α. 1900s– Necker cube.
β. 1900s– Necker's cube.
Necker cuben.
/ˈnɛkə ˌkjuːb/, U.S. /ˈnɛkər ˌkjub/ A line drawing of a transparent cube in which lines of opposite sides are drawn parallel and with the same length, so that the perspective is ambiguous and the orientation of the cube appears to alternate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > optical illusion > [noun] > an optical illusion > optical distortions > demonstrations of
phantasmagoria1801
strobic circles1880
Müller-Lyer1895
Necker cube1901
pseudoscopy1910
1901 E. B. Titchener Exper. Psychol. I. ii. ix. 309 The Instructor should have a few prepared as large wall-diagrams:..Schröder's stair-figure, Necker's cube,..the Müller-Lyer figure.
1932 Science 8 Jan. 37/2 He shows that you may see the Necker cube in either perspective, but that you practically can not see it as a flat geometrical design in the plane of the paper.
1966 R. L. Gregory Eye & Brain xiii. 231 Certain figures..are ambiguously seen in depth, for example the Necker cube.
1979 Yale French Stud. No. 58. 16 History is lived and apprehended alternately..along the double perspective of temporality and historicity, as in the optical play of Necker's cube.
1987 Oxf. Compan. Mind 96/1 He did not experience the usual spontaneous depth-reversals of the Necker cube—which appeared to him flat.
2001 Sci. Amer. Jan. 18/1 The reason an optical illusion such as the Necker cube outline..works is that, in some deep biological sense, you are of two minds on the question of what to see.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1901