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Abstract

Perceptual rivalry occurs when stimuli have multiple interpretations which are equally probable. For example, two distributions of dots, one translating leftward and one rightward can be perceived as a 3D-cylinder rotating clockwise or counterclockwise. Repetitive presentation of the ambiguous stimulus can stabilize one perceptual interpretation. Here we examined how unambiguous spatio-temporal contexts affected stabilization of ambiguous structure-from-motion stimuli. Using an intermittent presentation paradigm we stabilized one interpretation of the ambiguous cylinder and introduced contextual information by providing an unambiguous version of the 3D-cylinder. We manipulated spatial distance and temporal proximity between ambiguous stimulus and unambiguous context. The task was to report perceived rotation direction of the ambiguous cylinder. We found that stabilization was more likely to be disrupted by unambiguous context that had appeared in corresponding locations in preceding frames. Context simultaneo
usly presented with the stimulus at a different spatial location had little effect. This shows that temporal contexts were weighted more than spatial contexts, and suggest that the visual system analyses recent perceptual history to interpret the present input.