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Poom L, Matin M. Priming and reversals of the perceived ambiguous orientation of a structure-from-motion shape and relation to personality traits. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0273772. [PMID: 36018885 PMCID: PMC9417019 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
We demonstrate contributions of top-down and bottom-up influences in perception as explored by priming and counts of perceived reversals and mixed percepts, as probed by an ambiguously slanted structure-from-motion (SFM) test-cylinder. We included three different disambiguated primes: a SFM cylinder, a still image of a cylinder, and an imagined cylinder. In Experiment 1 where the prime and test sequentially occupied the same location, we also administered questionnaires with the Big-5 trait openness and vividness of visual imagery to probe possible relations to top-down driven priming. Since influences of gaze or position in the prime conditions in Experiment 1 could not be ruled out completely, Experiment 2 was conducted where the test cylinder appeared at a randomly chosen position after the prime. In Experiment 2 we also measured the number of perceptual reversals and mixed percepts during prolonged viewing of our ambiguous SFM-cylinder, and administered questionnaires to measure all Big-5 traits, autism, spatial and object imagery, and rational or experiential cognitive styles, associated with bottom-up and top-down processes. The results revealed contributions of position-invariant and cue-invariant priming. In addition, residual contributions of low-level priming was found when the prime and test were both defined by SFM, and were presented at the same location, and the correlation between the SFM priming and the other two priming conditions were weaker than between the pictorial and imagery priming. As previously found with ambiguous binocular rivalry stimuli, we found positive correlations between mixed percepts and the Big-5 dimension openness to experience, and between reversals, mixed percepts and neuroticism. Surprisingly, no correlations between the scores from the vividness of imagery questionnaires and influence from any of the primes were obtained. An intriguing finding was the significant differences between the positive correlation from the experiential cognitive style scores, and the negative correlation between rational style and the cue invariant priming. Among other results, negative correlations between agreeableness and all priming conditions were obtained. These results not only support the notion of multiple processes involved in the perception of ambiguous SFM, but also link these processes in perception to specific personality traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leo Poom
- Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- * E-mail:
| | - Melina Matin
- Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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2
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Toppino TC. Reversible-figure perception: Why is voluntary control limited? Perception 2022; 51:624-638. [PMID: 35833335 DOI: 10.1177/03010066221109990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Observers can voluntarily avoid reversals of an ambiguous, reversible figure, extending the duration of an intended percept. This is usually attributed to high-level, top-down attentional processes. However, voluntary control is limited. Reversals occur despite attempts to avoid them. In two experiments, observers demonstrated significant, but limited, voluntary control over Necker cube perception. Cube size and cube completeness, variables associated with stimulus-driven processes involving neural adaptation, influenced the frequency of reversals regardless of observers' intentions. Results are consistent with the hybrid hypothesis that both top-down and bottom-up processes contribute to Necker-cube perception and support the hypothesis that the contribution of bottom-up processes is responsible for the limitation on voluntary control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas C Toppino
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 8210Villanova University, United States
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3
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Allen AK, Jacobs MT, Davidenko N. Subjective control of polystable illusory apparent motion: Is control possible when the stimulus affords countless motion possibilities? J Vis 2022; 22:5. [PMID: 35708685 PMCID: PMC9206494 DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.7.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigate whether a new polystable illusion, illusory apparent motion (IAM), is susceptible to subjective perceptual control as has been shown in other polystable stimuli (e.g., the Necker cube, apparent motion quartets). Previous research has demonstrated that, although IAM shares some properties in common with other polystable stimuli, it also has some unique ones that make it unclear whether it should have similar susceptibility to subjective control. For example, IAM can be perceived in a countless number of directions and motion patterns (e.g., up–down, left–left, contracting–expanding, shear, diagonal). To explore perceptual control of IAM, in experiment 1 (n = 99) we used a motion persistence paradigm where participants are primed with different motion patterns and are instructed to control (change or hold) the initial motion pattern and indicate when the motion pattern changes. Building on experiment 1, experiment 2 (n = 76) brings the method more in line with previous subjective control research, testing whether participants can control their perception of IAM in a context without priming and while dynamically reporting their percepts throughout the trial. Findings from the two experiments demonstrate that participants were able to control their perception of IAM across paradigms. We explore the implications of these findings, strategies reported, and open questions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison K Allen
- Department of Psychology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.,
| | - Matthew T Jacobs
- Open Mind School, Silicon Valley Social Innovation Lab, Menlo Park, CA, USA.,
| | - Nicolas Davidenko
- Department of Psychology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.,
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4
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D'Anselmo A, Pisani A, Brancucci A. A tentative I/O curve with consciousness: Effects of multiple simultaneous ambiguous figures presentation on perceptual reversals and time estimation. Conscious Cogn 2022; 99:103300. [PMID: 35182822 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2021] [Revised: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This study was aimed at investigating mechanisms of consciousness using bistable perception. In 4 experimental conditions, 1, 2, 4 or 8 Rubin's face-vase ambiguous figures were presented for 3 min.In Experiment 1, 40 subjects looked at the center of the screen and pressed a specific key correspondent to the figure where they perceived a reversal. In Experiment 2, 32 subjects controlled with eye-tracker performed a similar task in which they pressed the spacebar whenever they perceived a reversal in any of the figures.At the end of each condition subjects estimated its duration. Results showed that changing the number of figures does not alter the number of reversals, producing a flat I/O curve between the two parameters. Estimated time lapse showed a negative correlation with the number of reversals. These findings are discussed considering the relationships between bistable perception, attention, and consciousness, as well as the time perception literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita D'Anselmo
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territory Sciences (DiSPuTeR), "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy.
| | - Angelo Pisani
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Italy
| | - Alfredo Brancucci
- Department of Motor, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome "Foro Italico", Italy
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5
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Thériault R, Landry M, Raz A. EXPRESS: The Rubber Hand Illusion: Top-Down Attention Modulates Embodiment. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2022; 75:2129-2148. [PMID: 35073801 PMCID: PMC9516612 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221078858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) creates distortions of body ownership
through multimodal integration of somatosensory and visual inputs.
This illusion largely rests on bottom-up (automatic multisensory and
perceptual integration) mechanisms. However, the relative contribution
from top-down factors, such as controlled processes involving
attentional regulation, remains unclear. Following previous work that
highlights the putative influence of higher-order cognition in the
RHI, we aimed to further examine how modulations of working memory
load and task instructions—two conditions engaging top-down cognitive
processes—influence the experience of the RHI, as indexed by a number
of psychometric dimensions. Relying on exploratory factor analysis for
assessing this phenomenology within the RHI, our results confirm the
influence of higher-order, top-down mental processes. Whereas task
instruction strongly modulated embodiment of the rubber hand,
cognitive load altered the affective dimension of the RHI. Our
findings corroborate that top-down processes shape the phenomenology
of the RHI and herald new ways to improve experimental control over
the RHI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rémi Thériault
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University 14845.,Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal.,Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University
| | - Mathieu Landry
- Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University 5620.,Integrated Program in Neuroscience, Montreal Neurological Institute
| | - Amir Raz
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University 5620.,Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University.,The Lady Davis Institute at the SMBD Jewish General Hospital
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6
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Abstract
In perceptual rivalry, ambiguous sensory information leads to dynamic changes in the perceptual interpretation of fixed stimuli. This phenomenon occurs when participants receive sensory stimuli that support two or more distinct interpretations; this results in spontaneous alternations between possible perceptual interpretations. Perceptual rivalry has been widely studied across different sensory modalities including vision, audition, and to a limited extent, in the tactile domain. Common features of perceptual rivalry across various ambiguous visual and auditory paradigms characterize the randomness of switching times and their dependence on input strength manipulations (Levelt's propositions). It is still unclear whether the general characteristics of perceptual rivalry are preserved with tactile stimuli. This study aims to introduce a simple tactile stimulus capable of generating perceptual rivalry and explores whether general features of perceptual rivalry from other modalities extend to the tactile domain. Our results confirm that Levelt's proposition II extends to tactile bistability, and that the stochastic characteristics of irregular perceptual alternations agree with non-tactile modalities. An analysis of correlations between subsequent perceptual phases reveals a significant positive correlation at lag 1 (as found in visual bistability), and a negative correlation for lag 2 (in contrast with visual bistability).
