Abstract
This paper offers background for an English translation of an article originally published in 1891 by Augustin Charpentier (1852–1916), as well as a summary of it. The article is frequently described as providing the first experimental evidence for the size—weight illusion. A comparison of experiments on the judged heaviness of lifted weights carried out by Weber (1834) and by Charpentier (1891) supports the view that Charpentiers work deserves priority; review of other experimental studies on the size-weight illusion in the 1890s suggests that the idea that the illusion depended on “disappointed expectations,” especially with respect to speed of lift, became dominant almost immediately following the publication of Charpentiers paper. The fate of this and other ideas, including “motor energy,” in 20th-century research on the illusion is briefly described.
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This research was supported by Research Grant 410-96-0501 awarded to the first author by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
A copy of the English translation of Charpentier’s 1891 article will be sent with the reprint.
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Murray, D.J., Ellis, R.R., Bandomir, C.A. et al. Charpentier (1891) on the size—weight illusion. Perception & Psychophysics 61, 1681–1685 (1999). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213127
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213127