Age Difference in Perceptual Judgment on the Mueller-Lyer Illusion

Abstract

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.