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7
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Blake A, Palmisano S. Divergent Thinking Influences the Perception of Ambiguous Visual Illusions. Perception 2021; 50:418-437. [PMID: 33779399 DOI: 10.1177/03010066211000192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated the relationships between personality and creativity in the perception of two different ambiguous visual illusions. Previous research has suggested that Industriousness and Openness/Intellect (as measured by the Big Five Aspects Scale) are both associated with individual differences in perceptual switching rates for binocular rivalry stimuli. Here, we examined whether these relationships generalise to the Necker Cube and the Spinning Dancer illusions. In the experimental phase of this study, participants viewed these ambiguous figures under both static and dynamic, as well as free-view and fixation, conditions. As predicted, perceptual switching rates were higher: (a) for the static Necker Cube than the Spinning Dancer, and (b) in free-view compared with fixation conditions. In the second phase of the study, personality type and divergent thinking were measured using the Big Five Aspects Scale and the Alternate Uses Task, respectively. Higher creativity/divergent thinking (as measured by the Alternate Uses Task) was found to predict greater switching rates for the static Necker Cube (but not the Spinning Dancer) under both free-view and fixation conditions. These findings suggest that there are differences in the perceptual processing of creative individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annabel Blake
- School of Psychology, 8691University of Wollongong, Australia
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8
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Abstract
When facing ambiguous images, the brain switches between mutually exclusive interpretations, a phenomenon known as bistable perception. Despite years of research, a consensus on whether bistability is driven primarily by bottom-up or top-down mechanisms has not been achieved. Here, we adopted a Bayesian approach to reconcile these two theories. Fifty-five healthy participants were exposed to an adaptation of the Necker cube paradigm, in which we manipulated sensory evidence and prior knowledge. Manipulations of both sensory evidence and priors significantly affected the way participants perceived the Necker cube. However, we observed an interaction between the effect of the cue and the effect of the instructions, a finding that is incompatible with Bayes-optimal integration. In contrast, the data were well predicted by a circular inference model. In this model, ambiguous sensory evidence is systematically biased in the direction of current expectations, ultimately resulting in a bistable percept.
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9
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Sato F, Laeng B, Nakauchi S, Minami T. Cueing the Necker cube: Pupil dilation reflects the viewing-from-above constraint in bistable perception. J Vis 2020; 20:7. [PMID: 32293651 PMCID: PMC7405692 DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.4.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
We hypothesized that a perceptually ambiguous or bistable object (Necker cube) can be more effectively biased to assume a point of view-from-above (VFA) than from below the object by cueing attention. Participants viewed a Necker cube in which one surface was temporarily shaded so as to prime a specific perspective on the cube. Subsequently, the standard (wireframe) Necker cube was viewed for 3 seconds, and participants reported what perspective they had seen initially and whether their perception shifted to the alternative perspective during the brief viewing. Concomitantly, pupil size was monitored with an eye-tracker to obtain an index of cognitive effort. There were two conditions: passive viewing and forced attention to sustain the initially primed perspective. We confirmed the presence of a VFA bias with forced attention, which was accompanied by reduced attentional effort, as indexed by a reduced pupil diameter, compared with the view-from-below. Participants showed no bias during passive viewing. We suggest that the level of intensive attention, when retrieving and maintaining a specific view from memory, is mirrored in the size of the eye pupils and may reflect ecological constraints on visual perception.
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10
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Mental action and emotion – What happens in the mind when the stimulus changes but not the perceptual intention. NEW IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2019.100747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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11
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Cermeño-Aínsa S. The cognitive penetrability of perception: A blocked debate and a tentative solution. Conscious Cogn 2019; 77:102838. [PMID: 31678779 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2019] [Revised: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Despite the extensive body of psychological findings suggesting that cognition influences perception, the debate between defenders and detractors of the cognitive penetrability of perception persists. While detractors demand more strictness in psychological experiments, proponents consider that empirical studies show that cognitive penetrability occurs. These considerations have led some theorists to propose that the debate has reached a dead end. The issue about where perception ends and cognition begins is, I argue, one of the reasons why the debate is cornered. Another reason is the inability of psychological studies to present uncontroversial interpretations of the results obtained. To dive into other kinds of empirical sources is, therefore, required to clarify the debate. In this paper, I explain where the debate is blocked, and suggest that neuroscientific evidence together with the predictive coding account, might decant the discussion on the side of the penetrability thesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Cermeño-Aínsa
- Departamento de Filosofía, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallés, Spain.
