Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:35:33.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The El Greco fallacy and pupillometry: Pupillary evidence for top-down effects on perception

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2017

Weizhen Xie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521. weizhen.xie@email.ucr.eduweiwei.zhang@ucr.eduhttp://sites.zanewzxie.org/http://memory.ucr.edu
Weiwei Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521. weizhen.xie@email.ucr.eduweiwei.zhang@ucr.eduhttp://sites.zanewzxie.org/http://memory.ucr.edu

Abstract

In this commentary, we address the El Greco fallacy by reviewing some recent pupillary evidence supporting top-down modulation of perception. Furthermore, we give justification for including perceptual effects of attention in tests of cognitive penetrability. Together, these exhibits suggest that cognition can affect perception (i.e., they support cognitive penetrability).

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chung, S. T. & Pease, P. L. (1999) Effect of yellow filters on pupil size. Optometry and Vision Science 76(1):5962.Google Scholar
Firestone, C. & Scholl, B. J. (2014b) “Top-down” effects where none should be found: The El Greco fallacy in perception research. Psychological Science 25:3846.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Firestone, C. & Scholl, B. J. (2015a) Can you experience top-down effects on perception? The case of race categories and perceived lightness. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 22:694700.Google Scholar
Hartmann, M. & Fischer, M. H. (2014) Pupillometry: The eyes shed fresh light on the mind. Current Biology 24(7):R281–82. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.028.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hillyard, S. A., Vogel, E. K. & Luck, S. J. (1998) Sensory gain control (amplification) as a mechanism of selective attention: Electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 353(1373):1257–70.Google Scholar
Laeng, B. & Endestad, T. (2012) Bright illusions reduce the eye's pupil. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109(6):2162–67. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118298109.Google Scholar
Laeng, B., Sirois, S. & Gredebäck, G. (2012) Pupillometry: A window to the preconscious? Perspectives on Psychological Science 7(1):1827. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611427305.Google Scholar
Laeng, B. & Sulutvedt, U. (2014) The eye pupil adjusts to imaginary light. Psychological Science 25(1):188–97. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613503556.Google Scholar
Lee, D. H., Mirza, R., Flanagan, J. G. & Anderson, A. K. (2014) Optical origins of opposing facial expression actions. Psychological Science 25(3):745–52. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613514451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lu, Z., Guo, B., Boguslavsky, A., Cappiello, M., Zhang, W. & Meng, M. (2015) Distinct effects of contrast and color on subjective rating of fearfulness. Frontiers in Psychology 6:19. Available at: http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01521.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathôt, S., van der Linden, L., Grainger, J. & Vitu, F. (2015) The pupillary light response reflects eye-movement preparation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 41(1):2835. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/a0038653.Google Scholar
Meier, B. P., Robinson, M. D., Crawford, L. E. & Ahlvers, W. J. (2007) When “light” and “dark” thoughts become light and dark responses: Affect biases brightness judgments. Emotion 7(2):366–76. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, P. R., Vandekerckhove, J. & Nieuwenhuis, S. (2014) Pupil-linked arousal determines variability in perceptual decision making. PLoS Computational Biology 10(9):e1003854. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003854.Google Scholar
Naber, M. & Nakayama, K. (2013) Pupil responses to high-level image content. Journal of Vision 13(6):7. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1167/13.6.7.Google Scholar
Xie, W. & Zhang, W. (in preparation) Positive thought as an eye opener leads to brighter perception.Google Scholar
Zhang, W. & Luck, S. J. (2009) Feature-based attention modulates feedforward visual processing. Nature Neuroscience 12(1):2425. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2223.Google Scholar