Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion.
Over the last 20 years, visual illusions, like the Ebbinghaus figure, have become widespread to investigate functional segregation of the visual system. This segregation reveals itself, so it is claimed, in the insensitivity of movement to optical illusions. This claim, however, faces contradictory...
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doaj-ec7645e973af4edca4bdbbcb65bf83832020-11-25T00:45:17ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-11-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.01679130586Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion.Hester eKnol0Hester eKnol1Hester eKnol2Raoul eHuys3Raoul eHuys4Raoul eHuys5Jean-Christophe eSarrazin6Viktor K. Jirsa7Viktor K. Jirsa8Viktor K. Jirsa9Aix-Marseille UniversitéInstitut de la Santé et de la Recherche MédicalONERAAix-Marseille UniversitéInstitut de la Santé et de la Recherche MédicalCentre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueONERAAix-Marseille UniversitéInstitut de la Santé et de la Recherche MédicalCentre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueOver the last 20 years, visual illusions, like the Ebbinghaus figure, have become widespread to investigate functional segregation of the visual system. This segregation reveals itself, so it is claimed, in the insensitivity of movement to optical illusions. This claim, however, faces contradictory results (and interpretations) in the literature. These contradictions may be due to methodological weaknesses in, and differences across studies, some of which may hide a lack of perceptual illusion effects. Indeed, despite the long history of research with the Ebbinghaus figure, standardized configurations to predict the illusion effect are missing. Here, we present a complete geometrical description of the Ebbinghaus figure with three target sizes compatible with Fitts’ task. Each trial consisted of a stimulus and an isolated probe. The probe was controlled by the participant’s response through a staircase procedure. The participant was asked whether the probe or target appeared bigger. The factors target size, context size, target-context distance, and a control condition resulted in a 3×3×3+3 factorial design. The results indicate that the illusion magnitude, the perceptual distinctiveness, and the response time depend on the context size, distance, and especially, target size. In 33% of the factor combinations there was no illusion effect. The illusion magnitude ranged from zero to (exceptionally) ten percent of the target size. The small (or absent) illusion effects on perception and its possible influence on motor tasks might have been overlooked or misinterpreted in previous studies. Our results provide a basis for the application of the Ebbinghaus figure in psychophysical and motor control studies.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01679/fullPerceptionVisual Illusionsdorsal streamventral streamEbbinghaus illusion |
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DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Hester eKnol Hester eKnol Hester eKnol Raoul eHuys Raoul eHuys Raoul eHuys Jean-Christophe eSarrazin Viktor K. Jirsa Viktor K. Jirsa Viktor K. Jirsa |
spellingShingle |
Hester eKnol Hester eKnol Hester eKnol Raoul eHuys Raoul eHuys Raoul eHuys Jean-Christophe eSarrazin Viktor K. Jirsa Viktor K. Jirsa Viktor K. Jirsa Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion. Frontiers in Psychology Perception Visual Illusions dorsal stream ventral stream Ebbinghaus illusion |
author_facet |
Hester eKnol Hester eKnol Hester eKnol Raoul eHuys Raoul eHuys Raoul eHuys Jean-Christophe eSarrazin Viktor K. Jirsa Viktor K. Jirsa Viktor K. Jirsa |
author_sort |
Hester eKnol |
title |
Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion. |
title_short |
Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion. |
title_full |
Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion. |
title_fullStr |
Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantifying the Ebbinghaus figure effect: Target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion. |
title_sort |
quantifying the ebbinghaus figure effect: target size, context size, and target-context distance determine the presence and direction of the illusion. |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2015-11-01 |
description |
Over the last 20 years, visual illusions, like the Ebbinghaus figure, have become widespread to investigate functional segregation of the visual system. This segregation reveals itself, so it is claimed, in the insensitivity of movement to optical illusions. This claim, however, faces contradictory results (and interpretations) in the literature. These contradictions may be due to methodological weaknesses in, and differences across studies, some of which may hide a lack of perceptual illusion effects. Indeed, despite the long history of research with the Ebbinghaus figure, standardized configurations to predict the illusion effect are missing. Here, we present a complete geometrical description of the Ebbinghaus figure with three target sizes compatible with Fitts’ task. Each trial consisted of a stimulus and an isolated probe. The probe was controlled by the participant’s response through a staircase procedure. The participant was asked whether the probe or target appeared bigger. The factors target size, context size, target-context distance, and a control condition resulted in a 3×3×3+3 factorial design. The results indicate that the illusion magnitude, the perceptual distinctiveness, and the response time depend on the context size, distance, and especially, target size. In 33% of the factor combinations there was no illusion effect. The illusion magnitude ranged from zero to (exceptionally) ten percent of the target size. The small (or absent) illusion effects on perception and its possible influence on motor tasks might have been overlooked or misinterpreted in previous studies. Our results provide a basis for the application of the Ebbinghaus figure in psychophysical and motor control studies. |
topic |
Perception Visual Illusions dorsal stream ventral stream Ebbinghaus illusion |
url |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01679/full |
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