Illusion Wiki

Tactile Illusions

Tactile illusions are illusions that exploit the sense of touch. Some touch illusions require active touch (e.g., movement of the fingers or hands), whereas others can be evoked passively (e.g., with external stimuli that press against the skin).



Cutaneous rabbit illusion

~The cutaneous rabbit illusion is a tactile illusion evoked by tapping two or more separate regions of the skin in rapid succession. The illusion is most readily evoked on regions of the body surface that have relatively poor spatial acuity, such as the forearm. A rapid sequence of taps delivered first near the wrist and then near the elbow creates the sensation of sequential taps hopping up the arm from the wrist towards the elbow, although no physical stimulus was applied between the two actual stimulus locations. Similarly, stimuli delivered first near the elbow then near the wrist evoke the illusory perception of taps hopping from elbow towards wrist.



~If a person exposes their forearm and closes their eyes or turns their head in the opposite direction while a second person slowly traces a finger from the wrist upward to the crook of the elbow, many people are unable to say when the crease of their elbow is being touched.



~When eating, if a person holds food with one texture and another texture is presented to the mouth, many people perceive the perceived freshness and crispiness of the food to be between the two textures.



~If a person wears a baseball cap for a long period of time and then takes it off, it may still be felt.



~If a person turns their tongue upside down, and runs their finger along the front, it will feel like the finger is moving in the opposite direction.



~If a person pushes outwards with their hands against something for a while, then stops, it will feel as if there is something stopping the person's hands from closing together. Similarly, if a person pulls outwards with their arms, for example pulling their pants outwards, then stops, it will feel as if something is keeping their hands from staying at their sides.

Back to top