Abstract
Many experiments have demonstrated that the rhythms in the brain influence the initial perceptual information processing. We investigated whether the alternation rate of the perception of a Necker cube depends on the frequency and duration of a flashing Necker cube. We hypothesize that synchronization between the external rhythm of a flashing stimulus and the internal rhythm of neuronal processing should change the alternation rate of a Necker cube. Knowing how a flickering stimulus with a given frequency and duration affects the alternation rate of bistable perception, we could estimate the frequency of the internal neuronal processing. Our results show that the perception time of the dominant stimulus depends on the frequency or duration of the flashing stimuli. The duration of the stimuli, at which the duration of the perceived image was maximal, was repeated periodically at 4 ms intervals. We suppose that such results could be explained by the existence of an internal rhythm of 125 cycles/s for bistable visual perception. We can also suppose that it is not the stimulus duration but the precise timing of the moments of switching on of external stimuli to match the internal stimuli which explains our experimental results. Similarity between the effects of flashing frequency on alternation rate of stimuli perception in present and previously performed experiment on binocular rivalry support the existence of a common mechanism for binocular rivalry and monocular perception of ambiguous figures.
Highlights
Neurophysiological studies addressing the coding of visual information in the brain led to the discovery of neurons which respond selectively to specific features of visual stimulus such as size, color, orientation, movement, characteristics of contour and spatial location, subsequently called feature detectors (Lettvin et al, 1959; Hubel & Wiesel, 1959; Barlow, 1972; Barlow, Blakemore & Pettigrew, 1967; DeValois, 1973; Bishop, 1996; Bishop & Pettigrew, 1986)
The present study is a continuation of previous work but we investigated another phenomenon of bistable perception—the perception of ambiguous figures
The data revealed that the perception time (PT) of the dominant image varied across subjects from a few seconds to ten seconds
Summary
Neurophysiological studies addressing the coding of visual information in the brain led to the discovery of neurons which respond selectively to specific features of visual stimulus such as size, color, orientation, movement, characteristics of contour and spatial location, subsequently called feature detectors (Lettvin et al, 1959; Hubel & Wiesel, 1959; Barlow, 1972; Barlow, Blakemore & Pettigrew, 1967; DeValois, 1973; Bishop, 1996; Bishop & Pettigrew, 1986). A trace of the dominant image is maintained in the ‘‘top-down’’ streams only but not in iconic memory. In this case, the absence of a stimulus on the input of the sensory system can extend the perception time of the dominant image. The absence of a stimulus on the input of the sensory system can extend the perception time of the dominant image Such findings demonstrate that the process related to the alternation of percepts operates with two streams of information: a ‘‘bottom-up’’ stream from sensory input and a ‘‘top-down’’ stream from areas of the brain where different stimulus feature sets are represented
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