The Peripheral Flicker Illusion.

Hiroyuki Ito,Tomomi Koizumi

doi:10.1177/2041669517747891

Abstract

A new illusion is reported. A visual object suddenly appearing on a red background sometimes causes an impression of flicker or double flash. In Experiment 1, a red, green, or blue object was presented on a red, green, blue, or gray background. Participants evaluated the illusion strength in reference to the physical flicker of a gray object presented in central vision. The results show that the green or blue object presented on the red background caused the illusion. In Experiment 2, the effect of retinal eccentricity on the illusion was tested. The results showed that the illusion was weak in central vision but became stronger as the retinal eccentricity of the objects’ presentation increased. In Experiment 3, optimal luminance conditions for the illusion were explored with the green and blue objects. The illusion was strong when object luminance was lower than background luminance and the optimal luminance for the blue object was lower than that for the green object. We propose a tentative theory for the illusion and discuss its cause.

Highlights

Visual illusions producing a double flash impression from one physical visual flash have previously been reported
In Experiments 1 and 2, the blue object seemed to produce a weaker illusion than did the green object
Under certain luminance conditions, the illusion strength elicited by the blue object was as strong as that of the green object

Summary

Introduction

Visual illusions producing a double flash impression from one physical visual flash have previously been reported. The single reported exception is the double-flash illusion described by Bowen, Markell, and Schoon (1980) and Bowen, Mallow, and Harder (1987) Their stimulus included a briefly presented visual target but not a flickering inducer. Multiple comparisons (Scheffe’s method, a level 1⁄4 .05) to test the object color effect revealed that, under the red background condition, there were significant differences between the green–red, green–blue, and red– blue object color pairs. Multiple comparisons to test the background color effect showed that under the green object-color condition, there were significant differences between the red–blue, red–green, and red–gray background color pairs. Under the blue object-color condition, there were significant differences between the red–gray and red–blue background color pairs

Methods

Results

Conclusion