Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Moving Visual Images produced by Regular Stationary Patterns

Abstract

THE phenomenon mentioned by Dr. Pirenne is one of several side-effects of our patterns which are being separately investigated because they seem to be distinct from the complementary response. Helmholtz's “rotating sectors” are, of course, well known and may be considered as moiré fringes due to the superposition of displaced replicas of the pattern either in the optical image or at a neural level or both. In the ‘ray’ figure described in my previous communication1 similarly fleeting ‘figure of 8’ moiré patterns can be seen as accommodation varies. The simplest way of demonstrating their origin is to cover the stimulus figure with a transparency of itself, when similar fringes appear (Fig. 1), and one can in fact measure the amplitude and direction of the effective retinal image-displacement by observing the displacement required in the transparency to produce the same moiré pattern.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. MacKay, D. M., Nature, 180, 849 (1957).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. MacKay, D. M., Nature, 180, 1145 (1957).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. See, for example, Hunter, W. S., Psych. Rev., 22, 479 (1915).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

MACKAY, D. Moving Visual Images produced by Regular Stationary Patterns. Nature 181, 362–363 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/181362c0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/181362c0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing