title: The eye-size illusion: psychophysical characteristics, generality, and relation to holistic face processing.
abstract: Rakover [(2011). In Y. H. Zhang (Ed.), Advances in face image analysis: Techniques and technologies (pp. 316-333). Hershey, PA: IGI Global] observed a novel eye-size illusion: when increasing the size of a face but keeping the size of its eyes unchanged, the eyes are perceived to be smaller than in the original face. Here, we systematically manipulated the face size and found that the magnitude of this illusion linearly changed as a function of the face frame size (experiment 1). Additionally, the same magnitude of an illusion was observed for the perception of the size of the mouth when we changed the face frame but kept the mouth size constant (experiment 2). Further, when the faces and eyes were presented upside down, the magnitude of the illusion was significantly reduced in both Chinese participants (experiment 3) and Caucasian participants (experiment 4). The results suggest that the perception of eye or mouth size occurs in the relational context of the whole face; and when the face is inverted, thereby disrupting holistic processing, the magnitude of the illusion is reduced. We therefore suggest that holistic processing is involved in producing the illusion.
authors.forename: Wen S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Genyue
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Yu-Hao
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Naiqi G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Qiandong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Guowei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pascalis
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Damon
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005123:Eye; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009903:Optical Illusions; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics; D012858:Size Perception; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult