Abstract
The effect of hunger on visual perception is largely absent from contemporary vision science. Using a well-established visual phenomenon termed binocular rivalry, this study was carried out to investigate the effects of hunger on visual perception. A within-subject design was applied in which participants attended two sessions before and after their lunch or dinner, i.e., a hunger state and a satiated state. In Experiment 1, we found that the mean dominance times to food-related pictures were larger in the hungry condition than that in the satiated condition, while the mean dominance time to the non-food stimuli were unaffected. In Experiment 2, we found the times to break through continuous flash suppression (b-CFS) for both food-related and non-food-related pictures were not affected by hunger. In Experiment 3, a probe-detection task was conducted to address possible response-biases. Our findings provide evidence that hunger biases the dynamic process of binocular rivalry to unsuppressed and visible food stimuli, while processing suppressed and invisible food-related was unaffected. Our results support the notion that the top-down modulation by hunger on food-related visual perception is limited to visible stimuli.
Highlights
Recent studies suggest that visual perception can be modulated by multiple top-down factors, such as affection (Yang et al, 2007; Tsuchiya et al, 2009; Gray et al, 2013), even cross-modal integration (Zhou et al, 2010, 2012)
The results from Experiment 1 revealed that participants had a longer dominance time on the food images in the hungry state than that of the satiated state, while the dominance time of the control images was not affected by hunger
Showed that there were no significant stimuli type by hunger/satiated states interaction in the break through continuous flash suppression (b-continuous flash suppression (CFS)), indicating that the potency of food stimuli to overcome CFS to gain access to awareness is comparable to non-food stimuli in both hunger and satiated states
Summary
Recent studies suggest that visual perception can be modulated by multiple top-down factors, such as affection (Yang et al, 2007; Tsuchiya et al, 2009; Gray et al, 2013), even cross-modal integration (Zhou et al, 2010, 2012). The effect of hunger on visual perception is largely absent from contemporary vision science (Firestone and Scholl, 2016). Note that the modulation effects of different top-down factors on visual perception may be different. It was reported that some classes of stimuli may be processed unconsciously, such as fearful faces (Yang et al, 2007), while the effect of happy faces on subliminal visual perception is limited (Yang et al, 2007; Tsuchiya et al, 2009). Investigating the effects of hunger on visual perception could provide further insights on possible dynamic top-down modulations on visual perception and how the visual system works
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
