The cutaneous-rabbit illusion: What if it is not a Rabbit?

The present study investigated the emotional dimensions of the cutaneous-rabbit illusion (or the cutaneous-rabbit effect (CRE)) and how it is affected when associated with visual stimuli. Participants were asked to rate the valence, the arousal, and the dominance of the CRE when combined with images of hopping animals with three burst durations: 12 ms, 24 ms, and 48 ms. The results show that while with pleasant visual stimuli, the three burst durations affected the CRE valence differently; unpleasant visual stimuli masked this variation. Our results also suggest that CRE could have a calming effect for an arousing visual stimulus and an arousal effect for the least exciting visual stimuli.