Determinants of the Zöllner illusion

SummaryEffects of various stimulus variables on the Zöllner illusion were investigated. 1) The illusion was maximal when both the stimulus figure and the comparison stimulus were oriented 45 degrees to the vertical. 2) It decreased as the gap between the oblique lines and the parallel lines increased, reaching zero at a gap of 24 to 48 min. 3) It increased as the length of the oblique lines increased and reached an asymptote when the perpendicular distance from the end of the oblique lines to the parallel lines was about 45 min. 4) It always varied systematically with the intersect angle, but the optimal angle varied from 15 to 30 degrees according to the conditions of the gap and the length of oblique lines. 5) Considerable illusions were obtained even when the stimulus figure was reduced to a single line intersected by oblique lines. 6) Negative illusions were obtained with the intersect angle of 10 degrees. 7) These results supported a view that the Zöllner illusion is caused by neural interactions among direction analyzers in the cortex.

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