An antidote to illusory inferences

The mental model theory predicts that reasoners normally represent what is true, but not what is false. One consequence is that reasoners should make “illusory” inferences, which are compelling but invalid. Three experiments confirmed the existence of such illusions based on disjunctions of disjunctions. They also established a successful antidote to them: Reasoners are much less likely to succumb to illusions if the inferences concern disjunctions of physical objects (alternative newspaper advertisements) rather disjunctions of the truth values of assertions. The results shed light both on the cause of the illusions and on the current controversy among different theories of reasoning.     

Sexual similarity,complementarity, accuracy,and overperception in same‐sex couples

We examined whether similarity, complementarity, accuracy, and positive illusions exist within the sex lives of same‐sex romantic couples. Partners had similar and complementary sexual desires and they perceived each other's desires with considerable accuracy; these effects were greater than in randomly matched pseudocouples. As evidence of positive sexual illusions, people overperceived sexual similarity and complementarity, and they overperceived the accuracy with which their partner knew their desires. Using actor–partner interdependence models (D. A. Kenny, D. A. Kashy, & W. L. Cook, 2006), similarity, complementarity, and positive illusions predicted sexual satisfaction, but a partner's actual accuracy did not. In parallel with earlier findings from heterosexual couples, this work indicates that positive sexual illusions are motivated cognitive processes that benefit sexual satisfaction, as theories of relationship maintenance suggest.     

Negative cognitive errors and positive illusions for negative divorce events: Predictors of children's psychological adjustment

This study examined the relations among negative cognitive errors regarding hypothetical negative divorce events, positive illusions about those same events, actual divorce events, and psychological adjustment in 38 8- to 12-year-old children whose parents had divorced within the previous 2 years. Children's scores on a scale of negative cognitive errors (catastmphizing, overgeneralizing, and personalizing) correlated significantly with self-reported symptoms of anxiety and self-esteem, and with maternal reports of behavior problems. Children's scores on a scale measuring positive illusions (high self-regard, illusion of personal control, and optimism for the future) correlated significantly with less self-reported aggression. Both appraisal types accounted for variance in some measures of symptomatology beyond that explained by actual events. There was no significant association between children's negative cognitive errors and positive illusions. The implications of these results for theories of negative cognitive errors and of positive illusions, as well as for future research, are discussed.     

Some variation of the twisted cord illusion and their analyses

Two approaches to the analysis of the twisted cord illusion are discussed. One suggests that the illusion is produced by embedded illusions (e.g., Zollner’s illusion); the other points to nonillusion features such as the lines of the cord strands. A number of novel variations of the illusion are presented, and four experiments using these variations are described in an attempt to discern which of the two approaches was more viable. The implications of these remits for various theories, including a multicomponent theory, are discussed.     

Illusory illusions: the significance of fixation on the perception of geometrical illusions

Some well-known geometrical illusions disappear when the eyes are fixating and saccades are suppressed for a period of time. This disappearance is not accompanied by fading due to stabilisation of the retinal image. Any saccade made on purpose restores the illusion immediately. The fixation time after which some illusions disappeared was measured for four illusions and four subjects each. Effects of practice have been observed after measurements were repeated on successive days. Present theories of vision cannot readily explain the effect.     

Assimilation and contrast in geometrical illusions: a theoretical analysis.

It is argued that an unwarranted dichotomization of geometrical illusions has produced theories whose explanatory scope is limited to either assimilation or contrast. Since recent attempts at integration lack precision, a 1977 unified model of the perception of extent by Brigner was revised to predict accurately both assimilative and contrastive phases of the parallel lines illusion. Application of the revised model to other geometrical illusions was discussed and a means of parsimoniously accounting for variations in assimilative illusions occurring with age and with lightness of the stimulus figure was suggested.     

Geometrical haptic illusions revisited: Haptic illusions compared with visual illusions

Révész (1934) reported that haptic illusions were observed in almost all of the geometrical optical illusion figures. The present study reexamined seven geometrical illusions in both haptic and visual modes. In the Müller-Lyer, Ponzo, and vertical-horizontal figures, haptic illusions equivalent to the visual illusions were observed. In the Oppel-Kundt figure, a haptic illusion similar to the visual one was obtained. In the haptic Delboeuf stimuli, the size illusion of the outer circle occurred, whereas that of the inner circle did not. No haptic illusion was obtained in the Poggendorff figure. In the Zöllner figure, a haptic illusion directionally opposite to the visual one was obtained. These results show that haptic illusions do not occur in all of the geometrical illusion figures. They also suggest that haptic illusions are not necessarily mediated by visualization and that haptic processing of the figures often occurs in a manner different from vision.     

