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LEARNING AND THE SPIRAL ILLUSION
Author(s) -
HOUTMAN S. D.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1974.tb01395.x
Subject(s) - illusion , session (web analytics) , psychology , spiral (railway) , duration (music) , perception , cognitive psychology , stimulation , term (time) , audiology , neuroscience , physics , acoustics , computer science , medicine , mathematical analysis , mathematics , world wide web , quantum mechanics
A generally accepted explanation of the spiral illusion is that the receptor cells sensitive to the specific motions being observed become ‘suppressed’ by inhibition consequent upon that stimulation. However, an original neurological model suggests that inhibition is a short‐term process, whereas perception is also dependent upon longer‐term ‘learning’. The model predicts that the duration of the illusion will be increased by the accumulation of ‘learned records’ of the moving spiral. In the experiment, ‘learning sessions’ followed daily tests of duration, and an increase was demonstrated on the next day, more than 22 hours after such a session. No increase was detected where the ‘learning session’ was omitted or replaced by a ‘fatigue session’ employing an oppositely drawn spiral. In this way the ‘learning effect’ was distinguished from ‘suppression’, or a possible improved ‘discrimination’ due to practice. The results confirm the predictions of the new model and are difficult to reconcile with the ‘suppression’ hypothesis.