The role of haptic versus visual volume cues in the size-weight illusion.
Three experiments establish the size-weight illusion as a primarily haptic phenomenon, despite its having been more traditionally considered an example of vision influencing haptic processing. Experiment 1 documents, across a broad range of stimulus weights and volumes, the existence of a purely haptic size-weight illusion, equal in strength to the traditional illusion. Experiment 2 demonstrates that haptic volume cues are both sufficient and necessary for a full-strength illusion. In contrast, visual volume cues are merely sufficient, and produce a relatively weaker effect. Experiment 3 establishes that congenitally blind subjects experience an effect as powerful as that of blindfolded sighted observers, thus demonstrating that visual imagery is also unnecessary for a robust size-weight illusion. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for both sensory and cognitive theories of the size-weight illusion. Applications of this work to a human factors design and to sensor-based systems for robotic manipulation are also briefly considered.
Ellis
R R
RR
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Lederman
S J
SJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001766:Blindness / Q000523:psychology; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009903:Optical Illusions; D011601:Psychophysics; D012858:Size Perception; D013236:Stereognosis; D014110:Touch; D014796:Visual Perception; D014892:Weight Perception