Similar but separate systems underlie perceptual bistability in vision and audition

Denham, Susan L.; Farkas, D�vid; van Ee, Raymond; Taranu, Mihaela; Kocsis, Zsuzsanna; Wimmer, Marina; Carmel, David; Winkler, Istv�n

Abstract

The dynamics of perceptual bistability, the phenomenon in which perception switches between different interpretations of an unchanging stimulus, are characterised by very similar properties across a wide range of qualitatively different paradigms. This suggests that perceptual switching may be triggered by some common source. However, it is also possible that perceptual switching may arise from a distributed system, whose components vary according to the specifics of the perceptual experiences involved. Here we used a visual and an auditory task to determine whether individuals show cross-modal commonalities in perceptual switching. We found that individual perceptual switching rates were significantly correlated across modalities. We then asked whether perceptual switching arises from some central (modality-) task-independent process or from a more distributed task-specific system. We found that a log-normal distribution best explained the distribution of perceptual phases in both modalities, suggestive of a combined set of independent processes causing perceptual switching. Modality- and/or task-dependent differences in these distributions, and lack of correlation with the modality-independent central factors tested (ego-resiliency, creativity, and executive function), also point towards perceptual switching arising from a distributed system of similar but independent processes.

Citation

Denham, S. L., Farkas, D., van Ee, R., Taranu, M., Kocsis, Z., Wimmer, M., Carmel, D., & Winkler, I. (2018). Similar but separate systems underlie perceptual bistability in vision and audition. Scientific Reports, 8, Article 7106 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-25587-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 13, 2018
• Online Publication Date: May 8, 2018
• Publication Date: May 8, 2018
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 8, 2020
• Journal: Nature Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Article Number: 7106 (2018)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-25587-2
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2657621