Biases in the perceived area of different shapes: a comprehensive account and model

Abstract

Common daily tasks require us to estimate surface area. Yet, area judgements are substantially and consistently biased: For example, triangles appear larger than same- area squares and disks. Previous work has explored small subsets of shapes, and related biases in area perception to one or two geometric features, such as height or compactness. However, a broader understanding of shape-related biases is lacking. Here we quantify biases in area perception for a wide variety of shapes and explain them in terms of geometric features. In four online experiments (each N = 35), typical adult observers made 2AFC judgements (“which stimulus has larger area?”) for pairs of stimuli of different shape, orientation, and / or area. We found clear shape-related biases that replicate known biases and extend them to novel shapes. We provide a multi-predictor model (R² = .96) that quantitatively predicts biases in perceived area across 22 shape / orientation combinations.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Veronica Pisu: orcid.org/0000-0002-2717-4874

ORCID for Erich Graf: orcid.org/0000-0002-3162-4233

ORCID for Wendy Adams: orcid.org/0000-0002-5832-1056

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