Albert M K
Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southhampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
Vision Res. 2001 Oct;41(22):2827-34. doi: 10.1016/s0042-6989(01)00151-1.
When two retinally adjacent image regions both claim 'ownership' of their common boundary based on different visual cues, their perceptual competition could result in: (1) cue averaging, in which the common boundary is not strongly perceived as owned by either region, or (2) perceptual bistability, in which the competing interpretations alternate in conscious perception over time. We report that when the perception of one or another illusory surface depends on the outcome of such a competition, the alternative percepts primarily exhibit bistability rather than averaging (or mutual weakening). More generally, we suggest that mutually inconsistent perceptual interpretations of sensory data will tend to exhibit bistability to the extent that they require significant constructive activity by vision. When one interpretation is more 'literal' (i.e. less constructive), it will tend to block alternative percepts. Put somewhat differently, when competing visual cues specify different preferred (but not necessary) interpretations, then the likely perceptual outcome is bistability rather than cue averaging. However, inconsistent visual cues can also result in perceptual bistability if the interpretations they specify are so incommensurable that simply averaging them would not provide useful information for perception.
当视网膜上相邻的两个图像区域基于不同的视觉线索都声称对它们的共同边界拥有“所有权”时，它们之间的感知竞争可能会导致：（1）线索平均化，即共同边界不会被强烈地感知为属于任何一个区域；或者（2）感知双稳性，即相互竞争的解释在有意识的感知中随时间交替出现。我们报告称，当对一个或另一个虚幻表面的感知取决于这种竞争的结果时，替代感知主要表现为双稳性而非平均化（或相互削弱）。更一般地说，我们认为，对感官数据相互矛盾的感知解释，在它们需要视觉进行大量建构活动的程度上，将倾向于表现出双稳性。当一种解释更“直接”（即建构性较少）时，它将倾向于阻止替代感知。换句话说，当相互竞争的视觉线索指定了不同的偏好（但非必要）解释时，那么可能的感知结果是双稳性而非线索平均化。然而，如果它们指定的解释如此不可通约，以至于简单地平均它们不会为感知提供有用信息，不一致的视觉线索也会导致感知双稳性。