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12
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Andermane N, Bosten JM, Seth AK, Ward J. Individual differences in change blindness are predicted by the strength and stability of visual representations. Neurosci Conscious 2019; 2019:niy010. [PMID: 30697440 PMCID: PMC6345093 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niy010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2017] [Revised: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 10/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The phenomenon of change blindness reveals that people are surprisingly poor at detecting unexpected visual changes; however, research on individual differences in detection ability is scarce. Predictive processing accounts of visual perception suggest that better change detection may be linked to assigning greater weight to prediction error signals, as indexed by an increased alternation rate in perceptual rivalry or greater sensitivity to low-level visual signals. Alternatively, superior detection ability may be associated with robust visual predictions against which sensory changes can be more effectively registered, suggesting an association with high-level mechanisms of visual short-term memory (VSTM) and attention. We administered a battery of 10 measures to explore these predictions and to determine, for the first time, the test–retest reliability of commonly used change detection measures. Change detection performance was stable over time and generalized from displays of static scenes to video clips. An exploratory factor analysis revealed two factors explaining performance across the battery, that we identify as visual stability (loading on change detection, attention measures, VSTM and perceptual rivalry) and visual ability (loading on iconic memory, temporal order judgments and contrast sensitivity). These results highlight the importance of strong, stable representations and the ability to resist distraction, in order to successfully incorporate unexpected changes into the contents of visual awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora Andermane
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Jenny M Bosten
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Anil K Seth
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Jamie Ward
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
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13
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Intaitė M, Georgescu AL, Noreika V, von Saldern MA, Vogeley K, Falter-Wagner CM. Adults with autism spectrum condition have atypical perception of ambiguous figures when bottom-up and top-down interactions are incongruous. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2018; 23:1133-1142. [PMID: 30288989 DOI: 10.1177/1362361318782221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
We examined the perception of an ambiguous squares stimulus evoking bistable perception in a sample of 31 individuals with autistic spectrum condition and 22 matched typical adults. The perception of the ambiguous figure was manipulated by adaptation to unambiguous figures and/or by placing the ambiguous figure into a context of unambiguous figures. This resulted in four conditions testing the independent and combined (congruent and incongruent) manipulations of adaptation (bottom-up) and spatial context (top-down) effects. The strength of perception, as measured by perception of the first reported orientation of the ambiguous stimulus, was affected comparably between groups. Nevertheless, the strength of perception, as measured by perceptual durations, was affected differently between groups: the perceptual effect was strongest for the autistic spectrum condition group when combined bottom-up and top-down conditions were congruent. In contrast, the strength of the perceptual effect in response to the same condition in the typical adults group was comparable to the adaptation, but stronger than both the context and the incongruent combined bottom-up and top-down conditions. Furthermore, the context condition was stronger than the incongruent combined bottom-up and top-down conditions for the typical adults group. Thus, our findings support the view of stimulus-specific top-down modulation in autistic spectrum condition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Kai Vogeley
- 3 University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.,6 Research Center Jülich, Germany
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14
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Genomic Analyses of Visual Cognition: Perceptual Rivalry and Top-Down Control. J Neurosci 2018; 38:9668-9678. [PMID: 30242048 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1970-17.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2017] [Revised: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 09/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual cognition in humans has traditionally been studied with cognitive behavioral methods and brain imaging, but much less with genetic methods. Perceptual rivalry, an important phenomenon in visual cognition, is the spontaneous perceptual alternation that occurs between two distinct interpretations of a physically constant visual stimulus (e.g., binocular rivalry stimuli) or a perceptually ambiguous stimulus (e.g., the Necker cube). The switching rate varies dramatically across individuals and can be voluntarily modulated by observers. Here, we adopted a genomic approach to systematically investigate the genetics underlying binocular rivalry, Necker cube rivalry and voluntary modulation of Necker cube rivalry in young Chinese adults (Homo sapiens, 81% female, 20 ± 1 years old) at multiple levels, including common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based heritability estimation, SNP-based genome-wide association study (GWAS), gene-based analysis, and pathway analysis. We performed a pilot GWAS in 2441 individuals and replicated it in an independent cohort of 943 individuals. Common SNP-based heritability was estimated to be 25% for spontaneous perceptual rivalry. SNPs rs184765639 and rs75595941 were associated with voluntary modulation, and imaging data suggested genotypic difference of rs184765639 in the surface area of the left caudal-middle frontal cortex. Additionally, converging evidence from multilevel analyses associated genes such as PRMT1 with perceptual switching rate, and MIR1178 with voluntary modulation strength. In summary, this study discovered specific genetic contributions to perceptual rivalry and its voluntary modulation in human beings. These findings may promote our understanding of psychiatric disorders, as perceptual rivalry is a potential psychiatric biomarker.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Perceptual rivalry is an important visual phenomenon in which our perception of a physically constant visual input spontaneously switches between two different states. There are individual variations in perceptual switching rate and voluntary modulation strength. Our genomic analyses reveal several loci associated with these two kinds of variation. Because perceptual rivalry is thought to be relevant to and potentially an endophenotype for psychiatric disorders, these results may help understand not only visual cognition, but also psychiatric disorders.
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15
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Arani E, van Ee R, van Wezel R. Changes in low-level neural properties underlie age-dependent visual decision making. Sci Rep 2018; 8:10789. [PMID: 30018453 PMCID: PMC6050268 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-27398-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2018] [Accepted: 05/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Aging typically slows down cognitive processes, specifically those related to perceptual decisions. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these age-associated changes are still elusive. To address this, we studied the effect of aging on both perceptual and binocular rivalry in various presentation conditions. Two age groups of participants reported their spontaneous percept switches during continuous presentation and percept choices during intermittent presentation. We find no significant age effect on the mean and cumulative frequencies of percept switch durations under continuous presentation. However, the data show a significant age effect on coefficient of variation, ratio of standard deviation to mean of percept durations. Our results also reveal that the alternation rate for percept choices significantly declines at an older age under intermittent presentation. The latter effect is even more pronounced at shorter inter-stimulus durations. These results together with the predictions of existing neural models for bistable perception imply that age-dependency of visual perceptual decisions is caused by shifts in neural adaptation and noise, not by a change in inhibition strength. Thus, variation in the low-level neural properties, adaptation and noise, cause age-dependent properties in visual perceptual decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elahe Arani
- Biophysics Department, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Raymond van Ee
- Biophysics Department, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Brain and Cognition, Leuven University, BE-3000, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Brain, Behavior and Cognition, Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Richard van Wezel
- Biophysics Department, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6525AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Biomedical Signal and Systems Group, MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
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16
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Chamberlain R, Swinnen L, Heeren S, Wagemans J. Perceptual flexibility is coupled with reduced executive inhibition in students of the visual arts. Br J Psychol 2017; 109:244-258. [PMID: 28657648 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2016] [Revised: 05/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Artists often report that seeing familiar stimuli in novel and interesting ways plays a role in visual art creation. However, the attentional mechanisms which underpin this ability have yet to be fully investigated. More specifically, it is unclear whether the ability to reinterpret visual stimuli in novel and interesting ways is facilitated by endogenously generated switches of attention, and whether it is linked in turn to executive functions such as inhibition and response switching. To address this issue, the current study explored ambiguous figure reversal and executive function in a sample of undergraduate students studying arts and non-art subjects (N = 141). Art students showed more frequent perceptual reversals in an ambiguous figure task, both when viewing the stimulus passively and when eliciting perceptual reversals voluntarily, but showed no difference from non-art students when asked to actively maintain specific percepts. In addition, art students were worse than non-art students at inhibiting distracting flankers in an executive inhibition task. The findings suggest that art students can elicit endogenous shifts of attention more easily than non-art students but that this faculty is not directly associated with enhanced executive function. It is proposed that the signature of artistic skill may be increased perceptual flexibility accompanied by reduced cognitive inhibition; however, future research will be necessary to determine which particular subskills in the visual arts are linked to aspects of perception and executive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Chamberlain
