Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2025

Applying Incongruent Visual-Tactile Stimuli during Object Transfer with Vibro-Tactile Feedback
Published on: May 23, 2019
The Vanishing Coin Illusion: When sound congruence affects visual representation of motion
Morgan Begey1, André Didierjean1, Cyril Thomas2
1University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France.
Abstract:
In the "classic" vanishing ball illusion (VBI), a magician pretends to throw a ball and the audience sees it go up and then disappear. To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved, we conducted two experiments to analyze the permeability of this type of illusion to auditory information. A modified version of the VBI (i.e., the Vanishing Coin Illusion [VCI]), was presented, and this was either accompanied by a sound or was not. The results show that the presence of a sound adds to the success of the illusion (Experiment 1), especially when this sound is congruent with the illusion (Experiment 2). Based on these results, we discuss the mechanisms at work in this illusion.
Related Concept Videos
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...
Perception of Sound Waves
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Sound Waves: Interference
Echo
Imagine the sound is reflected back to the ears. Assuming that the source is very close to the human, the difference between hearing the two sounds—the emitted sound and the reflected sound—may be more than the minimum time for perceiving distinct sounds. If this is the case,...
Doppler Effect - II

