- Akiyoshi Kitaoka
Akiyoshi Kitaoka (born
August 19 ,1961 in Kochi, Japan) is aProfessor ofPsychology at the College of Letters, "Ritsumeikan University",Kyoto , Japan.In 1984 he received a
BSc from the Department ofBiology , University ofTsukuba , Tsukuba, Japan, where he studied animal psychology (burrowing behavior in rats) and (at the "Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience") neuronal activity of the inferotemporal cortex in Macaque monkeys.After his 1991
PhD from the Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba [under the guidance of the late Japanese Gestalt psychologist and professor emeritus Osamu Fujita] he specialized invisual perception andvisual illusions of geometrical shape, brightness, color, in motion illusions and other visual phenomena like Gestalt completion and perceptual transparency, based on a modern conception ofGestalt Psychology . [ Noguchi, K., Kitaoka, A., and Takashima, M. (2008) Gestalt-oriented perceptual research in Japan: Past and present. Gestalt Theory, 30, 11-28]He became renowned through his "Rotating snakes illusion" (see below).
In 2006 he received the "Gold Prize" of the 9th L'ORÉAL Art and Science of Color contest.
In 2007 he reiceived the "Award for Original Studies" from the "Japanese Society of Cognitive Psychology". [Kitaoka, A. (2008) Cognitive psychology of visual illusion. Japanese Journal of Cognitive Psychology,5, 177-185 (in Japanese with English abstract)] [Kitaoka, A. (2007) Psychological approaches to art. Japanese Journal of Psychonomic Science,26, 97-102 (in Japanese with English abstract)] [Kitaoka, A. and Ashida, H. (2007) A variant of the anomalous motion illusion based upon contrast and visual latency. Perception, 36, 1019-1035. ]
Web links
* http://platform.visiome.neuroinf.jp/modules/xoonips/detail.php?item_id=6291 "Rotating snakes" [Like many of his motion illusions based on the interaction between the peripheral and the
fovea l visual system. Explanation details in German in: Hans-Werner Hunziker, (2006) Im Auge des Lesers: foveale und periphere Wahrnehmung - vom Buchstabieren zur Lesefreude, Transmedia Stäubli Verlag Zürich 2006 ISBN 978-3-7266-0068-6] can be downloaded for non-commercial purposes from the website (RIKEN institute project)]* [http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html Akiyoshi's illusion pages]
References
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