The Müller-Lyer illusion in ant foraging

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 11;8(12):e81714. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081714. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

The Müller-Lyer illusion is a classical geometric illusion in which the apparent (perceived) length of a line depends on whether the line terminates in an arrow tail or arrowhead. This effect may be caused by economic compensation for the gap between the physical stimulus and visual fields. Here, we show that the Müller-Lyer illusion can also be produced by the foraging patterns of garden ants (Lasius niger) and that the pattern obtained can be explained by a simple, asynchronously updated foraging ant model. Our results suggest that the geometric illusion may be a byproduct of the foraging process, in which local interactions underlying efficient exploitation can also give rise to global exploration, and that visual information processing in human could implement similar modulation between local efficient processing and widespread computation.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Ants*
  • Humans
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Movement
  • Optical Illusions / physiology*
  • Orientation
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
  • Size Perception
  • Visual Fields / physiology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Kobe University funding and JSPS24320008 (organized by Hiroyuki Miyoshi). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.