The Pong Effect as a Robust Visual Illusion: Evidence From Manipulating Instructions

Visual perception is not always veridical but can be influenced by factors such as ease of acting, energetic cost, and even body type of the observer. This notion is called action-specific perception. Several effects of action capability on visual perception have been found, but there is much controversy as to whether these effects are truly perceptual. Because perception cannot be measured directly, resolving the controversy relies on ruling out alternative explanations through systematic testing. We combined one of the most robust action-specific effects (the Pong effect) with one of the primary suggestions for exploring an alternative explanation, namely whether the effect persists across instructions that emphasize different aspects of the task. The Pong effect was robust to the type of instructions. The results provide critical evidence that the Pong effect is truly perceptual, furthering the argument that a person's ability to act can influence visual perception.