Abstract
Observers can exert a degree of intentional control over the perception of reversible figures. Also, the portion of the stimulus that is selected for primary or enhanced processing (focal-feature processing) influences how observers perceive a reversible figure. Two experiments investigated whether voluntary control over perception of a Necker cube could be explained in terms of intentionally selecting appropriate focal features within the stimulus for primary processing. In Experiment 1, varying observers’ intentions and the focus of primary processing produced additive effects on the percentage of time that one alternative was perceived. In Experiment 2, the effect of varying the focus of primary processing was eliminated by the use of a small cube, but the effect of intention was unaltered. The results indicate that intentional control over perception can be exerted independently of focal-feature processing, perhaps by top-down activation or priming of perceptual representations. The results also reveal the limits of intentional control.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anstis, S., Verstraten, F., &Mather, G. (1998). The motion aftereffect.Trends in Cognitive Sciences,2, 111–117.
Attneave, F. (1971). Multistability in perception.Scientific American,225(6), 62–71.
Babich, S., &Standing, L. (1981). Satiation effects with reversible figures.Perceptual & Motor Skills,52, 203–210.
Boring, E. G. (1942).Sensation and perception in the history of experimental psychology. New York: Appleton Century.
Braddick, O., Campbell, F. W., &Atkinson, J. (1978). Channels in vision: Basic aspects. In R. Held, H. W. Leibowitz, & H. L. Teuber (Eds.),Handbook of sensory physiology: Vol. 8. Perception (pp. 3–39). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Dugger, J. G., &Courson, R. W. (1968). Effect of angle of retinal vision on the rate of fluctuation of the Necker cube.Perceptual & Motor Skills,26, 1239–1242.
Ellis, S. R., &Stark, L. (1978). Eye movements during viewing of Necker cubes.Perception,7, 575–581.
Eriksen, B. A., &Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task.Perception & Psychophysics,16, 143–149.
Eriksen, C. W., &Hoffman, J. E. (1972). Temporal and spatial characteristics of selective encoding from visual displays.Perception & Psychophysics,12, 201–204.
Gale, A. G., &Findlay, J. M. (1983). Eye movement patterns in viewing ambiguous figures. In R. Groner, C. Menz, D. F. Fisher, & R. A. Monty (Eds.),Eye movements and psychological functions: International views (pp. 145–168). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
García-Pérez, M. A. (1989). Visual inhomogeneity and eye move1294 TOPPINO ments in multistable perception.Perception & Psychophysics,46, 397–400.
García-Pérez, M. A. (1992). Eye movements and perceptual multistability. In E. Chekaluk & K. R. Llewellyn (Eds.),The role of eye movements in perceptual processes (pp. 73–109). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Georgiades, M. S., &Harris, J. P. (1997). Biasing effects in ambiguous figures: Removal or fixation of critical features can affect perception.Visual Cognition,4, 383–408.
Girgus, J. J., Rock, I., &Egatz, R. (1977). The effect of knowledge of reversibility on the reversibility of ambiguous figures.Perception & Psychophysics,22, 550–556.
Gregory, R. L. (1970).The intelligent eye. New York: McGraw-Hill.
He, S., Cavanagh, P., &Intriligator, J. (1996). Attentional resolution and the locus of visual awareness.Nature,383, 334–337.
Hochberg, J. (1968). In the mind’s eye. In R. N. Haber (Ed.),Contemporary theory and research in visual perception (pp. 309–331). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Hochberg, J., &Peterson, M. A. (1987). Piecemeal perception and cognitive components in object perception: Perceptually coupled responses to moving objects.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,116, 370–380.
Howard, I. P. (1961). An investigation of a satiation process in reversible perspective of revolving skeletal shapes.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,13, 19–33.
Intriligator, J., &Cavanagh, P. (2001). The spatial resolution of visual attention.Cognitive Psychology,43, 171–216.
Kawabata, N. (1986). Attention and depth perception.Perception,15, 563–572.
Kawabata, N., Yamagami, K., &Noaki, M. (1978). Visual fixation points and depth perception.Vision Research,18, 853–854.
Kohler, W., &Wallach, H. (1944). Figural aftereffects: An investigation of visual processes.Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,88, 269–357.
