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The human visual system converts identically sized retinal stimuli into different-sized perceptions. For instance, the Müller-Lyer illusion alters the perceived length of a line via arrows attached to its end. The strength of this illusion can be expressed as the difference between physical and perceived line length. Accordingly, illusion strength reflects how strong a representation is transformed along its way from a retinal image up to a conscious percept. In this study, we investigated changes of effective connectivity between brain areas supporting these transformation processes to further elucidate the neural underpinnings of optical illusions. The strength of the Müller-Lyer illusion was parametrically modulated while participants performed either a spatial or a luminance task. Lateral occipital cortex and right superior parietal cortex were found to be associated with illusion strength. Dynamic causal modeling was …