Textbook discussions of the autokinetic effect often mention that this illusory movement is susceptible to suggestion. Several recently published perception texts have presented the autokinetic effect as a potential projective technique, because it is claimed that the light will write out words if the observer expects it to. The accounts in these textbooks are misleading; in a study we conducted, as well as in the original study cited by the texts, the modal event across a series of trials was a failure to see the suggested “writing” movement.
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