Do illusory figures have a surface color S Zdravkovic1, Ž Milojevic2 |
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1Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia |
| Kanizsa figures, though only partially outlined, tend to stand out from the background with a surface that even appears to be shaded in a different color. Do the properties of this illusory surface behave in the same way as the properties of real surfaces? Here we used simultaneous lightness contrast (SLC) to explore this question. SLC is a visual illusion in which black and white backgrounds modulate the surface color of targets. We replaced SLC backgrounds with inducers (pacmen) that created illusory targets (gray squares) and contrasted this to regular SLC display. The shape and outline-length of the inducers, as well as shades of the targets, were manipulated in three experiments. Participants made lightness matches using a Munsell scale. The SLC effect was just as strong with illusory targets as with real targets. All other relevant aspects of SLC were also observed: the targets on the dark side of SLC were perceived as lighter, the illusion became stronger when darker targets were used and SLC increased with articulation. These results suggest that illusory figures do have an illusory surface and the color of this surface appears to be treated in the same manner as real surface color. |
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