Depth Cues: Relative Size and Perspective Convergence

In this photo, the chocolate hill on the tip of my finger appear to be only as big as I am. Then again, is it? According to the cue of Relative Size, when two objects are of equal size, the one that is farther away will take up less of your field of view than the one that is closer (Goldstein, 2009). This is the reason why in the photo, the hill and I seem to be only of equal size because the real distance of the hill is kilometers away from where I was standing.



This picture, on the other hand, shows another depth cue that is Perspective Convergence. Notice the film strips on the floor. They are parallel lines with equal size but as the lines appear farther, the sizes of the lines become different as well. Goldstein (2009) explains that when parallel lines extend out from an observer, they are perceived as converging or becoming closer together as distance increases.