Cite as:
van Wezel R J A, Noest A J, Nijs M M, van Ee R, 2006, "Percept choices at the onset of ambiguous or binocular rivalry stimuli" Perception 35 ECVP Abstract Supplement

Percept choices at the onset of ambiguous or binocular rivalry stimuli

R J A van Wezel, A J Noest, M M Nijs, R van Ee

We studied the percept chosen by the visual system at the onset of ambiguous or binocular-rivalry stimuli. We used two different stimuli: a monocularly viewed ambiguous rotating sphere and a binocular-rivalry stimulus. These stimuli evoke primarily two different percepts. The ambiguous sphere evokes clockwise or anticlockwise rotation and the binocular-rivalry stimulus switches from one eye to the other. The stimuli were presented intermittently for a specific combination of stimulus-on time (T-on, ranging between 0.7 and 2.0 s) and a time where the stimulus was off (T-off, ranging between 0.1 and 4.0 s). Subjects were instructed to indicate which of the two percepts was dominant at the onset of the T-on phase. Our results show that at short T-off periods the percept alternates, while at long T-off periods the previous percept is chosen. The transition in the T-off time where the percepts change from alternation to repetition is independent of T-on and about 8 times shorter than the average switch duration during continuous presentation of the same stimuli. We also investigated the influence of attention on repetition and alternation percepts. We show that a simple single-stage model of competing neural representations can account for the results.
[Supported by the High Potential Programme, Utrecht University.]

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