Real illusion or illusory illusion: The method of Faux Illusions for verifying new illusions

Abstract

Here the problem of the verification of new illusions is addressed. Subtle perceptual illusory experiences can be hard to recognize, meaning that it can be difficult or impossible for an introspecting psychologist to convey a new illusion or verify that other people experience a new illusion without polluting other people's experience by introducing biasing expectations through the very act of describing what the illusory experience might be like. The proposed solution is to offer subjects an array of descriptions of faux illusions that are known to be unexperienceable, along with the new illusion, in order to determine whether naïve subjects are uniquely more likely to report an illusory experience for the hypothetical new illusion than for the faux illusions.