Urakawa Tomokazu, Bunya Mao, Araki Osamu
Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science, 6-3-1 Niijyuku, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo, 125-8585 Japan.
Cogn Neurodyn. 2017 Aug;11(4):307-318. doi: 10.1007/s11571-017-9430-8. Epub 2017 Mar 24.
A bistable image induces one of two perceptual alternatives. When the bistable visual image is continuously viewed, the percept of the image alternates from one possible percept to the other. Perceptual alternation was previously reported to be induced by an exogenous perturbation in the bistable image, and this perturbation was theoretically interpreted to cause neural noise, prompting a transition between two stable perceptual states. However, little is known experimentally about the visual processing of exogenously driven perceptual alternation. Based on the findings of a previous behavioral study (Urakawa et al. in Perception 45:474-482, 2016), the present study hypothesized that the automatic visual change detection process, which is relevant to the detection of a visual change in a sequence of visual events, has an enhancing effect on the induction of perceptual alternation, similar to neural noise. In order to clarify this issue, we developed a novel experimental paradigm in which visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), an electroencephalographic brain response that reflects visual change detection, was evoked while participants continuously viewed the bistable image. In terms of inter-individual differences in neural and behavioral data, we found that enhancements in the peak amplitude of vMMN1, early vMMN at a latency of approximately 150 ms, correlated with increases in the proportion of perceptual alternation across participants. Our results indicate the involvement of automatic visual change detection in the induction of perceptual alternation, similar to neural noise, thereby providing a deeper insight into the neural mechanisms underlying exogenously driven perceptual alternation in the bistable image.
双稳态图像会引发两种感知选择之一。当持续观看双稳态视觉图像时，图像的感知会从一种可能的感知切换到另一种。先前有报道称，双稳态图像中的外源性扰动会引发感知交替，从理论上讲，这种扰动会导致神经噪声，促使两种稳定的感知状态之间发生转换。然而，关于外源性驱动的感知交替的视觉处理，实验上了解甚少。基于先前一项行为研究的结果（Urakawa等人，《感知》，45:474 - 482，2016），本研究假设，与视觉事件序列中的视觉变化检测相关的自动视觉变化检测过程，对感知交替的诱导具有增强作用，类似于神经噪声。为了阐明这个问题，我们开发了一种新颖的实验范式，在参与者持续观看双稳态图像的同时，诱发视觉失配负波（vMMN），这是一种反映视觉变化检测的脑电图大脑反应。在神经和行为数据的个体差异方面，我们发现vMMN1（潜伏期约为150毫秒的早期vMMN）的峰值幅度增强与参与者感知交替比例的增加相关。我们的结果表明，自动视觉变化检测参与了感知交替的诱导，类似于神经噪声，从而为双稳态图像中外源性驱动的感知交替背后的神经机制提供了更深入的见解。
