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Updated: Jul 18, 2026
06:53
Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
Published on: March 1, 2017
10 years of illusions
Jeroen B J Smeets1, Eli Brenner
1Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. j.smeets@fbw.vu.nl
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|December 13, 2006
Summary
The influential Aglioti et al. (1995) experiment, often cited to show action is immune to visual illusions, is re-evaluated. New analysis suggests its support for the two-visual-systems hypothesis is questionable.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- The Aglioti et al. (1995) experiment significantly impacted theories of visual control over human behavior.
- Findings were commonly interpreted to mean that human actions are unaffected by perceptual illusions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically re-examine the simplification of the Aglioti et al. (1995) findings.
- To assess the validity of the two-visual-systems hypothesis in light of subsequent research.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of the four-step simplification of the original experiment's conclusions.
- Review of research published over the last decade concerning visual perception and action.
Main Results:
- The validity of three out of the four steps in the common simplification is found to be doubtful.
- Recent research challenges the interpretation that action is immune to perceptual illusions.
Conclusions:
- The Aglioti et al. (1995) experiment does not provide robust support for the two-visual-systems hypothesis.
- The hypothesis, positing separate visual streams for perception (ventral) and action (dorsal), requires re-evaluation.
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