THE DEPENDENCE OF 2-DIMENSIONAL SHAPE PERCEPTION ON ORIENTATION

While it is true that in daily life we generally recognize objects reg ardless of their orientation, previous experiments involving novel sha pes indicate a decline in recognition when these are tested in altered orientation. Here the question is raised of whether there is a compon ent of shape perception based purely on the geometry of an object, ind ependent of orientation. By means of two tests designed to eliminate a wareness of change of orientation, one more stringent than used hereto fore, it was found that shape perception is dependent on orientation. The apparent contradiction between these findings and the apparent ori entation-free character of recognition in daily life is discussed.