Testing visual illusions: Evidence from Perception and Mental Imagery J Blanusa1, S Markovic2, S Zdravkovic3 |
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1Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, University of Belgrade, Serbia |
| This study aimed to investigate the relationship between visual perception and visual mental imagery. Relying on neuroimaging data, that indicated great similarity between the processes, we assumed no difference between perception and imagery. However, results obtained in behavioral studies were not unanimous. Therefore, we used visual illusions to establish relationship between the two processes. We also attended to a number of methodological issues reported in previous behavioral studies. Participants were asked to estimate the size of lines in Vertical-horizontal illusion, either in perceptual or imagery task. Results showed no difference in the illusion size in both tasks. In addition, there was no difference in the absolute size of estimated stimuli or in the variability of results (F(1,257)=0.59, p>0.05). In the second experiment we introduced additional factor, stimuli size. Results confirmed previous findings but revealed sex differences in the absolute size of mental image. While male subjects performed equally in the two tasks, female subjects tended to underestimate stimuli size in imagery task. This tendency intensified as the size of stimuli increased (F(2,404)=8.8, p<0.001). It is seems that, unlike male subjects, female subjects create smaller mental images for imagery than for perception. Research supported by Ministry of Education andScience, GrantsNo.179033and III47020. |
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