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Illusions in action: consequences of inconsistent processing of spatial attributes.

Jeroen B J Smeets1, Eli Brenner, Denise D J de Grave

  • 1Afdeling Neurowetenschappen, Erasmus MC, Postbus 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. smeets@fys.fgg.eur.nl

Experimental Brain Research
|November 1, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Visual illusions do not always affect actions as much as perception. This is because actions rely on specific spatial attributes, not just perceived size, influencing how illusions impact goal-directed tasks.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Studies on visual illusions often show reduced impact on action (e.g., grip aperture) compared to perception (e.g., perceived size).
  • This discrepancy has been interpreted as evidence for separate visual systems for perception and action.
  • A key assumption is that grip aperture relies on visual size estimation, which is directly affected by illusions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the assumption that grip aperture is solely based on perceived object size.
  • To investigate why visual illusions differentially affect perceptual judgments and goal-directed actions.
  • To determine if actions are susceptible to visual illusions when relevant spatial attributes are affected.

Main Methods:

  • Review of experimental results on various tasks involving visual illusions and spatial processing.

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  • Analysis of how different spatial attributes (size, position, motion) are processed in perceptual and motor tasks.
  • Evaluation of whether illusions impact actions when they influence the specific spatial attributes used in the task.

    • Main Results:

    • Visual illusions do not uniformly affect all aspects of spatial perception.
    • The influence of an illusion on a task depends on the specific spatial attributes processed, not whether the task is perceptual or motor.
    • Many actions are demonstrably susceptible to visual illusions when the relevant spatial attributes are affected.

    Conclusions:

    • The differential effect of illusions on perception versus action is often due to using different spatial attributes in each task.
    • Grip aperture is not solely dependent on perceived size, explaining its reduced susceptibility to size illusions.
    • Illusions impact tasks based on the specific spatial attributes they manipulate, not inherently on perception-action dissociation.