Does the Muller-Lyer illusion include the misperception of egocentric location?

Anchoring lines and the Mueller-Lyer illusion.

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e460842004-001 ◽

1970 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lloyd L. Avant ◽

Mike Kent

Keyword(s):

Lyer Illusion

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People Are Less Susceptible to Illusion When They Use Their Hands to Communicate Rather Than Estimate

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797621991552 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095679762199155

Author(s):

Amanda R. Brown ◽

Wim Pouw ◽

Diane Brentari ◽

Susan Goldin-Meadow

Keyword(s):

American Sign Language ◽

Sign Language ◽

English Speakers ◽

American Sign ◽

Estimation Task ◽

Sign Languages ◽

Lyer Illusion ◽

Description Task ◽

The Way

When we use our hands to estimate the length of a stick in the Müller-Lyer illusion, we are highly susceptible to the illusion. But when we prepare to act on sticks under the same conditions, we are significantly less susceptible. Here, we asked whether people are susceptible to illusion when they use their hands not to act on objects but to describe them in spontaneous co-speech gestures or conventional sign languages of the deaf. Thirty-two English speakers and 13 American Sign Language signers used their hands to act on, estimate the length of, and describe sticks eliciting the Müller-Lyer illusion. For both gesture and sign, the magnitude of illusion in the description task was smaller than the magnitude of illusion in the estimation task and not different from the magnitude of illusion in the action task. The mechanisms responsible for producing gesture in speech and sign thus appear to operate not on percepts involved in estimation but on percepts derived from the way we act on objects.

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The Influence of Exploration Mode, Orientation, and Configuration on the Haptic Müller-Lyer Illusion

Perception ◽

10.1068/p5269 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 34 (12) ◽

pp. 1475-1500 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Morton A Heller ◽

Melissa McCarthy ◽

Jennifer Schultz ◽

Jayme Greene ◽

Melissa Shanley ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Index Finger ◽

Spatial Position ◽

Lyer Illusion ◽

Free Exploration ◽

And Control ◽

The Impact ◽

Practical Implications

We studied the impact of manner of exploration, orientation, spatial position, and configuration on the haptic Müller-Lyer illusion. Blindfolded sighted subjects felt raised-line Müller-Lyer and control stimuli. The stimuli were felt by tracing with the index finger, free exploration, grasping with the index finger and thumb, or by measuring with the use of any two or more fingers. For haptic judgments of extent a sliding tangible ruler was used. The illusion was present in all exploration conditions, with overestimation of the wings-out compared to wings-in stimuli. Tracing with the index finger reduced the magnitude of the illusion. However, tracing and grasping induced an overall underestimation of size. The illusion was greatly attenuated when stimuli were felt with the index fingers of both hands. Illusory misperception was not altered by the position in space of the Müller-Lyer stimuli. No effects of changes in the thickness of the line shaft were found, but there were effects of the length of the wing endings for the smaller, 5.1 cm stimuli. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

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