- Psychology Department, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.,Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lena Swinnen
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Sarah Heeren
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Johan Wagemans
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium
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17
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Gauker C. Three Kinds of Nonconceptual Seeing-as. REVIEW OF PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 8:763-779. [PMID: 29104705 PMCID: PMC5660133 DOI: 10.1007/s13164-017-0339-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
It is commonly supposed that perceptual representations in some way embed concepts and that this embedding accounts for the phenomenon of seeing-as. But there are good reasons, which will be reviewed here, to doubt that perceptions embed concepts. The alternative is to suppose that perceptions are marks in a perceptual similarity space that map into locations in an objective quality space. From this point of view, there are at least three sorts of seeing-as. First, in cases of ambiguity resolution (such as the duck-rabbit), the schematicity of the figure leaves us with a choice as to where in perceptual similarity space to place a mark (closer to the marks that represent rabbits or closer to the marks that represent ducks). Second, in cases where expertise affects perception (as when, for example, we learn to distinguish various kinds of tree leaves), the accumulation of perceptual landmarks permits a more precise placement of a mark in perceptual similarity space. Third, extensive experience with an object (e.g., the family dog) allows similarity to that object to serve as an acquired dimension in perceptual similarity space, which in turn affects the relative similarities of other objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Gauker
- Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences, University of Salzburg, Franziskanergasse 1, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
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18
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Lupyan G. Changing What You See by Changing What You Know: The Role of Attention. Front Psychol 2017; 8:553. [PMID: 28507524 PMCID: PMC5410707 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2016] [Accepted: 03/27/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Attending is a cognitive process that incorporates a person's knowledge, goals, and expectations. What we perceive when we attend to one thing is different from what we perceive when we attend to something else. Yet, it is often argued that attentional effects do not count as evidence that perception is influenced by cognition. I investigate two arguments often given to justify excluding attention. The first is arguing that attention is a post-perceptual process reflecting selection between fully constructed perceptual representations. The second is arguing that attention as a pre-perceptual process that simply changes the input to encapsulated perceptual systems. Both of these arguments are highly problematic. Although some attentional effects can indeed be construed as post-perceptual, others operate by changing perceptual content across the entire visual hierarchy. Although there is a natural analogy between spatial attention and a change of input, the analogy falls apart when we consider other forms of attention. After dispelling these arguments, I make a case for thinking of attention not as a confound, but as one of the mechanisms by which cognitive states affect perception by going through cases in which the same or similar visual inputs are perceived differently depending on the observer's cognitive state, and instances where cuing an observer using language affects what one sees. Lastly, I provide two compelling counter-examples to the critique that although cognitive influences on perception can be demonstrated in the laboratory, it is impossible to really experience them for oneself in a phenomenologically compelling way. Taken together, the current evidence strongly supports the thesis that what we know routinely influences what we see, that the same sensory input can be perceived differently depending on the current cognitive state of the viewer, and that phenomenologically salient demonstrations are possible if certain conditions are met.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gary Lupyan
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, MadisonWI, USA
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Dieter KC, Brascamp J, Tadin D, Blake R. Does visual attention drive the dynamics of bistable perception? Atten Percept Psychophys 2016; 78:1861-73. [PMID: 27230785 PMCID: PMC5014653 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-016-1143-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
How does attention interact with incoming sensory information to determine what we perceive? One domain in which this question has received serious consideration is that of bistable perception: a captivating class of phenomena that involves fluctuating visual experience in the face of physically unchanging sensory input. Here, some investigations have yielded support for the idea that attention alone determines what is seen, while others have implicated entirely attention-independent processes in driving alternations during bistable perception. We review the body of literature addressing this divide and conclude that in fact both sides are correct-depending on the form of bistable perception being considered. Converging evidence suggests that visual attention is required for alternations in the type of bistable perception called binocular rivalry, while alternations during other types of bistable perception appear to continue without requiring attention. We discuss some implications of this differential effect of attention for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying bistable perception, and examine how these mechanisms operate during our everyday visual experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin C Dieter
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center and Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
| | - Jan Brascamp
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA
| | - Duje Tadin
- Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA
| | - Randolph Blake
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center and Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
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Brosowsky NP, Mondor TA. Multistable perception of ambiguous melodies and the role of musical expertise. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 140:866. [PMID: 27586718 DOI: 10.1121/1.4960450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Whereas visual demonstrations of multistability are ubiquitous, there are few auditory examples. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether simultaneously presented melodies, such as underlie the scale illusion [Deutsch (1975). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 57(5), 1156-1160], can elicit multiple mutually exclusive percepts, and whether reported perceptions are mediated by musical expertise. Participants listened to target melodies and reported whether the target was embedded in subsequent test melodies. Target sequences were created such that they would only be heard if the listener interpreted the test melody according to various perceptual cues. Critically, and in contrast with previous examinations of the scale illusion, an objective measure of target detection was obtained by including target-absent test melodies. As a result, listeners could reliably identify target sequences from different perceptual organizations when presented with the same test melody on different trials. This result demonstrates an ability to alternate between mutually exclusive percepts of an unchanged stimulus. However, only perceptual organizations consistent with frequency and spatial cues were available and musical expertise did mediate target detection, limiting the organizations available to non-musicians. The current study provides the first known demonstration of auditory multistability using simultaneously presented melodies and provides a unique experimental method for measuring auditory perceptual competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholaus P Brosowsky
- Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, New York, New York 10016, USA
| | - Todd A Mondor
- University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada
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Balcetis E, Dale R. Conceptual Set as a Top — Down Constraint on Visual Object Identification. Perception 2016; 36:581-95. [PMID: 17564203 DOI: 10.1068/p5678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Four studies are reported which demonstrate that indirectly, loosely related information, otherwise known as conceptual set, modulates object identification. Studies 1A and 1B demonstrate the impact of indirect, nonspecific, non-perceptual, conceptual primes on the interpretation of ambiguous visual figures. Study 2 demonstrates that indirect, conceptual information (category of farm animals) biases identification without requiring the activation of direct perceptual information (here the image of a horse). Study 3 uses a non-linguistic dependent measure to address the alternative explanation that language and not perception mediates the relationship between incidental conceptual prime and biased object identification. These results suggest that conceptual set constrains object identification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Balcetis
- Department of Psychology, 200 Porter Hall, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA.
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Can you experience 'top-down' effects on perception?: The case of race categories and perceived lightness. Psychon Bull Rev 2016; 22:694-700. [PMID: 25520200 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0711-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
A recent surge of research has revived the notion that higher-level cognitive states such as beliefs, desires, and categorical knowledge can directly change what we see. The force of such claims, however, has been undercut by an absence of visually apparent demonstrations of the form so often appealed to in vision science: such effects may be revealed by statistical analyses of observers' responses, but you cannot literally experience the alleged top-down effects yourself. A singular exception is an influential report that racial categorization alters the perceived lightness of faces, a claim that was bolstered by a striking visual demonstration that Black faces appear darker than White faces, even when matched for mean luminance. Here, we show that this visually compelling difference is explicable in terms of purely low-level factors. Observers who viewed heavily blurred versions of the original Black and White faces still judged the Black face to be darker and the White face to be lighter even when these observers could not perceive the races of the faces, and even when they explicitly judged the faces to be of the same race. We conclude that the best subjectively appreciable evidence for top-down influences on perception does not reflect a genuinely top-down effect after all: instead, such effects arise from more familiar (if subtle) bottom-up factors within visual processing.
