Reduction in the Mueller-Lyer illusion was compared among children, adults, and the aged. Practice with red horizontals produced greater reduction in illusion than did practice with a black horizontal. Adults under both treatments demonstrated greater reduction in illusion than children and the aged. These results interpreted within Gibson and Gibson's specificity hypothesis demonstrate that facilitation of distinctive-feature abstraction enhances perceptual learning.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarclayR.ComalliP. E.Age differences in perceptual learning on the Mueller-Lyer illusion. Psychonomic Science, 1970, 19, 323–325.
2.
BrownK. T.Methodology for studying figural after-effects and practice effects in the Mueller-Lyer illusion. American Journal of Psychology, 1953, 66, 629–634.
3.
EysenckH. J.SlaterP.Effects of practice and rest on fluctuations in the Mueller-Lyer illusion. British Journal of Psychology, 1958, 49, 246–256.
4.
GardnerR. W.LongR. I.Selective attention on the Mueller-Lyer illusion. Psychological Record, 1961, 11, 317–326.
KoehlerW.FishbackJ.The destruction of the Mueller-Lyer illusion in repeated trials. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1950, 40, 267–274.
8.
LewisE. O.The effect of practice on the perception of the Mueller-Lyer illusion. British Journal of Psychology, 1908, 2, 294–306.
9.
MoedG.Satiation theory and the Mueller-Lyer illusion. American Journal of Psychology, 1959, 79, 609–612.
10.
MukerjiN.Is “illusion” illusion?Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1957, 57, 209–212.
11.
NoeltingG.Progressive changes in the perception of the Mueller-Lyer figure as a function of repeated presentation to children and adults. Acta Psychologie Geneva, 1960, 37, 373–413.
12.
SegalM. K.CampbellD. T.HerskovitzM. J.The influence of culture on visual perception. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966.
13.
VernonM. D.The psychology of perception. Middlesex, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1962.
14.
WaltersA.The illusion of the Mueller-Lyer figure. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1942, 25, 101–110.
15.
WapnerS.WernerH.ComalliP. E.Perception of part-whole relations in middle and old age. Journal of Gerontology, 1960, 15, 412–416.
