How to keep a reversible figure from reversing: teasing out top-down and bottom-up processes.

Full Abstract

The nature of processes underlying our perception of reversible figures was examined through two experiments investigating the effects of prior exposure conditions on an observer's report of figural reversal. In experiment 1, observers were adapted over several minutes to an unambiguous version of a rotating Necker cube prior to the presentation of the standard ambiguous figure. Results indicated that adaptation produced an immediate bias to perceive the ambiguous figure in the opposite configuration (ie reverse bias) and to reduce reports of reversal over the test period. The introduction of a brief delay between the adaptation and test periods revealed that this bias is a highly transient effect and is only clearly evident when the adaptation and test figures are matched in size. In experiment 2, observers were primed with an unambiguous figure for a few seconds prior to the presentation of the standard ambiguous figure. In this case, the obtained bias strongly favored the observer's reporting the ambiguous figure to be in the same configuration as the adapting figure (ie positive bias); and neither introducing a delay period nor changing figure size had any effect. We conclude that these experiments reveal the distinct roles of transient, retinally localized neural processes as well as more stable, global processes under specifiable conditions.

Author information

Author/s: Long, Gerald M (GM); Moran, Cindy J (CJ);

Affiliation: Office of Graduate Studies, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085, USA. gerald.long(-atsign-)villanova.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Perception (Perception), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-; vol 36 (issue 3) : pp 431-45

Dates: Created 2007/04/25; Completed 2007/09/18;

PMID: 17455757, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.