Susceptibility to geometrical illusions according to culture and professional training

Abstract

This paper reports a cross-cultural investigation of susceptibility to geometrical illusions based upon student samples in Ghana and Scotland. The results indicate that: (1)cultural differences in susceptibility to illusions can be found among Ss exposed to lengthy formal education of a similar type; (2) the perceptual consequences of professional training in art and architecture tend to be moderate within a culture; but (3) the combined outcome of training across cultures tends to reduce cultural differences in susceptibility to illusions. They also raise a problem concerning the supposed positive relationship between field dependence and susceptibility to illusions. Some implications of these results are considered. © 1970 Psychonomic Society, Inc.