2001/12/01 by Mark A. Changizi, W. G. Hall · 3 citations
Psychology · Physics and Astronomy · Neuroscience · Medicine · #Multisensory perception and integration #Color Science and Applications #Visual perception and processing mechanisms #Thirst #Perception #Scrutiny #Transparency (behavior) #Psychology #Cognitive psychology #Social psychology #Neuroscience #Medicine #Computer science #Political science
paper · doi:10.1068/p3266
openalex publication_date 2001/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Does thirst make you more likely to think you see water? Tales of thirsty desert travelers and oasis mirages are consistent with our intuitions that appetitive state can influence what we see in the world. Yet there has been surprisingly little scrutiny of this appetitive modulation of perception. We tested whether dehydrated subjects would be biased towards perceptions of transparency, a common property of water. We found that thirsty subjects have a greater tendency to perceive transparency in ambiguous stimuli, revealing an ecologically appropriate modulation of the visual system by a basic appetitive motive.