Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2025

Applying Incongruent Visual-Tactile Stimuli during Object Transfer with Vibro-Tactile Feedback
Published on: May 23, 2019
A novel visual illusion paradigm provides evidence for a general factor of illusion sensitivity and personality
Dominique Makowski1,2, An Shu Te3, Stephanie Kirk3
1School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore. D.Makowski@sussex.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Visual illusions are a gateway to understand how we construct our experience of reality. Unfortunately, important questions remain open, such as the hypothesis of a common factor underlying the sensitivity to different types of illusions, as well as of personality correlates of illusion sensitivity. In this study, we used a novel parametric framework for visual illusions to generate 10 different classic illusions (Delboeuf, Ebbinghaus, Rod and Frame, Vertical-Horizontal, Zöllner, White, Müller-Lyer, Ponzo, Poggendorff, Contrast) varying in strength, embedded in a perceptual discrimination task. We tested the objective effect of the illusions on errors and response times, and extracted participant-level performance scores (n=250) for each illusion. Our results provide evidence in favour of a general factor underlying the sensitivity to different illusions (labelled Factor i). Moreover, we report a positive link between illusion sensitivity and personality traits such as Agreeableness, Honesty-Humility, and negative relationships with Psychoticism, Antagonism, Disinhibition, and Negative Affect.
Related Concept Videos
Cause and Effect
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Perceptual Constancy
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Deindividuation

