A visual–haptic Necker cube reveals temporal constraints on intersensory merging during perceptual exploration

Abstract

When viewing a three-dimensional Necker cube with one eye, participants can experience illusory reversals even while they feel the cube with their hands. This surprising property of the visual–haptic Necker cube affords a unique opportunity to investigate temporal constraints on interactions between vision and touch during extended observation of a three-dimensional object. Our observers reported reversals while they viewed the cube and, at the same time, they either held it with two-finger grips, felt it with while their hands remained stationary, or actively explored it by moving one hand. Consistent with a multisensory approach to three-dimensional form perception, touch had a clear effect on both the number and the duration of illusory percepts. Additionally, when observers alternated between stationary and moving periods during exploration, transitions from stationary to moving-hand haptics played a crucial role in inhibiting illusory reversals. A temporal analysis of the probability of first reversals occurring after different types of motor transition revealed a “vetoing window” initiating approximately 2 s after the transition and lasting at least another 1–2 s. Implications for multisensory processes during exploration are discussed.