In 3 experiments the authors investigate how errors in perception produce errors in drawings. In Experiment 1, when Shepard stimuli were shown as a pair of tables, participants made severe errors in trying to adjust 1 part of the stimulus to match the other. When the table legs were removed, revealing a pair of parallelograms with minimal perspective cues, the illusion was weaker. The authors predicted that participants would err when drawing the table but not the parallelogram stimuli. The results of Experiment 2 support the prediction and establish a direct link between degree of perceptual distortion of the table stimuli and the severity of error in drawing. When drawing only the right-hand part of the figure, participants also erred to a greater degree in drawing the table than the parallelogram (Experiment 3). Collectively, the results suggest that perceptual distortion is linked with errors in drawing the table stimuli.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their partners show adversarial growth and to examine which psychological and disability variables contribute to this in patients and their partners. The study also investigated the relationship between growth and distress. Seventy-two patients with MS and their partners provided demographic information and completed measures of posttraumatic growth, illness perceptions, depression, cognitive function and disability. Both patients and partners showed adversarial growth, with patients reporting significantly higher growth than partners. The only significant predictor for patient growth was partner growth, and vice versa. Dissimilarity in illness representations between patients and their partners on the consequences of MS dimension, patient mood and patient growth accounted for significant variance in partner growth. The findings support the idea of a 'communal search for meaning' where patients and their partners experience the trauma of having a chronic illness and subsequently find positive aspects together.

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Previous research suggests that the ability to reverse ambiguous figures may be related to an understanding of one's own and others' mental states. We can infer from these findings that individuals who have difficulty representing mental states, such as those with autism, may also have difficulty reversing ambiguous figures. The results from our study, however, showed that a majority of those with autism easily succeeded in making alternative interpretations despite many making errors in tests of false belief. Many also had difficulty acknowledging that a less informed person would interpret a non-descript portion of a drawing differently than themselves. Comparison participants with moderate learning disabilities, who had a similar intellectual profile, generally performed well on the theory of mind tests and a majority made alternative interpretations of ambiguous figures. Typically developing children aged 7 and 8 years performed well on all tests. The ambiguity test does not require participants to understand that representations are open to revision, unlike theory of mind tests, and this might explain their good performance.

We report evidence that visual representations of space close to the body can be extended when a patient uses a tool to explore the environment. HB had severe neglect of left and far spatial regions which was determined more by how locations were visually perceived than by how they were represented tactilely or through proprioception. His ability to detect visual targets in left and far space was improved, however, when he held a tool. He also had limited tactile/proprioceptive knowledge about the location of his hand. These data suggest that by holding a tool, HB's more intact representation of near, visual space could be extended to include stimuli presented at a distance from his body. This extension of space improved his detection of visual stimuli. We discuss the implications of the results for the nature of our internal representation of space.