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Farkas D, Denham SL, Bendixen A, Winkler I. Assessing the validity of subjective reports in the auditory streaming paradigm. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 139:1762. [PMID: 27106324 DOI: 10.1121/1.4945720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
While subjective reports provide a direct measure of perception, their validity is not self-evident. Here, the authors tested three possible biasing effects on perceptual reports in the auditory streaming paradigm: errors due to imperfect understanding of the instructions, voluntary perceptual biasing, and susceptibility to implicit expectations. (1) Analysis of the responses to catch trials separately promoting each of the possible percepts allowed the authors to exclude participants who likely have not fully understood the instructions. (2) Explicit biasing instructions led to markedly different behavior than the conventional neutral-instruction condition, suggesting that listeners did not voluntarily bias their perception in a systematic way under the neutral instructions. Comparison with a random response condition further supported this conclusion. (3) No significant relationship was found between social desirability, a scale-based measure of susceptibility to implicit social expectations, and any of the perceptual measures extracted from the subjective reports. This suggests that listeners did not significantly bias their perceptual reports due to possible implicit expectations present in the experimental context. In sum, these results suggest that valid perceptual data can be obtained from subjective reports in the auditory streaming paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dávid Farkas
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Susan L Denham
- Cognition Institute and School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom
| | - Alexandra Bendixen
- School of Natural Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany
| | - István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
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Abstract
Attentional influence over perception is particularly pronounced when sensory stimulation is ambiguous, where attention can reduce stimulus uncertainty and promote a stable interpretation of the world. However, binocular rivalry, an extensively studied visual ambiguity, has proved to be comparatively resistant to attentional modulation. We hypothesize that this apparent inconsistency reflects fluctuations in the degree of unresolved competition during binocular rivalry. Namely, attentional influence over rivalry dynamics should be limited to phases of relatively unresolved stimulus competition, such as ends of individual dominance periods. We found that transient, feature-based cues congruent with the dominant stimulus prolonged dominance durations, while cues matching the suppressed stimulus hastened its return to dominance. Notably, the effect of cues depended on when the cues are presented. Cues presented late, but not early, during a given episode of perceptual dominance influenced rivalry dynamics. This temporal pattern mirrors known changes in the relative competitive dynamics of rival stimuli, revealing that selective effects occur only during temporal windows containing weak resolution of visual competition. In conclusion, these findings reveal that unresolved competition, which gates attention across a variety of domains, is also crucial in determining the susceptibility of binocular rivalry to selective influences.
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Abstract
The spectacularly varied responses to our target article raised big-picture questions about the nature of seeing and thinking, nitty-gritty experimental design details, and everything in between. We grapple with these issues, including the ready falsifiability of our view, neuroscientific theories that allow everything but demand nothing, cases where seeing and thinking conflict, mental imagery, the free press, an El Greco fallacy fallacy, hallucinogenic drugs, blue bananas, subatomic particles, Boeing 787s, and the racial identities of geometric shapes.
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Abstract
AbstractWhat determines what we see? In contrast to the traditional “modular” understanding of perception, according to which visual processing is encapsulated from higher-level cognition, a tidal wave of recent research alleges that states such as beliefs, desires, emotions, motivations, intentions, and linguistic representations exert direct, top-down influences on what we see. There is a growing consensus that such effects are ubiquitous, and that the distinction between perception and cognition may itself be unsustainable. We argue otherwise: None of these hundreds of studies – either individually or collectively – provides compelling evidence for true top-down effects on perception, or “cognitive penetrability.” In particular, and despite their variety, we suggest that these studies all fall prey to only a handful of pitfalls. And whereas abstract theoretical challenges have failed to resolve this debate in the past, our presentation of these pitfalls is empirically anchored: In each case, we show not only how certain studies could be susceptible to the pitfall (in principle), but also how several alleged top-down effects actually are explained by the pitfall (in practice). Moreover, these pitfalls are perfectly general, with each applying to dozens of other top-down effects. We conclude by extracting the lessons provided by these pitfalls into a checklist that future work could use to convincingly demonstrate top-down effects on visual perception. The discovery of substantive top-down effects of cognition on perception would revolutionize our understanding of how the mind is organized; but without addressing these pitfalls, no such empirical report will license such exciting conclusions.
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Russo E, De Pascalis V. Individual variability in perceptual switching behaviour is associated with reversal-related EEG modulations. Clin Neurophysiol 2015; 127:479-489. [PMID: 26105685 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2015.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2014] [Revised: 05/29/2015] [Accepted: 06/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE High individual variability is frequently observed in multistable perception, but few ERP studies have considered this factor. The present investigation evaluates the relation between individual perceptual switching and the modulation of reversal-related ERP components. METHODS We used a bistable perception paradigm (Kornmeier and Bach, 2004), consisting of briefly flashed grid of nine Necker cubes, interspersed by a blank screen. The subject's task was to compare the previous stimulus with the latter one. The number of reversal perceptions was used as a measure of individual perceptual switching behaviour. RESULTS As in previously reported findings, Reversal Negativity (RN, 180-300 ms) and Late Positive Component (LPC, 350-600 ms) were identified in response to reversal perception. In terms of individual differences, higher reversals were associated with reduced negativity of the RN and enhanced positivity of the LPC. CONCLUSION The timing of the present results supports the hypothesis that individual variability in perceptual reversal is associated with different neural activations at later stage of processing, when the neural representation of ambiguous figure must be internalized to produce an appropriate response/behaviour. SIGNIFICANCE Multistable perception can reveal crucial mechanisms underlying individual perceptual re-organization when inconsistent or incoherent stimuli come from the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuela Russo
- Department of Psychology, "La Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
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Time for a change: What dominance durations reveal about adaptation effects in the perception of a bi-stable reversible figure. Atten Percept Psychophys 2014; 77:867-82. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0809-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Scocchia L, Valsecchi M, Triesch J. Top-down influences on ambiguous perception: the role of stable and transient states of the observer. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:979. [PMID: 25538601 PMCID: PMC4259127 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2014] [Accepted: 11/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The world as it appears to the viewer is the result of a complex process of inference performed by the brain. The validity of this apparently counter-intuitive assertion becomes evident whenever we face noisy, feeble or ambiguous visual stimulation: in these conditions, the state of the observer may play a decisive role in determining what is currently perceived. On this background, ambiguous perception and its amenability to top-down influences can be employed as an empirical paradigm to explore the principles of perception. Here we offer an overview of both classical and recent contributions on how stable and transient states of the observer can impact ambiguous perception. As to the influence of the stable states of the observer, we show that what is currently perceived can be influenced (1) by cognitive and affective aspects, such as meaning, prior knowledge, motivation, and emotional content and (2) by individual differences, such as gender, handedness, genetic inheritance, clinical conditions, and personality traits and by (3) learning and conditioning. As to the impact of transient states of the observer, we outline the effects of (4) attention and (5) voluntary control, which have attracted much empirical work along the history of ambiguous perception. In the huge literature on the topic we trace a difference between the observer's ability to control dominance (i.e., the maintenance of a specific percept in visual awareness) and reversal rate (i.e., the switching between two alternative percepts). Other transient states of the observer that have more recently drawn researchers' attention regard (6) the effects of imagery and visual working memory. (7) Furthermore, we describe the transient effects of prior history of perceptual dominance. (8) Finally, we address the currently available computational models of ambiguous perception and how they can take into account the crucial share played by the state of the observer in perceiving ambiguous displays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Scocchia
- Milan Center for Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Milano-BicoccaMilan, Italy
| | | | - Jochen Triesch
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Johann Wolfgang Goethe UniversityFrankfurt am Main, Germany
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Seeing and liking: biased perception of ambiguous figures consistent with the "inward bias" in aesthetic preferences. Psychon Bull Rev 2014; 21:1444-51. [PMID: 24683097 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0617-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Aesthetic preferences are ubiquitous in visual experience. Indeed, it seems nearly impossible in many circumstances to perceive a scene without also liking or disliking it to some degree. Aesthetic factors are only occasionally studied in mainstream vision science, though, and even then they are often treated as functionally independent from other aspects of perception. In contrast, the present study explores the possibility that aesthetic preferences may interact with other types of visual processing. We were inspired, in particular, by the inward bias in aesthetic preferences: When an object with a salient "front" is placed near the border of a frame (say, in a photograph), observers tend to find the image more aesthetically pleasing if the object faces inward (toward the center) than if it faces outward (away from the center). We employed similar stimuli, except that observers viewed framed figures that were ambiguous in terms of the direction they appeared to be facing. The resulting percepts were influenced by the frames in a way that corresponded to the inward bias: When a figure was placed near a frame's border, observers tended to see whichever interpretation was facing inward. This effect occurred for both abstract geometric figures (e.g., ambiguously-oriented triangles) and meaningful line drawings (e.g., left-facing ducks or right-facing rabbits). The match between this new influence on ambiguous figure perception and the previously studied aesthetic bias suggests new ways in which aesthetic factors may relate not only to what we like, but also to what we see in the first place.