Leopold, D. A., &Logothetis, N. K. (1999). Multistable phenomena: Changing views in perception.Trends in Cognitive Sciences,3, 254–264.
Liebert, R. M., &Burk, B. (1985). Voluntary control of reversible figures.Perceptual & Motor Skills,61, 1307–1310.
Long, G. M., Toppino, T. C., &Kostenbauder, J. F. (1983). As the cube turns: Evidence for two processes in the perception of a dynamic reversible figure.Perception & Psychophysics,34, 29–38.
Long, G. M., Toppino, T. C., &Mondin, G. W. (1992). Prime time: Fatigue and set effects in the perception of reversible figures.Perception & Psychophysics,52, 609–616.
Magnussen, S., &Johnsen, T. (1986). Temporal aspects of spatial adaptation: A study of the tilt aftereffect.Vision Research,26, 661–672.
Palmer, S. E., &Bucher, N. M. (1981). Configural effects in perceived pointing of ambiguous triangles.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,7, 88–114.
Pelton, L. H., &Solley, C. M. (1968). Acceleration of reversals of a Necker cube.American Journal of Psychology,81, 585–588.
Peterson, M. A., &Gibson, B. S. (1991). Directing spatial attention within an object: Altering the functional equivalence of shape descriptions.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,17, 170–182.
Peterson, M. A., Harvey, E. M., &Weidenbacher, H. J. (1991). Shape recognition contributions to figure-ground reversal: Which route counts?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,17, 1075–1089.
Peterson, M. A., &Hochberg, J. (1983). Opposed-set measurement procedure: A quantitative analysis of the role of local cues and intention in form perception.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,9, 183–193.
Pheiffer, C. H., Eure, S. B., &Hamilton, C. B. (1956). Reversible figures and eye-movements.American Journal of Psychology,69, 452–455.
Phillipson, O. T., &Harris, J. P. (1984). Effects of chlorpromazine and promazine on the perception of some multi-stable visual figures.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,36A, 291–308.
Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,32, 3–25.
Previc, F. H. (1990). Functional specialization in the lower and upper visual fields in humans: Its ecological origins and neurophysiological implications.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,13, 519–575.
Pritchard, R. M. (1958). Visual illusions viewed as stabilized retinal images.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,10, 77–81.
Regan, D. (1982). Visual information channeling in normal and disordered vision.Psychological Review,89, 407–444.
Rock, I. (1975).An introduction to perception. New York: Macmillan.
Rock, I., &Mitchener, K. (1992). Further evidence of failure of reversal of ambiguous figures by uninformed subjects.Perception,21, 39–45.
Ruggieri, V., &Fernandez, M. F. (1994). Gaze orientation in perception of reversible figures.Perceptual & Motor Skills,78, 299–303.
Seth, S., &Reddy, N. Y. (1979). Manifest anxiety and perceptual shift in adolescents.Child Psychiatry Quarterly,12, 17–24.
Spitz, H. H., &Lipman, R. S. (1962). Some factors affecting Necker cube reversal rate.Perceptual & Motor Skills,15, 611–625.
Struber, D., &Stadler, M. (1999). Differences in top-down influences on the reversal rate of different categories of reversible figures.Perception,28, 1185–1196.
Suzuki, S., &Peterson, M. A. (2000). Multiplicative effects of intention on the perception of bistable apparent motion.Psychological Science,11, 202–209.
Toppino, T. C., &Long, G. M. (1987). Selective adaptation with reversible figures: Don’t change that channel.Perception & Psychophysics,42, 37–48.
Tsal, Y., &Kolbet, L. (1985). Disambiguating ambiguous figures by selective attention.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,37A, 25–37.
Virsu, V. (1975). Determination of perspective reversals.Nature,257, 786–787.
von Grünau, M. W., Wiggin, S., &Reed, M. (1984). The local character of perspective organization.Perception & Psychophysics,35, 319–324.
Washburn, M. F., Mallay, H., &Naylor, A. (1931). The influence of the size of an outline cube on the fluctuations of its perspective.American Journal of Psychology,43, 484–489.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Toppino, T.C. Reversible-figure perception: Mechanisms of intentional control. Perception & Psychophysics 65, 1285–1295 (2003). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194852
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194852