Kanizsa figure does not defend against saccadic compression of visual space.

Recent studies have suggested that the apparent shape of a perceptually organized object flashed immediately before saccade is not distorted although a perisaccadic flash is mislocalized as if the visual space is compressed toward the goal of the saccade. We report that the apparent width of a Kanizsa illusory rectangle flashed in the perisaccadic period was compressed as much as that of a control stimulus that did not induce illusory rectangle, while that of a rectangle with real contour was less compressed. Our results imply that the process of saccadic compression of visual space completes faster than the interpolation process of illusory contours.