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Intaitė M, Koivisto M, Castelo-Branco M. Event-related potential responses to perceptual reversals are modulated by working memory load. Neuropsychologia 2014; 56:428-38. [PMID: 24565733 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2013] [Revised: 01/14/2014] [Accepted: 02/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
While viewing ambiguous figures, such as the Necker cube, the available perceptual interpretations alternate with one another. The role of higher level mechanisms in such reversals remains unclear. We tested whether perceptual reversals of discontinuously presented Necker cube pairs depend on working memory resources by manipulating cognitive load while recording event-related potentials (ERPs). The ERPs showed early enhancements of negativity, which were obtained in response to the first cube approximately 500 ms before perceived reversals. We found that working memory load influenced reversal-related brain responses in response to the second cube over occipital areas at the 150-300 ms post-stimulus and over central areas at P3 time window (300-500 ms), suggesting that it modulates intermediate visual processes. Interestingly, reversal rates remained unchanged by the working memory load. We propose that perceptual reversals in discontinuous presentation of ambiguous stimuli are governed by an early (well preceding pending reversals) mechanism, while the effects of load on the reversal related ERPs may reflect general top-down influences on visual processing, possibly mediated by the prefrontal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Intaitė
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga De Santa Comba, Celas, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - Mika Koivisto
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Miguel Castelo-Branco
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Azinhaga De Santa Comba, Celas, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
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O'Brien C, Higgs S, Harris M. Alcohol disrupts the effects of priming on the perception of ambiguous figures. J Psychopharmacol 2014; 28:31-8. [PMID: 24306134 DOI: 10.1177/0269881113515060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Inhibitory mechanisms are thought to underpin the well-documented impairing effects of alcohol on attention. Here, we use a novel priming paradigm to investigate the effects of alcohol on inhibitory mechanisms in attention. Participants were assigned to an alcohol (N=15), or placebo (N=15) group. The dose of alcohol was 0.8 g/kg for males and 0.75 g/kg for females. Participants were asked to report figure reversals during presentation of the face-vase ambiguous figure. Prior to this, they were shown a prime that was either semantically relevant to the face-vase stimulus or was neutral. Semantic priming decreased the number of figure reversals in the first half of the test session in the placebo group but not in the alcohol group. The placebo group was also more likely than the alcohol group to report the first interpretation of the figure to be the same as the semantic prime. Prior presentation of a semantic prime had a stabilising effect on reversal rate, suggesting that the primed interpretation inhibited the alternate interpretation. The absence of an effect in the alcohol group is consistent with an alcohol-related impairment of this inhibition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire O'Brien
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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O'Brien C, Harris M, Higgs S. Effects of alcohol on attentional mechanisms involved in figure reversals. Hum Psychopharmacol 2013; 28:484-94. [PMID: 23922179 DOI: 10.1002/hup.2337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2012] [Accepted: 05/29/2013] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The impairing effects of alcohol on attention are well documented and are thought to involve inhibitory mechanisms. We used ambiguous figures (Face-Vase and Necker cube) to test whether the intentional control mechanism is more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than the automatic mechanism. METHOD Participants were assigned to an alcohol (Study 1, N = 15; Study 2, N = 18), placebo (Study 1, N = 15; Study 2, N = 20) or control (Study 1 only, N = 10) group. The doses of alcohol were 0.8 g/kg for men and 0.75 g/kg for women. Participants were shown the Face-Vase and Necker cube figures and two variants of each, which were biased in varying degrees towards one interpretation. Study 1 assessed the automatic control mechanism by asking participants to report spontaneous reversals. Study 2 assessed the intentional control mechanism by asking participants to increase reversal rate. RESULTS In Study 1, reversal rate was similar for all groups, whereas in Study 2, the alcohol group reported more reversals than the control group, although this was true only for the biased versions of the Face-Vase illusion. CONCLUSIONS The effect of alcohol on reversal rate is observed only during intentional reversals of semantically meaningful stimuli and only when the stimulus is biased.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire O'Brien
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
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Intaitė M, Noreika V, Šoliūnas A, Falter CM. Interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes in the perception of ambiguous figures. Vision Res 2013; 89:24-31. [PMID: 23851264 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2013.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2013] [Revised: 06/20/2013] [Accepted: 06/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Ambiguous figures reverse their appearance during prolonged viewing and can be perceived in two (or more) available interpretations. Both physical stimulus manipulations and cognitive control influence the perception of ambiguous figures, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the current study, the perception of an ambiguous figure was manipulated by adaptation to unambiguous figures and/or placing the ambiguous figure into a context of unambiguous figures. Our results indicate that both adaptation and context can effectively modulate perception of the ambiguous figure. When manipulated together, adaptation and context processes showed additive effects upon the perception of the ambiguous figure implying the independent mechanisms. Thus, top-down and bottom-up processes seem to influence the perception of the ambiguous figures independently and neither seems to be uniquely responsible for the generation of perceptual changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Intaitė
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
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Pastukhov A, Braun J. Disparate time-courses of adaptation and facilitation in multi-stable perception. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013. [DOI: 10.1556/lp.5.2013.suppl2.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Visual working memory contents bias ambiguous structure from motion perception. PLoS One 2013; 8:e59217. [PMID: 23527141 PMCID: PMC3602104 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2012] [Accepted: 02/13/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The way we perceive the visual world depends crucially on the state of the observer. In the present study we show that what we are holding in working memory (WM) can bias the way we perceive ambiguous structure from motion stimuli. Holding in memory the percept of an unambiguously rotating sphere influenced the perceived direction of motion of an ambiguously rotating sphere presented shortly thereafter. In particular, we found a systematic difference between congruent dominance periods where the perceived direction of the ambiguous stimulus corresponded to the direction of the unambiguous one and incongruent dominance periods. Congruent dominance periods were more frequent when participants memorized the speed of the unambiguous sphere for delayed discrimination than when they performed an immediate judgment on a change in its speed. The analysis of dominance time-course showed that a sustained tendency to perceive the same direction of motion as the prior stimulus emerged only in the WM condition, whereas in the attention condition perceptual dominance dropped to chance levels at the end of the trial. The results are explained in terms of a direct involvement of early visual areas in the active representation of visual motion in WM.
