Optical illusion susceptibility, personal space, and adult attachment in Spain, Italy, and Japan

This research explores the differences between optical illusion susceptibility, personal space comfortability, and adult attachment styles of individuals from Spain, Italy, or Japan. To identify if there is a common baseline of visual perception between cultures, the Ebbinghaus and Müller-Lyer paradigms were used to assess whether optical illusions overcome variation in cultural tendencies (i.e., holistic and field-dependent cognitive style typically shown in Asian cultures and mixed holistic, independent, and analytical cognitive style typically displayed in Western cultures). While differences were found between cultures in their susceptibility to optical illusions, results revealed that the Spanish sample were the least susceptible to the Ebbinghaus illusion (holistic/contextual), while the Italian sample were the least susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion (analytic/focal). No association was found when analyzing whether susceptibility to optical illusions, parental rearing practices (i.e., co-bath, co-sleep), or attachment-related avoidance or anxiety predict comfort with shorter visual interpersonal space, as measured through a computerized task involving different digital avatars approaching the participants. The current study underscores similarities and differences in the perception of optical illusions across Western and Eastern cultures. Moreover, it suggests a possible dissociation between the perception of in-person and virtual social environments, with the latter being less influenced by one’s culture, experience parental rearing, and attachment.