Two groups of 24 subjects each were tested with either haptic or visual Müller-Lyer figures. The size of the obtained haptic and visual illusion was found to be unaffected by the degree of excursive movement of the limb and the eye, respectively. It was concluded that the illusion is the cause rather than the result of peripheral scanning behaviour of the limb and eye, and that the similar illusion across modalities is probably determined by common central mechanisms.
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