Demo (2/3): Solidity shapes the perception of object motion

Explanation
Now most participants saw the rings move in stable 180° rotations, as if they are "avoiding" to traverse each other.

In reality, the rings are the same as before, except that now they overlap.

This suggests that our visual system uses the physical law of "object solidity" (i.e., objects cannot pass through each other) to interpret ambiguous motions: When the stimuli are compatible with multiple interpretations, the visual system favors the interpretations that respect this law over those that violate it.

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Separated Overlapping Gapped