August 2009
Volume 9, Issue 8
Free
Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract  |   August 2009
Perceptual memory influences both continuous and intermittent ambiguous perception, but in opposite ways
Author Affiliations
  • Maartje Cathelijne de Jong
    Helmholtz Institute, Department Physics of Man
  • Raymond van Ee
    Helmholtz Institute, Department Physics of Man
Journal of Vision August 2009, Vol.9, 273. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/9.8.273
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation

      Maartje Cathelijne de Jong, Raymond van Ee; Perceptual memory influences both continuous and intermittent ambiguous perception, but in opposite ways. Journal of Vision 2009;9(8):273. https://doi.org/10.1167/9.8.273.

      Download citation file:


      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
  • Supplements
Abstract

When observers view an ambiguous stimulus that is continuously presented their percept changes without any change in the stimulus itself. These perceptual alternations appear to occur in a stochastic, i.e. memory-less, manner. However, when short presentations of an ambiguous stimulus are interleaved with blank periods observers tend to see the same percept for many consecutive presentations. This suggests that perceptual memory influences intermittent ambiguous perception but not continuous ambiguous perception. We investigated this apparent inconsistency. We tested whether perceptual memory, built up during intermittent viewing of ambiguous stimuli, influences subsequent continuous viewing of those stimuli. Interestingly, we find that during continuous viewing the durations of the memorized percept are much shorter than the durations of the opposite percept. This reveals a direct link between continuous and intermittent ambiguous perception: the percept that dominated during intermittent viewing is inhibited during continuous viewing. We conclude that continuous viewing of ambiguous stimuli is not a memory-less process.

de Jong, M. C. van Ee, R. (2009). Perceptual memory influences both continuous and intermittent ambiguous perception, but in opposite ways [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 9(8):273, 273a, http://journalofvision.org/9/8/273/, doi:10.1167/9.8.273. [CrossRef]
×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×