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The Moon Illusion

• Edited by Maurice Hershenson

• Price: $125.00
• Binding: Hardback
• Pages: 472
• Published by: Psychology Press
• Publication Date: 1st November 1989
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-0121-7

About the Book

This unique volume attempts to answer one of mankind's oldest puzzles -- why the moon appears to be larger and closer on the horizon than when it is high in the sky. Over the centuries, many viable solutions have been proposed for this psychological phenomenon. The Moon Illusion presents papers by major theorists striving to explain the illusion and providing commentaries on the works of others.

Research on the moon illusion has been scattered throughout journals in many disciplines including philosophy, physiology, physics, and psychology. As the first publication to present a comprehensive treatment of the problem, this book is of vital interest to professionals whose major concern is visual perception, experimental psychology, or the neurosciences. Of additional interest to those whose focus is physics or astronomy.

Table of Contents

Contents: M. Hershenson, That Most Puzzling Illusion. C. Plug, H.E. Ross, Historical Review. Part I:Explanations of the Moon Illusion. S.N. Roscoe, The Zoom-Lens Hypothesis. J.T. Enright, The Eye, the Brain, and the Size of the Moon: Toward a Unified Oculomotor Hypothesis for the Moon Illusion. M. Hershenson, Moon Illusion as Anomaly. M. Wagner, J.C. Baird, K. Fuld, Transformation Model of the Moon Illusion. A.S. Gilinsky, The Moon Illusion in a Unified Theory of Visual Space. L. Kaufman, I. Rock, The Moon Illusion Thirty Years Later. W.C. Gogel, D.L. Mertz, The Contribution of Heuristic Processes to the Moon Illusion. G.R. Lockhead, M.L. Wolbarsht, The Moon and Other Toys. C.F. Reed, Terrestrial and Celestial Passage. Part II:Commentary. H.W. Leibowitz, D.A. Owens, Multiple Mechanisms of the Moon Illusion and Size Perception. H. Wallach, E. Berson, Measurements of the Illusion. R.N. Haber, C.A. Levin, The Lunacy of Moon Watching: Some Preconditions on Explanations of the Moon Illusion. J.A. Da Silva, Gogel's Laws and the Simulated Moon Illusion in a Large Open Field. R.H. Day, T.E. Parks, To Exorcize a Ghost from the Perceptual Machine. S. Coren, The Many Moon Illusions: An Integration Through Analysis. T.E. Parks, A Brief Comment. Part III:Conclusion. M. Hershenson, The Puzzle Remains. C. Plug, Annotated Bibliography.