Personality Traits and Perception of Müller-Lyer Illusion in Male Chinese Military Soldiers and University Students.

BACKGROUND

In military men, performance such as gun-shooting precision relies on factors such as the ability to resist visual illusion, and this misperception of visual stimulus might be linked with sensation seeking related personality.

METHODS

We have invited 103 male military men and 104 age-matched university male students to undergo the experiment of the Brentano version of the Müller-Lyer illusion and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) tests.

RESULTS

The military men scored significantly lower than students did on the ZKPQ Impulsive Sensation Seeking test but higher on Aggression-Hostility and Sociality test, and displayed less misperception magnitude to the illusion. The Impulsive Sensation Seeking, Neuroticism-Anxiety and Aggression-Hostility traits in military men, and the Activity in students were respectively correlated with the misperception magnitudes of the illusion in different manners.

CONCLUSION

Limited results in our study have indicated that the military men had pronounced personality traits which were correlated with the misperception magnitude of the Müller-Lyer illusion.