Flicker-light induced visual phenomena: frequency dependence and specificity of whole percepts and percept features.

Flickering light induces visual hallucinations in human observers. Despite a long history of the phenomenon, little is known about the dependence of flicker-induced subjective impressions on the flicker frequency. We investigate this question using Ganzfeld stimulation and an experimental paradigm combining a continuous frequency scan (1-50 Hz) with a focus on re-occurring, whole percepts. On the single-subject level, we find a high degree of frequency stability of percepts. To generalize across subjects, we apply two rating systems, (1) a set of complex percept classes derived from subjects' reports and (2) an enumeration of elementary percept features, and determine distributions of occurrences over flicker frequency. We observe a stronger frequency specificity for complex percept classes than elementary percept features. Comparing the similarity relations among percept categories to those among frequency profiles, we observe that though percepts are preferentially induced by particular frequencies, the frequency does not unambiguously determine the experienced percept.

Determinants of filled/empty optical illusion: Search for the locus of maximal effect.

A subdivided path in the visual field usually appears longer than an empty path of the same length. This phenomenon, known as the filled/empty or Oppel-Kundt illusion, depends on multiple properties of the visual stimulus, but the functional dependences have not been yet precisely characterized. We studied the illusory effect as a function of its two main determinants, the height of vertical strokes subdividing a spatial interval of a fixed length (visual angle 2.8 degree) and the number of the filling strokes, using the standard-variable distance matching paradigm. Non-monotonic dependence of the effect (over-reproduction of the spatial extension) on the varied parameters was observed in two experimental series. In the first series, the maximum effect was obtained for the fillers height roughly equal to the delimiters height (visual angle 0.25 degree); in the second series, the maximum effect was obtained for 11-13 equispaced fillers, and more accurately estimated to 15-16 as a result of a functional fit. Both data series were successfully modeled by curves generated by a single two-parametric system of form functions. Problems of determination of the maximum effect are discussed, and arguments for a genuinely multivariate approach are presented.

Paradoxical form of filled/empty optical illusion.

The filled/empty illusion (Oppel-Kundt) is one of the oldest geometrical-optical illusions, but the determinants of the illusion are not yet sufficiently understood. We studied magnitude of the illusory effect as a function of the height of vertical strokes subdividing a spatial extension of fixed length, using the psychophysical standard-variable matching paradigm. For vertical strokes shorter than, or of the same height as strokes delimiting the standard, the length was over-reproduced consistently with earlier studies of the illusion. However, for vertical strokes three times longer than the delimiters, the illusory effect paradoxically decreased, and attained negative values in two of six subjects. The magnitude of the effect thus depends on the patterning of the space between the delimiters, not merely on the number of subdividing elements.