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Raftopoulos A. The cognitive impenetrability of the content of early vision is a necessary and sufficient condition for purely nonconceptual content. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2012.729486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Intaitė M, Koivisto M, Revonsuo A. Perceptual reversals of Necker stimuli during intermittent presentation with limited attentional resources. Psychophysiology 2012; 50:82-96. [PMID: 23215774 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01486.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2011] [Accepted: 09/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
During prolonged viewing of ambiguous stimuli, such as Necker cubes, sudden perceptual reversals occur from one perceptual interpretation to another. The role of attention in such reversals is not clear. We tested whether perceptual reversals depend on attentional resources by manipulating perceptual load and recording event-related potentials (ERPs) during intermittent presentation of Necker stimuli. The results did not reveal any influence for perceptual load on the frequency of reversals. The ERPs showed that perceptual load influenced electrophysiological activity over parieto-central areas in the P1 time window (110-140 ms), but load did not modify the early enhancements of positivity (30-140 ms), which correlated with perceptual reversals at occipito-temporal sites. We conclude that disambiguation of ambiguous figures is based on early mechanisms that can work efficiently with only a minimal amount of attentional resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Intaitė
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
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Wagemans J, Feldman J, Gepshtein S, Kimchi R, Pomerantz JR, van der Helm PA, van Leeuwen C. A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception: II. Conceptual and theoretical foundations. Psychol Bull 2012; 138:1218-52. [PMID: 22845750 PMCID: PMC3728284 DOI: 10.1037/a0029334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 178] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Our first review article (Wagemans et al., 2012) on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of Gestalt psychology focused on perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization. It concluded that further progress requires a reconsideration of the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the Gestalt approach, which is provided here. In particular, we review contemporary formulations of holism within an information-processing framework, allowing for operational definitions (e.g., integral dimensions, emergent features, configural superiority, global precedence, primacy of holistic/configural properties) and a refined understanding of its psychological implications (e.g., at the level of attention, perception, and decision). We also review 4 lines of theoretical progress regarding the law of Prägnanz-the brain's tendency of being attracted towards states corresponding to the simplest possible organization, given the available stimulation. The first considers the brain as a complex adaptive system and explains how self-organization solves the conundrum of trading between robustness and flexibility of perceptual states. The second specifies the economy principle in terms of optimization of neural resources, showing that elementary sensors working independently to minimize uncertainty can respond optimally at the system level. The third considers how Gestalt percepts (e.g., groups, objects) are optimal given the available stimulation, with optimality specified in Bayesian terms. Fourth, structural information theory explains how a Gestaltist visual system that focuses on internal coding efficiency yields external veridicality as a side effect. To answer the fundamental question of why things look as they do, a further synthesis of these complementary perspectives is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan Wagemans
- University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Tiensestraat 102, box 3711, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
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Kanzaki N, Miwa K. [Experimental investigation of the effects of representations and perspectives for the comprehension of line graphs]. SHINRIGAKU KENKYU : THE JAPANESE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2012; 83:163-173. [PMID: 23012817 DOI: 10.4992/jjpsy.83.163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The comprehension of graphs is achieved through interaction between bottom-up and top-down processing. This study experimentally investigated the interaction between the graph representations determining bottom-up processing and the reader's perspective relating to top-down processing. Different representations on graphs generated from an identical data set elicited different interpretations of the graphs. We call this the "representation effect" on graph comprehension. In Experiment 1, we confirmed the characteristic of the bottom-up process of graph comprehension by using a set of line graphs which were identical in perceptual characteristics. In Experiments 2A and 2B, the participants were given a perspective for reading the graphs, and then they interpreted the graphs. The results showed that this perspective affected their comprehension of the graphs. Previous studies have shown that top-down processing may not be compatible with bottom-up processing in graph comprehension. However, our result indicated that top-down processing controlled by a perspective for reading the graph was not inconsistent with bottom-up processing, and therefore does not violate bottom-up processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nana Kanzaki
- Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
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41
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Orlandi N. Embedded seeing-as: Multi-stable visual perception without interpretation. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2011.579425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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42
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Investigation of bistable perception with the “silhouette spinner”: Sit still, spin the dancer with your will. Vision Res 2012; 60:34-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2012.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2010] [Revised: 01/14/2012] [Accepted: 03/05/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Long GM, Batterman JM. Dissecting Perceptual Processes with a New Tri-Stable Reversible Figure. Perception 2012; 41:1163-85. [DOI: 10.1068/p7313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Five experiments are presented that examine observers' reports with a new tri-stable reversible figure using two measures of observers' experience with the figure: observers' initial percept upon figure presentation in the test period and the total number of reversals reported in the test period. Experiment 1 demonstrates the equiprobability of the three alternatives for the figure. Experiment 2 demonstrates the powerful effect of fixation location on observers' reported organization of the tri-stable figure. Experiment 3 demonstrates clear priming effects following brief presentation of particular components of the tri-stable figure. Experiment 4 demonstrates clear adaptation effects following prolonged presentation of the same components of the figure used in experiment 3 as well as the transient nature of this adaptation. Experiment 5 demonstrates observers' ability to “hold” each of the three percepts regardless of fixation location. The special sensitivity of the tri-stable figure to these manipulations even with naive subjects and small sample sizes is discussed, and the interplay of both bottom–up and top–down processes on figural reversal is emphasized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerald M Long
- Department of Psychology, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
| | - Jared M Batterman
- Department of Psychology, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
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Denison RN, Piazza EA, Silver MA. Predictive Context Influences Perceptual Selection during Binocular Rivalry. Front Hum Neurosci 2011; 5:166. [PMID: 22180741 PMCID: PMC3238053 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2011] [Accepted: 11/29/2011] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Prediction may be a fundamental principle of sensory processing: it has been proposed that the brain continuously generates predictions about forthcoming sensory information. However, little is known about how prediction contributes to the selection of a conscious percept from among competing alternatives. Here, we used binocular rivalry to investigate the effects of prediction on perceptual selection. In binocular rivalry, incompatible images presented to the two eyes result in a perceptual alternation between the images, even though the visual stimuli remain constant. If predictive signals influence the competition between neural representations of rivalrous images, this influence should generate a bias in perceptual selection that depends on predictive context. To manipulate predictive context, we developed a novel binocular rivalry paradigm in which rivalrous test images were immediately preceded by a sequence of context images presented identically to the two eyes. One of the test images was consistent with the preceding image sequence (it was the expected next image in the series), and the other was inconsistent (non-predicted). We found that human observers were more likely to perceive the consistent image at the onset of rivalry, suggesting that predictive context biased selection in favor of the predicted percept. This prediction effect was distinct from the effects of adaptation to stimuli presented before the binocular rivalry test. In addition, perceptual reports were speeded for predicted percepts relative to non-predicted percepts. These results suggest that predictive signals related to visual stimulus history exist at neural sites that can bias conscious perception during binocular rivalry. Our paradigm provides a new way to study how prior information and incoming sensory information combine to generate visual percepts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel N Denison
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley, CA, USA
