Amplitude and Phase in the MüLler-Lyer Illusion

Abstract

It has previously been claimed that the Müller-Lyer illusion is the result of low-pass spatial filtering. One way to understand this would be that the distribution of amplitudes is what generates this illusion. This possibility was investigated by computing the 2-D Fourier transforms of the two Müller-Lyer stimuli and extracting their phase and amplitude spectra. These spectra were combined to create hybrid spectra having the phase of one Müller-Lyer figure and the amplitudes of the other. Images were then created by computing the inverse Fourier transform of the hybrid spectra. Except in cases where the analysis was performed patchwise on very small patches, the figures generated with the phase spectrum of the stimuli having outward-pointing fins appear the longer. This was also the case when stimuli were generated with flat amplitude spectra. Because they show that the Müller-Lyer illusion does not depend on any particular distribution of amplitudes, these demonstrations do not support the theory that the Müller-Lyer illusion is the result of low-frequency filtering.