A review of the footsteps illusion

Akiyoshi Kitaoka; Stuart Anstis

doi:10.47691/joi.v2.5612

Akiyoshi Kitaoka College of Comprehensive Psychology, Ritsumeikan University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2960-8963
Stuart Anstis Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8347-9130

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47691/joi.v2.5612

Keywords: footsteps illusion, motion perception, contrast, geometrical illusion, extinction effect, position capture, motion capture, reverse phi

Abstract

Studies on the footsteps illusion proposed by Anstis (2001) and its variants are reviewed in this article. The footsteps illusion has been explained as a difference in perceived speed depending on edge contrast (Thompson, 1982). In addition to this explanation, it is suggested that the footsteps illusion and its variants can also be attributed to the geometrical illusion presented by Gregory and Heard (1983), to the extinction effect similar to hidden images by Wade (1990), and to subsequent position or motion captures. Related illusions, for example, the kickback illusion (Howe, Thompson, Anstis, Sagreiya, & Livingstone, 2006), the kick-forward illusion, the driving-on-a-bumpy-road illusion, or the footsteps illusion based upon reverse phi motion, are discussed in this article.

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