Abstract
When the presentation of a single flash is paired with that of 2 taps, a second, illusory, flash is sometimes perceived. We presented participants with 1 or 2 flashes paired with 1 or 2 taps and asked them to report the number of flashes. In experiment 1, we used the response categories 1, 2, 3 and analyzed the responses to 2 consecutive illusory flash trials (1 flash, 2 taps). The chance to report 2 flashes was 70% when their preceding answer was 2 and only 10% when it was 1 (p < .001). This effect can occur when participants’ percept neither fits the 1 or 2 response category. In experiment 2, we introduced a new response category, viz. ‘something different from 1 or 2 flashes’ and found that observers used this category in 50.0% of the illusory flash trials, while 2 real flashes were reported as 2 in 87.3% of the trials (χ2 = 116.62; p < .001). We conclude that the percept of an illusory flash differs from that of a real flash.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Shams, L., Kamitani, Y., Shimojo, S.: What you see is what you hear. Nature 408, 788 (2000)
Violentyev, A., Shimojo, S., Shams, L.: Touch-induced visual illusion. Neuroreport 16(10), 1107–1110 (2005)
Shams, L., Kamitani, Y., Shimojo, S.: Visual illusion induced by sound. Cogn. Brain. Res. 14, 147–152 (2002)
McCormick, D., Mamassian, P.: Response biases in the illusory-flash effect. J. Vision 5(8), 878a (2005)
McCormick, P., Mamassian, P.: What does the illusory-flash look like? Vis. Res. 48, 63–69 (2008)
Shams, L., Kamitani, Y., Thompson, S., Shimojo, S.: Sound alters visual evoked potentials in humans. NeuroReport 12(17), 2852–3849 (2006)
Mishra, J., Martinez, A., Sejnowski, T.J., Hillyard, S.A.: Early cross-modal interactions in auditory and visual cortex underlie a sound-induced visual illusion. J. Neurosci. 27(15), 4120–4131 (2007)
Rosenthal, O., Shimojo, S., Shams, L.: Sound-induced flash illusion is resistant to feedback training. Brain Topogr. 21, 185–192 (2009)
Philippi, T.G., De Winkel, K.N., Van Erp, J.B.F., Werkhoven, P.: Touch-Induced illusory flash alters activity in the visual cortex (Submitted)
Werkhoven, P.J., Van Erp, J.B.F., Philippi, T.G.: Counting visual and tactile events: The effect of attention on multisensory integration. Atten. Percept. Psychophys. 71(8), 1854–1861 (2009)
Philippi, T.G., Van Erp, J.B.F., Werkhoven, P.J.: Multisensory temporal numerosity judgment. Brain Res. 1232, 116–125 (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Philippi, T.G., van Erp, J.B.F., Werkhoven, P. (2010). Is the Touch-Induced Illusory Flash Distinguishable from a Real Flash?. In: Kappers, A.M.L., van Erp, J.B.F., Bergmann Tiest, W.M., van der Helm, F.C.T. (eds) Haptics: Generating and Perceiving Tangible Sensations. EuroHaptics 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6192. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14075-4_60
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14075-4_60
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14074-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14075-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)