Ames, Adelbert, Jr. (1880-1955), was an American scientist known for his research in optics and visual perception. His views on visual perception are known as the transactional approach.
Ames believed that a person’s perception of the world confirms what the individual expects to see. Such expectations, according to Ames, result from past experiences—both conscious and subconscious. In one of the visual illusions that Ames designed to study this problem, a familiar object such as a playing card is increased in size while an observer views it. The observer would not say the card was increasing in size because the person would not expect it to do so. Instead, the person would conclude the card was moving closer.
Ames was born on Aug. 19, 1880, in Lowell, Massachusetts. He earned an LL.B. at Harvard University. He died on July 3, 1955, in Hanover, New Hampshire.
