West Roger W, Van Veen Hank G
College of Optometry, Northeastern State University, 1001 N. Grand Avenue, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, 74464 USA,
J Gen Psychol. 2007 Jul;134(3):313-28. doi: 10.3200/GENP.134.3.313-328.
Ten observers viewed Vermeer's painting Girl With a Pearl Earring and estimated her direction of gaze when her eyes were exposed together and separately. The observers also viewed the painting when her eyes were digitally replaced by those of a real person. The authors found that Vermeer painted the girl's eyes with a precision that was near the limits of visual acuity. Also, Vermeer included 3 gaze illusions, none of which researchers have documented as known in Vermeer's time: (a) when a model whose head is turned to one side gazes at an observer, there is an illusion that she is looking to the side of the observer away from the direction of her head turn; (b) when a model's eyes are viewed separately, they appear to gaze outward relative to each other; and (c) when both of a model's eyes are viewed, the perceived direction of gaze follows that of the nearer eye.
十名观察者观看了维米尔的画作《戴珍珠耳环的少女》，并估计了在少女双眼同时暴露和分别暴露时她的注视方向。观察者们还在少女的眼睛被数码替换为真人眼睛的情况下观看了这幅画。作者发现，维米尔描绘少女眼睛的精确程度接近视力极限。此外，维米尔还融入了三种注视错觉，研究人员并未记录到这些错觉在维米尔所处时代是已知的：（a）当一个头部转向一侧的模特注视观察者时，会有一种错觉，即她看起来看向观察者远离其头部转动方向的一侧；（b）当分别观看模特的双眼时，它们看起来相对于彼此向外注视；（c）当同时观看模特的双眼时，感知到的注视方向遵循较近眼睛的方向。
