Turn yourself around as the spinning dancer: Sound modulates the spinning direction of the silhouette illusion A-Y Chang, S-L Yeh |
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Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
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| In the silhouette illusion, the profile of a female dancer can be perceived as spinning clockwise or counterclockwise. Since a spinning object is often accompanied by a sound change, we examine whether adding a sound track that changes volume consistent with what the dancer would hear were she moving in that direction can alter participant experience of the illusion. We discovered that participants reported more switches in direction of spin with sound than without, and that the perceived spin direction was consistent with the dancer’s perspective—what she would hear—rather than with the participant’s perspective. Indeed, these findings correlate with participants' aptitude for perspective-taking and empathic concern. This is the first study to demonstrate that dynamic, sensory stimuli affect participants’ experience of the illusion in a way that is peripersonal—not for them, but for the dancer. That is they see the rotation in a way consistent with sensory experiences that they attribute to the dancer. |
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