Tactile line-motion illusion and cross-modal effects of visual cueing

When a brief visual cue is presented and followed by a static bar stimulus, the bar is perceived to be drawn rapidly away from the cue end toward the uncued end (the "line-motion illusion"). Previous research has reported that this illusion is observed with the use of lateral auditory or tactile cues. The present study revealed that the same illusion can be observed when both the cue and the line are presented in the tactile modality (Experiment 1) and when the visual cue was presented prior to the tactile line (Experiments 2 and 3). These results suggest that this illusion is not limited to the visual modality. The implications of the findings for the supramodal nature and possible sources of the effect are discussed.