Salience of Central Figure in the Ebbinghaus Illusion: The Oreo Cookie Effect

Muise, Jason; Brun, Véronique; Porelle, Manon

doi:10.2466/pms.1997.85.3f.1203

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Consistent with this, previous work has also suggested that the Ebbinghaus illusion may depend on complex stimulus characteristics, such as the figural or conceptual similarity between targets and inducers [25]–[27] and prior knowledge of object size [28]. While it is difficult to completely rule out low-level stimulus effects in these experiments [29], [30], they suggest that top-down processes also contribute to the Ebbinghaus illusion.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Subjective Size Perception Depends on Central Visual Cortical Magnification in Human V1

Schwarzkopf

Rees

2013

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the Ebbinghaus illusion, the context surrounding an object modulates its subjectively perceived size. Previous work implicates human primary visual cortex (V1) as the neural substrate mediating this contextual effect. Here we studied in healthy adult humans how two different types of context (large or small inducers) in this illusion affected size perception by comparing each to a reference stimulus without any context. We found that individual differences in the magnitudes of the illusion produced by either type of context were correlated with V1 area defined through retinotopic mapping using functional MRI. However, participants' objective ability to discriminate the size of objects presented in isolation was unrelated to illusion strength and did not correlate with V1 area. Control analyses showed no correlations between behavioral measures and the overall V1 area estimated probabilistically on the basis of neuroanatomy alone. Therefore, subjective size perception correlated with variability in central cortical magnification rather than the anatomical extent of primary visual cortex. We propose that such changes in subjective perception of size are mediated by mechanisms that scale with the extent to which an individual's V1 selectively represents the central visual field.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Subjective Size Perception Depends on Central Visual Cortical Magnification in Human V1

Schwarzkopf

Rees

2013

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Their classic observation that a coin was remembered as larger in size, particularly for a poor rather than a non-poor child, was indirect support for their argument. Between 1947 and today, a veritable plethora of studies have examined how motivation impacts the cognitive processing of ambiguous stimuli (Alloy & Tabachnik, 1984; Atkinson & Walker, 1956; Balcetis & Dunning, 2006; Changizi & Hall, 2001; Duncan, 1976; Eberhardt, Dasgupta, & Banaszynski, 2003; Fazio, Ledbetter, & Towles-Schwen, 2000; Fazio, Powell, & Herr, 1983; Higgins & Tykocinski, 1992; Lambert, Solomon, & Watson, 1949; Lim & Pessoa, 2008; Muise, Brun, & Porelle, 1997; Postman & Crutchfield, 1952; Strachman & Gable, 2006; Trope, 1986; Wyer, 1974). For example, Balcetis and Dunning (2006) observed that an ambiguous figure (the figure B) was more often perceived as “B” or “13” depending on which of these interpretations was associated with a positive outcome for the perceiver.…”

Section: Motivational Influences On Social-cognitive Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not so black and white: Memory for ambiguous group members.

Pauker

Weisbuch

Ambady

et al. 2009

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

139

168

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exponential increases in multi-racial identities expected over the next century, creates a conundrum for perceivers accustomed to classifying people as “own” or “other” race. The current research examines how perceivers resolve this dilemma with regard to the “own-race bias.” We hypothesized that perceivers would not be motivated to include ambiguous-race individuals in the in-group and would therefore have some difficulty remembering them. Both racially-ambiguous and other-race faces were misremembered more often than own-race faces (Study 1), though memory for ambiguous faces was improved among perceivers motivated to include biracial individuals in the in-group (Study 2). Racial labels assigned to racially ambiguous faces determined memory for these faces, suggesting that uncertainty provides the motivational context for discounting ambiguous faces in memory (Study 3). Finally, an inclusion motivation fostered cognitive associations between racially-ambiguous faces and the in-group. Moreover, the extent to which perceivers associated racially-ambiguous faces with the in-group predicted memory for ambiguous faces and accounted for the impact of motivation on memory (Study 4). Thus, memory for biracial individuals seems to involve a flexible person construal process shaped by motivational factors.

show abstract

“…The Ebbinghaus illusion was stronger for socially similar stimuli (lawyers) than when target and context belonged to different social categories (student vs. lawyers). Importantly, in a study by Muise, Brun and Porelle ( 1997 ) children judged the size of an ‘Oreo cookie’ as larger than a normal target circle of the same size, form and color when surrounded by large flanker circles, providing some indication that the value of the target may influence the Ebbinghaus illusion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Affective stimulus properties influence size perception and the Ebbinghaus illusion

Ulzen

Semin

Oudejans

et al. 2007

Psychological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the New Look literature of the 1950s, it has been suggested that size judgments are dependent on the aVective content of stimuli. This suggestion, however, has been 'discredited' due to contradictory Wndings and methodological problems. In the present study, we revisited this forgotten issue in two experiments. The Wrst experiment investigated the inXuence of aVective content on size perception by examining judgments of the size of target circles with and without aVectively loaded (i.e., positive, neutral, and negative) pictures. Circles with a picture were estimated to be smaller than circles without a picture, and circles with a negative picture were estimated to be larger than circles with a positive or a neutral picture conWrming the suggestion from the 1950s that size perception is inXuenced by aVective content, an eVect notably conWned to negatively loaded stimuli. In a second experiment, we examined whether aVective content inXuenced the Ebbinghaus illusion. Participants judged the size of a target circle whereby target and Xanker circles diVered in aVective loading. The results replicated the Wrst experiment. Additionally, the Ebbinghaus illusion was shown to be weakest for a negatively loaded target with positively loaded and blank Xankers. A plausible explanation for both sets of experimental Wndings is that negatively loaded stimuli are more attention demanding than positively loaded or neutral stimuli.

show abstract

Salience of Central Figure in the Ebbinghaus Illusion: The Oreo Cookie Effect

Cited by 9 publications

References 13 publications

Subjective Size Perception Depends on Central Visual Cortical Magnification in Human V1

Subjective Size Perception Depends on Central Visual Cortical Magnification in Human V1

Not so black and white: Memory for ambiguous group members.

Affective stimulus properties influence size perception and the Ebbinghaus illusion

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About