Pupil dilation underlies the peripheral drift illusion

A well-known motion illusion can be seen in stationary patterns that contain repeated asymmetrical luminance gradients, which create a sawtooth-like spatial luminance profile. Such patterns can appear to move episodically, triggered by saccadic eye movements and blinks. The illusion has been known since 1979, but its origin remains unclear. Our hypothesis is that episodes of the illusory movement are caused by transitory changes in the retinal luminance of the pattern that accompany reflexive changes in pupil diameter after eye movements, blinks, and pattern onsets. Changes in retinal luminance are already known to cause illusory impressions of motion in patterns that contain asymmetrical luminance gradients. To test the hypothesis, participants viewed static illusion patterns and made controlled blinks or saccades, after which they pressed a button to indicate cessation of any illusion of movement. We measured changes in pupil diameter up to the point at which the illusion ceased. Results showed that both the amplitude and the duration of pupil dilation correlated well with illusion duration, consistent with the role of retinal luminance in generating in the illusions. This new explanation can account for the importance of eye movements and blinks, and for the effects of age and artificial pupils on the strength of the illusion. A simulation of the illusion in which pattern luminance is modulated with the same time-course as that caused by blinks and saccades creates a marked impression of illusory motion, confirming the causal role of temporal luminance change in generating the illusion.