Z-Box Illusion

Welcome to the home page of the Z-Box Illusion

The Z-Box Illusion is the observation that when an ambiguous (bistable) object is rotating, it’s direction of motion can be influenced by a secondary object (typically a wireframe-box) surrounding the primary object. The illusion is so powerful it seems to work under a variety of circumstances. This illusion highlights the fragile nature of our everyday perception (things aren’t always what they appear to be).

I discovered this phenomenon while demo’ing some 3D graphics for research studies in 2016. Understanding and researching the illusion was facilitated with help from my PhD advisor–Mike Dodd–and many experts in the fields of cognition and vision sciences.

Since then, the illusion has been:

Presented at the 2017 VSS Demo Night as “The Box That Defined a Movement.”
Submitted for the 2017 “Illusion of the year contest”. While it didn’t place in the top 10, it was thrilling to be able to submit something.
Presented research on the illusion at the 2019 Psychonomics Society and 2019 Vision Sciences Society meetings

Currently, this illusion is being:

Written up as a manuscript for publication (preprint coming soon).
Explored for generalizability across stimuli and conditions.
Tested for individual and cross-cultural differences.
Tested for differences in clinical popolutations.

If you have any ideas or would like to learn more, you can contact me at: joshua.e.zosky@gmail.com

Z-Box Presentations

Here you’ll find information on presentations regarding the Z-Box Illusion. This space has links to posters as well as demo videos for easy viewing while at or away from conference spaces.

All Videos Originally Created by Joshua Zosky, see license information at end of this page.