Question

Which one is not correct with respect to the definition of the bow effect in absolute judgment?

1) The bow effect refers to the tendency to overestimate the distance between two stimuli when they are close together.
2) The bow effect is a perceptual bias that occurs when judging the distance between two stimuli.
3) The bow effect is also known as the Ebbinghaus illusion.
4) The bow effect is a result of the visual system's tendency to perceive objects as larger when they are surrounded by smaller objects.

Answer 1

Option 3, which states that 'The bow effect is also known as the Ebbinghaus illusion,' incorrectly describes the bow effect, as the bow effect deals with judgment of distances whereas the Ebbinghaus illusion is about relative perception of object sizes.

Step-by-step explanation:

The bow effect in absolute judgment is not correctly described by option 3: 'The bow effect is also known as the Ebbinghaus illusion.' The bow effect actually refers to a perceptual bias observed in the judgment of linear distances, where the central items in a series are often perceived as being more distant from each other than the end items, leading to a bow-shaped distortion in a graph of perceived vs. actual distances. This is different from the Ebbinghaus or Titchener circles illusion, which is about the relative perception of circle sizes and not about the distances between them.

Option 1 conveys a misunderstanding, as the bow effect actually tends to lead to a relative underestimation of the distance between middle items compared to end items in a series, not an overestimation. On the other hand, options 2 and 4 describe different aspects of perceptual bias and visual perception that, while related to perceptual psychology, do not directly define the bow effect.