Research Interests

Arthur Shapiro specializes in the areas of visual perception and neuroscience, and works on topics related to color perception, motion, visual camouflage, and low-light-level vision. He is best known for creating visual illusions that serve to elucidate the connections between perception, the brain, and the physical world.

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

• Top 10 illusions of the year (international contest sponsored by the Neural Correlate Society)
• Dramatically Different Percepts between Foveal and Peripheral Vision (2008), Knight, E. J., Shapiro, A. G., & Lu, Z. L. 
• Perpetual Collisions (2008), Shapiro, A. G. & Knight, E. J.
• Where Has All the Motion Gone? (2007), Third prize, Shapiro, A. G. & Knight, E. J.
• Swimmers, Eels and Other Gradient-Gradient Illusions (2007), Knight, E. J. & Shapiro, A. G.
• Weaves’ and the Hermann Grid (2007), Hamburger, K. & Shapiro, A. G.
• Motion-Illusion Building Blocks (2005), First prize, Shapiro, A. G. & Charles, J. P.

Professional Presentations

Recent invited lectures "Color is slow; color contrast is fast."  Keynote lecture, International Colour Vision Society Conference, Braga, Portugal (July 2009).

• “Separating color from color contrast: the implications for motion and brightness illusions.” Centre for Visual Science, York University, Toronto, Canada (February 2009).
• "Why are we surprised by only some of the things we see? Spatial contrast, color contrast, and visual illusions." Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (May 2008).
• "Contrast, Color, and Neuroscience." Lehigh University, Graduate Sponsored Colloquium, Biology department (March 2008).

Recent conference presentations

• Shapiro, A. G., Knight, E. J., & Lu, Z. L. (2008). "Feature blur in peripheral vision."  Society for Neuroscience, Washington D.C.
• Shapiro, A. G., Knight, E. J., & Lu, Z. L. (2008). "Spatial scale models of lightness illusions: contrast, anchoring, and tunable filters."Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL. 
• Shapiro, A. G. (2007).  "Temporal and spatial factors that influence luminance gauge photometry."  Festschrift for Joel Pokorny and Vivianne Smith, Chicago, IL.
• Shapiro, A. G., Smith, J., & Knight, E. (2007).  "Spatial scale and simultaneous contrast phenomena." Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL.   

Professional Services

• Judge, Best illusion of the year, Neural Correlate Society, 2006
• Co-curator, Demonstration Night (exhibit of educational visual displays), Vision Sciences Society, 2007-2009

Selected Publications

• Shapiro, A.G. (2008). "Spatial and temporal influences on the contrast gauge asynchrony." Vision Research, Vol. 48, No. 26, pp. 2642-2648.  
• Shapiro, A. G. (2008). "Separating color from color contrast." Journal of Vision, Vol. 8, No. 1:8, pp. 1-18. doi:10.1167/8.1.8.
• Shapiro, A.G. & Hamburger, K. (2007). "Grouping by contrast—figure-ground segregation is not necessarily fundamental." Perception, Vol. 36, No. 7, pp. 1104-1107.
• Shapiro, A. G., Charles, J. P., & Shear-Heyman, M. (2005). "Visual illusions based on single-field  contrast asynchronies." Journal of Vision. Vol. 5, No. 10, pp. 764-782. 
• Shapiro, A. G., D’Antona, A. D., Smith, J. B., Belano, L. A., & Charles, J. P. (2004). "Induced contrast asynchronies may be useful for luminance photometry." Visual Neuroscience, Vol. 21, pp. 243-247.
• Shapiro, A. G., D’Antona, A. D., Charles, J. P., Belano, L. A., Smith, J. B., & Shear-Heyman, M. (2004). "Induced contrast asynchronies." Journal of Vision, Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 459-468.
• Shapiro, A. G., Hood, S. M., & Mollon, J. D. (2003). "Temporal sensitivity and contrast adaptation." Normal and Defective Colour Vision, Oxford University Press.
• Shapiro, A. G., Beere, J. L., & Zaidi, Q. (2003). "Time course of S-cone system adaptation to simple and complex fields." Vision Research, Vol. 43, pp. 1135-1147.
• Shapiro, A. G. (2002). "Cone-specific mediation of rod system sensitivity." Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 898-905.  

Grants and Sponsored Research

• National Institutes of Health (NIH), AREA Award 2000-2003 
• Medical Research Foundation of Oregon, 1995-1997
• National Institutes of Health (NIH), Individual National Research Service Award, 1992-1995  

Media Appearances

Professor Shapiro’s visual illusions have been used for educational purposes in Japanese television shows, including:

• Most Popular Lectures, Nippon Television Network
• Dreamvision, Nippon Television Network
• The Best House 123, Fuji Television Network
• Amazing Stories, Fuji Television Network

Professor Shapiro’s illusionsciences.com blog has received positive commentary at many websites, including:

• Freakonomics blog of The New York Times
• The Daily Dish, the blog of Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic Monthly
• The Situationist, the blog associated with The Project on Law and Mind Sciences at Harvard Law School

Exhibitions/Performances

Exhibitions/Performances

• “Disturbance,” Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University (2006)

Exhibits for Vision Sciences Society Demonstration Night

• Knight, E. J., Shapiro, A. G., & Lu, Z.L. (2008).  "Illusions that illustrate fundamental differences  between foveal and peripheral vision." Naples, FL.
• Shapiro, A. G., & Knight, E. J. (2008). "Perpetual collisions, long-range argyles, and other  illusions." Naples, FL.
• Shapiro, A. G., Knight, E. J., & Johnson, T. (2007). "’Where has all the motion gone?’ and other visual effects." Sarasota, FL.
• Hamburger, K. & Shapiro, A.G. (2007). "Weaves." Sarasota, FL.
• Shapiro, A.G., Knight, E, J, Palmor, Y., & Mancusi, D. (2006). Swimmers, eels and other gradient-gradient illusions. Sarasota, FL.
• Shapiro, A. G., & Charles, J. P. (2005). "Contrast asynchronies: 57 varieties." Sarasota, FL.
• Shapiro, A. G. & D’Antona, A. D. (2004). "The Winking Effect." Sarasota, FL.