19 th century and many illusions were discovered in the late-19 th and early-20 th centuries. After many years of abundant research devoted to visual illusions, the study of illusions declined dramatically in the 1980s and early 90s. However, illusion studies have been revived recently due to the advancement of information technologies, including useful computer software and advanced printing technology, which allow more complex and precise illusions to be designed. Because recent drawing software offers the use of grey scale and gradation, as well as the ability to use many colors simultaneously, many new visual illusions are currently being discovered. 