Illusions and Knowing What Is Real

Geometrical illusions are displays that give false impressions that observers take to be accurate. They have traditionally been cited as evidence against the naive realist claim that people see the world as it "really" is. Such illusions, however, often depend on their being viewed from a single vantage point (Kennedy & Portal, 1990). In Gibsonian terms, they depend on the availability of impoverished information. In this study, spatial transformations were applied to line-length (Sander parallelogram) and area (Jastrow curves) illusions to provide information to observers about veridical size. In particular, the reversal of certain parts of the displays resulted in informative invariants that specified the veridical nature of the parts. Most observers were able to use the information.     

Last but not least.

New variations of the spiral illusion are demonstrated. They include spiral illusions of the Café Wall illusion and the Z?llner illusion, as well as other new orientation illusions. Thus the spiral illusion is not limited to the Fraser illusion. We discuss the role that detectors of spirals in a higher visual area might play in the spiral illusion.     

Testing the tilt-constancy theory of visual illusions

Prinzmetal and Beck (2001) Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 27 206 - 217) argued that a subset of visual illusions is caused by the same mechanisms that are responsible for the perception of vertical and horizontal a theory they referred to as the tilt-constancy theory of visual illusions. They argued that these illusions should increase if the observer's head or head and body are tilted because extra reliance would then be placed on the illusion-inducing local visual context. Exactly that result had previously been reported in the case of the tilted-room and the rod-and-frame illusions. Prinzmetal and Beck reported similar increases in the tilt illusion (TI), as well as the Z?llner, Poggendorff, and Ponzo illusions. In two experiments, we re-examined the effect of head tilt on the TI. In experiment 1, we used more conventional TI stimuli, more standard experimental methods, and a more complete experimental design than Prinzmetal and Beck, and additionally extended the investigation to attraction as well as repulsion effects. Experiment 2 more closely replicated the Prinzmetal and Beck stimuli. Although we found that head tilt did increase TIs in both experiments, the increases were of the order of 1 degrees -2 degrees, more modest than the 7 degrees reported by Prinzmetal and Beck. Significantly, the TI increase was larger when inducing tilts and head tilts were in the same direction than when they were in opposite directions, suggesting that the tilt-constancy theory may be oversimplified. In addition, because previous evidence renders unlikely the claim that the Poggendorff illusion can be explained simply in terms of misperceived orientation of the transversals, the question arises whether there might be some other explanation for the increase in the Z?llner, Poggendorff, and Ponzo illusions with body tilt that Prinzmetal and Beck reported.     

Geometrical haptic illusions revisited: haptic illusions compared with visual illusions.

Révész (1934) reported that haptic illusions were observed in almost all of the geometrical optical illusion figures. The present study reexamined seven geometrical illusions in both haptic and visual modes. In the Müller-Lyer, Ponzo, and vertical-horizontal figures, haptic illusions equivalent to the visual illusions were observed. In the Oppel-Kundt figure, a haptic illusion similar to the visual one was obtained. In the haptic Delboeuf stimuli, the size illusion of the outer circle occurred, whereas that of the inner circle did not. No haptic illusion was obtained in the Poggendorff figure. In the Z?llner figure, a haptic illusion directionally opposite to the visual one was obtained. These results show that haptic illusions do not occur in all of the geometrical illusion figures. They also suggest that haptic illusions are not necessarily mediated by visualization and that haptic processing of the figures often occurs in a manner different from vision.     

Modularist explanations of experience and other illusions

Debates about modularity invariably involve a crucial premise about how visual illusions are experienced. This paper argues that these debates are wrongheaded, and that experience of illusions is orthogonal to the core issue of the modularity hypothesis: informational encapsulation.     

Self-monitoring and the association between confidence and accuracy

A personality prediction task in which a confidence rating accompanies each judgment is used to test the hypotheses that self-monitoring is positively related to accuracy, positively related to confidence, negatively related to calibration, and capable of acting as a moderator of the relationship between accuracy and confidence. Data from 101 university students support two of these predictions: High self-monitors exhibit more confidence and poorer calibration than low self-monitors. Concern for appropriateness is found to be unrelated to all other variables studied. Results are discussed in the context of socioanalytic theory and recent theories of self-presentation, affectivity, and the relationship between illusions and well-being.     

