Fooling the eyes: the influence of a sound-induced visual motion illusion on eye movements

Fracasso, A. , Targher, S., Zampini, M. and Melcher, D. (2013) Fooling the eyes: the influence of a sound-induced visual motion illusion on eye movements. PLoS ONE, 8(4), e62131. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062131) (PMID:23637981) (PMCID:PMC3637444)

Abstract

The question of whether perceptual illusions influence eye movements is critical for the long-standing debate regarding the separation between action and perception. To test the role of auditory context on a visual illusion and on eye movements, we took advantage of the fact that the presence of an auditory cue can successfully modulate illusory motion perception of an otherwise static flickering object (sound-induced visual motion effect). We found that illusory motion perception modulated by an auditory context consistently affected saccadic eye movements. Specifically, the landing positions of saccades performed towards flickering static bars in the periphery were biased in the direction of illusory motion. Moreover, the magnitude of this bias was strongly correlated with the effect size of the perceptual illusion. These results show that both an audio-visual and a purely visual illusion can significantly affect visuo-motor behavior. Our findings are consistent with arguments for a tight link between perception and action in localization tasks.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Adult, experimental design, female, human, human experiment, male, saccadic eye movement, task performance, visual field, visual illusion, visuomotor coordination, acoustic stimulation, analysis of variance, auditory perception, eye movements, female, humans, illusions, linear models, male, middle aged, motion perception, photic stimulation, sound, task performance and analysis, young adult.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fracasso, Dr Alessio
• Authors: Fracasso, A., Targher, S., Zampini, M., and Melcher, D.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: PLoS ONE
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• ISSN (Online): 1932-6203
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 Fracasso et al.
• First Published: First published in PLoS ONE 8(4): e62131
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License