A rose by any other name may smell just as sweet, but tilt it at an unexpected angle and it may still be easy to smell, just not recognize. That is, unless you saw another object - even an unrelated one - presented at the same angle.
Researchers Markus Graf, Daniel Kaping, and H. H. Bulthoff of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany found that despite the misorientation that occurs when objects are at an unusual angle, we are able to reorient ourselves to the new angle and are able to recognize another object at the same unusual angle more easily than the first.
"[O]bject recognition is achieved by performing coordinate transformations that compensate for spatial transformations," they conclude. It's easier for us to see and recognize familiar objects which are presented at their known orientation. When these objects are presented at an unexpected angle, it becomes more difficult to process them.
The findings are presented in the article, "Orientation Congruency Effects for Familiar Objects," in the March 2005 issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society.