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.