Wolf et al. (2018). A mass-density model can account for the size-weight illusion. Research data of three experiments.

Bibliographic Information

Creator: Wolf, Christian; Drewing, Knut

Contributor: Wolf, Christian; Bergmann Tiest, Wouter M.; Drewing, Knut

Funding: German Research Foundation (SFB/TRR 135)

Title: A mass-density model can account for the size-weight illusion. Research data of three experiments.

Year of Publication: 2018

Citation: Wolf, C., Bergmann Tiest, W.M., & Drewing, K. (2018). A mass-density model can account for the size-weight illusion. Research data of three experiments. [Translated Title] (Version 1.0.0) [Data and Documentation]. Trier: Center for Research Data in Psychology: PsychData of the Leibniz Institute for Psychology ZPID. https://doi.org/10.5160/psychdata.wfcn13ma18

Abstract

When judging the heaviness of two objects with equal mass, people perceive the smaller and denser of the two as being heavier. Despite the high number of theories, covering bottom-up and top-down approaches, none of them can fully account for all aspects of this size-weight illusion and thus for human heaviness perception. Here we propose a new Bayesian-type model which describes the illusion as the weighted average of two heaviness estimates: One estimate derived from the object’s mass, and the other from the object’s density, with the weights based on the estimates’ relative reliabilities. In two magnitude estimation experiments, we tested model predictions for the visual and the haptic size-weight illusion. Participants lifted objects which varied in mass and density. We additionally varied the reliability of the density estimate by varying the quality of either visual (Experiment 1) or haptic (Experiment 2) volume information. Like predicted, with increasing quality of volume information, heaviness judgments were increasingly biased towards the object’s density: Objects of the same density were perceived as more similar and big objects were perceived as increasingly lighter than small (denser) objects of the same mass. This perceived difference increased with an increasing difference in density. In a further two-alternative forced choice heaviness experiments, we replicated that the illusion strength increases with the quality of volume information (Experiment 3). Overall, the results highly corroborate our model, which seems promising as unifying framework for the size-weight illusion and human heaviness perception.

Codebook

Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb1

Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb1

PositionNameLabelValid_valuesMissing_values
1PParticipant1-17 "Participant number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
2VISVisibility Condition1 "No Vision"
2 "Poor Vision"
3 "Medium Vision"
4 "Full Vision"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
3BLOCKBlock number (repetition)1-6 "Block number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
4D_SETDensity set the lifted object belongs to1 "Small set"
2 "Equal density set"
3 "Big set"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
5S_IDStimulus identifier; Number identifying each stimulus1 "Small set, 60g"
2 "Small set, 100g"
3 "Small set, 140g"
4 "Small set, 170g"
5 "Small set, 200g"
6 "Small set, 230g"
7 "Equal density set, 55g"
8 "Equal density set, 85"
9 "Equal density set, 112"
10 "Equal density set, 139"
11 "Equal density set, 165"
12 "Equal density set, 198"
13 "Big set, 60g"
14 "Big set, 100g"
15 "Big set, 140g"
16 "Big set, 170g"
17 "Big set, 200g"
18 "Big set, 230g"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
6MASSMass of lifted stimulus55-230 "Mass of lifted stimulus in grams"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
7VOLVolume of the lifted object in cm332-596 "Volume of the lifted object in cm3"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
8DENSDensity of the lifted object in g/cm30-8 "Density of the lifted object in g/cm3"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
9MEMagnitude Estimate; Estimated heaviness of the lifted object0-1000000 "Estimated heaviness of the lifted object"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb2_1

Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb2_1

PositionNameLabelValid_valuesMissing_values
1PParticipant1-24 "Participant number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
2GRIPGrip Type Condition1 "String"
2 "Precision Grip"
3 "Enclosure"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
3BLOCKBlock number (repetition)1-6 "Block number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
4D_SETDensity set the lifted object belongs to1 "Small set"
2 "Equal density set"
3 "Big set"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
5S_IDStimulus identifier; Number identifying each stimulus1 "Small set, 60g"
2 "Small set, 100g"
3 "Small set, 140g"
4 "Small set, 170g"
5 "Small set, 200g"
6 "Small set, 230g"
7 "Equal density set, 55g"
8 "Equal density set, 85"
9 "Equal density set, 112"
10 "Equal density set, 139"
11 "Equal density set, 165"
12 "Equal density set, 198"
13 "Big set, 60g"
14 "Big set, 100g"
15 "Big set, 140g"
16 "Big set, 170g"
17 "Big set, 200g"
18 "Big set, 230g"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
6MASSMass of lifted stimulus55-230 "Mass of lifted stimulus in grams"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
7VOLVolume of the lifted object in cm332-596 "Volume of the lifted object in cm3"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
8DENSDensity of the lifted object in g/cm30-8 "Density of the lifted object in g/cm3"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
9MEMagnitude Estimate; Estimated heaviness of the lifted object0-1000000 "Estimated heaviness of the lifted object"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb2_2

Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb2_2

PositionNameLabelValid_valuesMissing_values
1PParticipant1-10 "Participant number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
2EXPExperimental number2 "Experiment on the haptic size-weight illusion"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
3GRIPGrip Type Conditition1 "Precision Grip"
2 "Enclosure"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
4SETDensity set the lifted object belongs to1 "Small set"
2 "Big set"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
5BLOCKBlock number (repetition)1-20 "Block number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
6COMPComparison identifier; Number identifying each comparison stimulus1-9 "Number identifying each comparison stimulus"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
7VOLVolume of the lifted object in cm30-800 "Volume of the lifted object in cm3"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
8POSPosition of the standard stimulus1 "Standard stimulus was presented first and the comparison stimulus second"
2 "Standard stimulus was presented second and the comparison stimulus first"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
9RESPParticipants' response (2-alternative forced choice / 2AFC)1 "First object is larger"
2 "Second object is larger"
0 "Fehlender Wert"
Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb3

Codebook_wfcn13ma18_wolf_0064_kb3

PositionNameLabelValid_valuesMissing_values
1PParticipant1-10 "Participant number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
2EXPExperimental number3 "2AFC Experiment on the haptic size-weight illusion"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
3GRIPGrip Type Conditition1 "Precision Grip"
2 "Enclosure"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
4SETDensity set the lifted object belongs to1 "Small set"
2 "Big set"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
5BLOCKBlock number (repetition)1-10 "Block number"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
6COMPComparison identifier; Number identifying each comparison stimulus1-14 "Number identifying each comparison stimulus"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
7MASSMass of the comparison stimulus in g60-230 "Mass of the comparison stimulus"NaN "Fehlender Wert"
8POSPosition of the standard stimulus1 "Standard stimulus was presented first and the comparison stimulus second"
2 "Standard stimulus was presented second and the comparison stimulus first"
NaN "Fehlender Wert"
9RESPParticipants' response (2-alternative forced choice / 2AFC)1 "First object is heavier"
2 "Second object is heavier"
0 "Fehlender Wert"

Study Description

Research Questions/Hypotheses: Heaviness perception can be described as a weighted average of a heaviness estimate derived from mass and a heaviness estimate derived from density. The contribution of each estimate depends on its relative reliability.

Research Design: Experimental Design, Laboratory Experiment; repeated measurements

Measurement Instruments/Apparatus:

Participants lifted objects with different mass, size and density. Heaviness was either judged in a free magnitude estimation task (Experiment 1 and 2) or using a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task (Experiment 3). More detailed information can be found in Wolf et al. (2018).

Data Collection Method:

Data collection in the presence of an experimenter
– Individual Administration

Population: Healthy adults

Survey Time Period:

Due to the length of Experiment 2 and 3, they have been split up into several recording sessions.

Sample: Convenience sample

Gender Distribution:

Experiment 1:
20% female subjects (n=3)
80% male subjects (n=12)

Experiment 2:
50% female subjects (n=10)
50% male subjects (n=10)

Experiment 3:
50% female subjects (n=5)
50% male subjects (n=5)


Age Distribution: 19-44 years

Spatial Coverage (Country/Region/City): Germany/-/Gießen

Subject Recruitment: Participants were psychology students from Giessen University and received course credit in return.

Sample Size: Experiment 1: 15 individuals; Experiment 2: 20 individuals; Experiment 3: 10 individuals

Return/DropOut:

Literature

Publications Directly Related to the Dataset
Publications Directly Related to the Dataset
Wolf. C., Bergmann Tiest, W.M., & Drewing K. (2018). A mass-density model can account for the size-weight illusion. PLoS ONE 13(2): e0190624. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190624
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