2 - Through-the-bar

Which aspects of the motion paths are critical to the illusion?  This experiment involved two manipulations: the first involved gestures "inverted" such that they appeared to strike an object from below (left video), rather than from above as in the original illusion.  The second involved producing a "through-the-bar" condition (right video) in which we inverted the gestures at the moment of impact, such that they appeared to be moving through the bar, rather than impacting off of it.     We observed the illusion with the first manipulation, indicating it is not critical for the motion to appear to impact from above.  We did not observe the illusion in the second case, where gestures that did not mimic an impact motion failed to integrate with impact sounds.  These results are consistent with our previous assertions regarding the role of causality.   Visual influence was observed when the motion path described an impact (left), but not when it appeared to move through the bar (right).  Next: Experiment 3 - Velocity, Distance & Time Previous: Experiment 1 - Crossed gestures