Abstract
Perceptual multistability has often been explained using the concepts of adaptation and hysteresis. In this paper we show that effects that would typically be accounted for by adaptation and hysteresis can be explained without assuming the existence of dedicated mechanisms for adaptation and hysteresis. Instead, our data suggest that perceptual multistability reveals lasting states of the visual system rather than changes in the system caused by stimulation. We presented observers with two successive multistable stimuli and found that the probability that they saw the favored organization in the first stimulus was inversely related to the probability that they saw the same organization in the second. This pattern of negative contingency is orientation-tuned and occurs no matter whether the observer had or had not seen the favored organization in the first stimulus. This adaptation-like effect of negative contingency combines multiplicatively with a hysteresis-like effect that increases the likelihood of the just-perceived organization. Both effects are consistent with a probabilistic model in which perception depends on an orientation-tuned intrinsic bias that slowly (and stochastically) changes its orientation tuning over time.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alais D, Burr D (2004) The ventriloquist effect results from near-optimal bimodal integration. Curr Biol 14:257–262
Barlow HB (1990) A theory about the functional role and synaptic mechanism of visual after-effects. In: Blakemore C (ed) Vision: coding and efficiency. Academic Press, New York, pp 363–375
Blake R, Logothetis NK (2002) Visual competition. Nat Rev Neurosci 3:13–21
Borsellino A, Allazetta A, Bartolini B, Rinesi S, DeMarco A (1972) Reversal time distribution in the perception of visual ambiguous stimuli. Kybernetik 10:139–144
Carlson VR (1953) Satiation in a reversible perspective figure. J Exp Psychol 45:442–448
Carpenter RHS (1999) A neural mechanism that randomises behavior. J Consc Studies 6:13–22
Ditzinger T, Haken H (1990) The impact of fluctuations on the recognition of ambiguous patterns. Biol Cybern 63:453–456
Ernst MO, Banks MS (2002) Humans integrate visual and haptic information in a statistically optimal fashion. Nature 415:429–433
Estes WK (1964) Probability learning. In: Melton AW (ed) Categories of human learning. Academic Press, New York
Fender D, Julesz B (1967) Extension of Panum’s fusional area in binocularly stabilized vision. J Opt Soc Am A 57:819–830
Fisher NI (1993) Statistical analysis of circular data. Cambridge University Press, New York
Gallistel CR (1990) The organization of learning. MIT Press, Cambridge
Gepshtein S, Banks MS (2003) Viewing geometry determines how vision and touch combine in size perception. Curr Biol 13:483–488
Ghahramani Z, Wolpert DM, Jordan MI (1997) Computational models of sensorimotor integration. In: Morasso PG, Sanguineti V (eds) Self-organization, computational maps and motor control. Elsevier, New York, pp 117–147
Hochberg JE (1950) Figure-ground reversal as a function of visual satiation. J Exp Psychol 40:682–686
Hock HS, Kelso JAS, Schöner G (1993) Bistability and hysteresis in the organization of apparent motion patterns. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 19:63–80
Hock HS, Schöner G, Giese M (2003) The dynamical foundations of motion pattern formation: stability, selective adaptation, and perceptual continuity. Percept Psychophys 65:429–457
Hock HS, Schöner G, Hochstein S (1996) Perceptual stability and the selective adaptation of perceived and unperceived motion directions. Vision Res 36:3311–3323
Hock HS, Schöner G, Voss A (1997) The influence of adaptation and stochastic fluctuations on spontaneous perceptual changes for bistable stimuli. Percept Psychophys 59:509–522
Hupé JM, Rubin N (2003) The dynamics of bi-stable alternation in ambiguous motion displays: a fresh look at plaids. Vision Res 43:531–548
Ittelson WH (1952) The Ames demonstrations in perception. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Julesz B, Chang JJ (1976) Interaction between pools of binocular disparity detectors tuned to different disparities. Biol Cybern 22:107–119
Kanizsa G, Luccio R (1995) Multistability as a research tool in experimental phenomenology. In: Kruse P, Stadler M (eds) Ambiguity in mind and nature. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 47–68
Köhler W, Wallach H (1944) Figural aftereffects; an investigation of visual processes. Proc Am Phil Soc 88:269–357
Kowler E, Anton S (1987) Reading twisted text—implications for the role of saccades. Vision Res 27:45–60
Kruse P, Stadler M (eds) (1995). Ambiguity in mind and nature. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Kruse P, Stadler M, Wehner T (1986) Direction and frequency specific processing in the perception of long-range apparent movement. Vision Res 26:327–335
Kubovy M (1994) The perceptual organization of dot lattices. Psychon Bull Rev 1:182–190
Kubovy M, Cohen DJ, Hollier J (1999) Feature integration that routinely occurs without focal attention. Psychon Bull Rev 6:183–203
Kubovy M, Holcombe AO, Wagemans J (1998) On the lawfulness of grouping by proximity. Cognit Psychol 35:71–98
Kubovy M, Wagemans J (1995) Grouping by proximity and multistability in dot lattices: a quantitative gestalt theory. Psychol Sci 6:225–234
Landy MS, Kojima H (2001) Ideal cue combination for localizing texture-defined edges. J Opt Soc Am A 18:2307–2320
Leopold DA, Logothetis NK (1999) Multistable phenomena: changing views in perception. Trends Cognit Sci 3:254–264
Marr D (1982) Vision. Freeman, New York
Rock I (1975) Introduction to perception. Macmillan, New York
Triesch J, Ballard DH, Jacobs RA (2002) Fast temporal dynamics of visual cue integration. Perception 31:421–434
von Helmholtz H (1867/1962). Treatise on physiological pptics, vol III. Originally published in 1867. Dover, New York
von Schiller P (1933) Stroboskopische Alternativversuche. Psychol Forsch 17:179–214
Williams D, Phillips G, Sekuler R (1986) Hysteresis in the perception of motion direction as evidence for neural cooperativity. Nature 324:253–255
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to H. Hock and D. R. Proffitt for valuable discussions, and to W. Epstein, H. Hock, and J. Wagemans for helpful suggestions about an early version of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
This work was supported by NEI Grant R01 EY 12926
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gepshtein, S., Kubovy, M. Stability and change in perception: spatial organization in temporal context. Exp Brain Res 160, 487–495 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-2038-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-2038-3