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Dieter KC, Tadin D. Understanding attentional modulation of binocular rivalry: a framework based on biased competition. Front Hum Neurosci 2011; 5:155. [PMID: 22144958 PMCID: PMC3228993 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2011] [Accepted: 11/14/2011] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Starting from early scientific explorations of binocular rivalry, researchers have wondered about the degree to which an observer can exert voluntary attentional control over rivalry dynamics. The answer to this question would not only reveal the extent to which we may determine our own conscious visual experience, but also advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying binocular rivalry. Classic studies, intriguingly, reached contradictory conclusions, ranging from an absence of attentional control, as advocated by Breese, to nearly complete control of rivalry dynamics, as reported by Helmholtz. Recent investigations have revisited this question, but the results have continued to echo the conflicting findings of earlier studies, seemingly precluding a comprehensive understanding of attentional effects on rivalry. Here, we review both classic and modern studies, and propose a unifying framework derived from the biased competition theory of attention. The key assumption of this theory is that the nature of stimulus conflict determines the limits of attentional modulation. For example, a condition in which unresolved stimulus conflict transpires through many levels of visual processing should be very susceptible to attentional control. When applied to binocular rivalry, this framework predicts strong attentional modulations under conditions of unresolved stimulus conflict (e.g., initial selection) and conditions where conflict is resolved at higher levels of visual processing (e.g., stimulus rivalry). Additionally, the efficacy of attentional control over rivalry can be increased by utilization of demanding, behaviorally relevant tasks, and likely through perceptual training paradigms. We show that this framework can help facilitate the understanding and synthesis of a diverse set of results on attentional control over rivalry, and we propose several directions for future research on this interesting topic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Conrad Dieter
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester Rochester, NY, USA
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Wolf M, Hochstein S. High-level binocular rivalry effects. Front Hum Neurosci 2011; 5:129. [PMID: 22144953 PMCID: PMC3228233 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2011] [Accepted: 10/17/2011] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Binocular rivalry (BR) occurs when the brain cannot fuse percepts from the two eyes because they are different. We review results relating to an ongoing controversy regarding the cortical site of the BR mechanism. Some BR qualities suggest it is low-level: (1) BR, as its name implies, is usually between eyes and only low-levels have access to utrocular information. (2) All input to one eye is suppressed: blurring doesn’t stimulate accommodation; pupilary constrictions are reduced; probe detection is reduced. (3) Rivalry is affected by low-level attributes, contrast, spatial frequency, brightness, motion. (4) There is limited priming due to suppressed words or pictures. On the other hand, recent studies favor a high-level mechanism: (1) Rivalry occurs between patterns, not eyes, as in patchwork rivalry or a swapping paradigm. (2) Attention affects alternations. (3) Context affects dominance. There is conflicting evidence from physiological studies (single cell and fMRI) regarding cortical level(s) of conscious perception. We discuss the possibility of multiple BR sites and theoretical considerations that rule out this solution. We present new data regarding the locus of the BR switch by manipulating stimulus semantic content or high-level characteristics. Since these variations are represented at higher cortical levels, their affecting rivalry supports high-level BR intervention. In Experiment I, we measure rivalry when one eye views words and the other non-words and find significantly longer dominance durations for non-words. In Experiment II, we find longer dominance times for line drawings of simple, structurally impossible figures than for similar, possible objects. In Experiment III, we test the influence of idiomatic context on rivalry between words. Results show that generally words within their idiomatic context have longer mean dominance durations. We conclude that BR has high-level cortical influences, and may be controlled by a high-level mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Wolf
- Neurobiology Department, Institute of Life Sciences, Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel
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Vanrie J, Verfaillie K. On the depth reversibility of point-light actions. VISUAL COGNITION 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2011.614381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
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Precisely timed oculomotor and parietal EEG activity in perceptual switching. Cogn Neurodyn 2011; 5:399-409. [PMID: 22184506 PMCID: PMC3193974 DOI: 10.1007/s11571-011-9168-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2011] [Revised: 08/02/2011] [Accepted: 08/04/2011] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Blinks and saccades cause transient interruptions of visual input. To investigate how such effects influence our perceptual state, we analyzed the time courses of blink and saccade rates in relation to perceptual switching in the Necker cube. Both time courses of blink and saccade rates showed peaks at different moments along the switching process. A peak in blinking rate appeared 1,000 ms prior to the switching responses. Blinks occurring around this peak were associated with subsequent switching to the preferred interpretation of the Necker cube. Saccade rates showed a peak 150 ms prior to the switching response. The direction of saccades around this peak was predictive of the perceived orientation of the Necker cube afterwards. Peak blinks were followed and peak saccades were preceded by transient parietal theta band activity indicating the changing of the perceptual interpretation. Precisely-timed blinks, therefore, can initiate perceptual switching, and precisely-timed saccades can facilitate an ongoing change of interpretation.
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49
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Kietzmann TC, Geuter S, König P. Overt visual attention as a causal factor of perceptual awareness. PLoS One 2011; 6:e22614. [PMID: 21799920 PMCID: PMC3143177 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0022614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2011] [Accepted: 06/30/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Our everyday conscious experience of the visual world is fundamentally shaped by the interaction of overt visual attention and object awareness. Although the principal impact of both components is undisputed, it is still unclear how they interact. Here we recorded eye-movements preceding and following conscious object recognition, collected during the free inspection of ambiguous and corresponding unambiguous stimuli. Using this paradigm, we demonstrate that fixations recorded prior to object awareness predict the later recognized object identity, and that subjects accumulate more evidence that is consistent with their later percept than for the alternative. The timing of reached awareness was verified by a reaction-time based correction method and also based on changes in pupil dilation. Control experiments, in which we manipulated the initial locus of visual attention, confirm a causal influence of overt attention on the subsequent result of object perception. The current study thus demonstrates that distinct patterns of overt attentional selection precede object awareness and thereby directly builds on recent electrophysiological findings suggesting two distinct neuronal mechanisms underlying the two phenomena. Our results emphasize the crucial importance of overt visual attention in the formation of our conscious experience of the visual world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim C Kietzmann
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany.
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50
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Kalisvaart JP, Rampersad SM, Goossens J. Binocular onset rivalry at the time of saccades and stimulus jumps. PLoS One 2011; 6:e20017. [PMID: 21698288 PMCID: PMC3115950 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2011] [Accepted: 04/08/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies suggest that binocular rivalry at stimulus onset, so called onset rivalry, differs from rivalry during sustained viewing. These observations raise the interesting question whether there is a relation between onset rivalry and rivalry in the presence of eye movements. We therefore studied binocular rivalry when stimuli jumped from one visual hemifield to the other, either through a saccade or through a passive stimulus displacement, and we compared rivalry after such displacements with onset and sustained rivalry. We presented opponent motion, orthogonal gratings and face/house stimuli through a stereoscope. For all three stimulus types we found that subjects showed a strong preference for stimuli in one eye or one hemifield (Experiment 1), and that these subject-specific biases did not persist during sustained viewing (Experiment 2). These results confirm and extend previous findings obtained with gratings. The results from the main experiment (Experiment 3) showed that after a passive stimulus jump, switching probability was low when the preferred eye was dominant before a stimulus jump, but when the non-preferred eye was dominant beforehand, switching probability was comparatively high. The results thus showed that dominance after a stimulus jump was tightly related to eye dominance at stimulus onset. In the saccade condition, however, these subject-specific biases were systematically reduced, indicating that the influence of saccades can be understood from a systematic attenuation of the subjects' onset rivalry biases. Taken together, our findings demonstrate a relation between onset rivalry and rivalry after retinal shifts and involvement of extra-retinal signals in binocular rivalry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joke P Kalisvaart
- Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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