Disjunctive illusory inferences and how to eliminate them

The mental model theory of reasoning postulates that individuals construct mental models of the possibilities in which the premises of an inference hold and that these models represent what is true but not what is false. An unexpected consequence of this assumption is that certain premises should yield systematically invalid inferences. This prediction is unique among current theories of reasoning, because no alternative theory, whether based on formal rules of inference or on probabilistic considerations, predicts these illusory inferences. We report three studies of novel illusory inferences that depend on embedded disjunctions—for example, premises of this sort: A or else (B or else C). The theory distinguishes between those embedded disjunctions that should yield illusions and those that should not. In Experiment 1, we corroborated this distinction. In Experiment 2, we extended the illusory inferences to a more stringently controlled set of problems. In Experiment 3, we established a novel method for reducing illusions by calling for participants to make auxiliary inferences.     

Empathy in intimate relationships: The role of positive illusions

Previous studies have shown empathy to be an important aspect of a high quality intimate relationship. Likewise, positive illusions about a partner's characteristics have been shown to contribute to relationship quality. The present study connects these issues by examining the degree to which individuals hold positive illusions about a partner's level of empathy, and the extent to which these positive illusions are related to relationship quality and adjustment in a sample of 55 couples. Results showed that positive illusions concerning a partner's level of empathy were only held by women. In addition, people's evaluation of relationship quality and adjustment was consistently related to both their own and their partner's positive empathy illusions. Finally, an interaction effect was found between participant sex and the partner effect of positive empathy illusions: the illusions held by the partner (only for men) were related to relationship quality. Results and implications for theory and relationship counseling are discussed.     

A new set of illusions--the dynamic luminance-gradient illusion and the breathing light illusion

A novel set of illusions that break brightness constancy and size constancy at the same time is reported. The illusions occur when observers move towards or away from these patterns. Many variations of these phenomena and a possible explanation are discussed.     

Semantic processing in “associative” false memory

We studied the semantic properties of a class of illusions, of which the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm is the most prominent example, in which subjects falsely remember words that are associates of studied words. We analyzed DRM materials for 16 dimensions of semantic content and assessed the ability of these dimensions to predict interlist variability in false memory. For the more general class of illusions, we analyzed pairs of presented and unpresented words that varied in associative strength for the presence of these same 16 semantic properties. DRM materials proved to be exceptionally rich in meaning, as indexed by these semantic properties. Variability in false recall, false recognition, and backward associative strength loaded on a single semantic factor (familiarity/meaningfulness), whereas variability in true recall loaded on a quite different factor (imagery/concreteness). For word association generally, 15 semantic properties varied reliably with forward or backward association between words. Implications for semantic versus associative processing in this class of illusions, for dual-process theories, and for semantic properties of word associations are discussed. nt]mis|The present article was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institutes of Health (MH-061211) and the National Science Foundation (BCS 0553225) to C.J.B. and V.F.R., a grant from the National Cancer Institute (R13CA126359) to V.F.R., and a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council U.K. (RES-062-23-0452) to M.L.H.     

Gradients of distortion seen in the context of the Ponzo illusion and other contours

It is suggested that the spatial distortion evident in the Ponzo figure is a special case of a more general illusion in which a gradient of attenuation appears within areas bounded by angular brackets. The magnitude of this gradient is measured in five lines seen against a number of angular contexts. A similar gradient appears also in the presence of single oblique lines. Accordingly, it is suggested that the distortions seen in the figures usually referred to as “the angle illusions” depend upon the presence of contours which do not necessarily define angles. The implications of these findings for certain existing theories which suggest that some illusions depend upon apparent-distortion of angular size and that they contain features usually associated with two-dimensional perspective projections of typical three-dimensional scenes are discussed.     

Positive Illusions in Parenting: Every Child Is Above Average

This study examined the paradox between the difficulties of parenting and the high levels of parenting satisfaction in terms of positive illusions. Results were consistent with a positive illusions model, as biological parents with a child between the ages of 2 and 5 reported unrealistically positive views of their children. They rated their own children as possessing more positive and less negative attributes than the average child. The more positively parents rated themselves, the more positively they rated their children. Parents' self-esteem scores, unrealistically positive ratings of the child, and positive illusions of parenting were related to 3 aspects of the parenting experience. This study extends the literature on positive illusions to encompass parents' positive illusions about their young children.