Backward and forward neck tilt affects perceptual bias when interpreting ambiguous figures

Abstract

The relationships between posture and perception have already been investigated in several studies. However, it is still unclear how perceptual bias and experiential contexts of human perception affect observers’ perception when posture is changed. In this study, we hypothesized that a change in the perceptual probability caused by perceptual bias also depends on posture. In order to verify this hypothesis, we used the Necker cube with two types of appearance, from above and below, although the input is constant, and investigated the change of the probability of perceptual content. Specifically, we asked observers their perception of the appearance of the Necker cube placed at any of the five angles in the space of virtual reality. There were two patterns of neck movement, vertical and horizontal. During the experiment, pupil diameter, one of the cognitive indices, was also measured. Results showed that during the condition of looking down vertically, the probability of the viewing-from-above perception of the Necker cube was significantly greater than during the condition of looking up. Interestingly, the pupillary results were also consistent with the probability of the perception. These results indicate that perception was modulated by the posture of the neck and suggest that neck posture is incorporated into ecological constraints.