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Table 1 Summary of previous studies assessing susceptibility to visual illusions in autistic individuals

From: Susceptibility to Ebbinghaus and Müller-Lyer illusions in autistic children: a comparison of three different methods

Illusion and example

Study

Method

Summary of group differences in susceptibility

Ebbinghaus (or Titchener circles)

Happé [7]

Same/different

AUT < CONa,b

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT = CON

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Same/different

AUT = CON

Ropar and Mitchell [12]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT ≈ CONc

Schwarzkopf et al. [16]

Forced choice

AUT = CON

Müller-Lyer

Happé [7]

Same/different

AUT = CONa,b

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT > CON

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Same/different

AUT = CON

Ropar and Mitchell [12]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT = CON

Ishida et al. [13]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT = CON

Ponzo

Happé [7]

Same/different

AUT < CONa,b

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT = CON

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Same/different

AUT = CON

Ropar and Mitchell [12]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT = CON

Ishida et al. [13]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT < CON

Illusory (Kanisza) figures

Happé [7]

“How many triangles?”

AUT < CONa

Milne and Scope [15]

Forced choice

AUT = CON

Poggendorff

Happé [7]

“Which line joins up with which?”

AUT < CONa,b

Hering

Happé [7]

“Are lines straight or curvy?”

AUT < CONa,b

Horizontal-vertical (or Hat)

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT < CON

Ropar and Mitchell [10]

Same/different

AUT = CON

Ropar and Mitchell [12]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT < CON

Shepard’s tables

Mitchell et al. [14]

Method-of-adjustment

AUT < CON

  1. AUT autism group, CON control group
  2. aIllusion used by Hoy, Hatton and Hare [8] but individual results for each illusion not reported
  3. bIllusion used by Bölte et al. [9] but individual results for each illusion not reported
  4. cIndividuals with Asperger’s syndrome and typically developing children aged 11 were less susceptible to the illusion than those with autism, typically developing children aged 8 and children with moderate learning difficulties