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Bistable Perception of the Necker Cube in the Context of Cognition & Personality

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Research Collection Doctoral Thesis Bistable perception of the Necker cube In the context of cognition & personality Author(s): Wernery, Jannis Publication Date: 2013 Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-009900582 Rights / License: In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted This page was generated automatically upon download from the ETH Zurich Research Collection. For more information please consult the Terms of use. ETH Library DISS. ETH NO. 21214 Bistable Perception of the Necker Cube in the Context of Cognition & Personality A dissertation submitted to ETH ZURICH for the degree of Doctor of Sciences presented by Jannis Wernery Dipl. Phys., ETH Zurich, born 12 July 1984, from Germany, accepted on the recommendation of Prof. Gerd Folkers PD Dr. Harald Atmanspacher Prof. Reinhard Nesper 2013 To the Precious Ones & all beings. 1 Abstract The Necker cube is a bistable stimulus with a very long research history, spanning more than a century. Very early, its temporal dynamics and its stimulus properties were examined. It was found that the number of re- versals within a certain time interval were reproducible to a high accuracy within one observer but could vary significantly between different observ- ers. Already early in the first half of the 20th century, attempts at linking bistable perception of the Necker cube with personality were made. Even though much progress in the description of the reversal dynamics has been made since, a comprehensive understanding of inter-individual differences in bistable perception in terms personality traits and cognitive processes is still lacking today. Two studies on neutral and voluntarily controlled perception of the Necker cube were conducted. The temporal dynamics and its dependence on stim- ulus parameters as well as its relation to personality traits, mindfulness, temporal processing, working memory, general reaction times, attention and perception of an acoustic bistable stimulus were explored. New results on initial adaptation, goodness of fit and stationarity with re- spect to cube size were found. A quantitative analysis of a perceptual bias effect was given in terms of dwell time distributions. Individual differences in voluntary control over perception of the Necker cube were found to be related to personality traits and mindfulness. Several personality traits not related to bistable perception and some related to its neutral perception were identi- fied. Furthermore, evidence for the presence of two mechanisms of temporal processing, namely processing speed and temporal integration, in bistable perception was discovered. Similarities and differences between perception of the Necker cube and a reversible word stimulus were reported. Finally, individual differences in working memory capacity seem likely not to relate to bistable perception. In conclusion, an improved description of the temporal dynamics of bistable perception and some low-level modulating factors was given. Furthermore, inter-individual differences in the dwell time distribution were shown to be reflected in several personality traits and cognitive processes, in particular time processing. This demonstrates that variations in bistable perception be- tween individuals can indeed be better understood and classified by linking them to other characteristics in cognition and personality. 2 Résumé Le cube de Necker est un stimulus bistable avec une longue histoire de re- cherche s’étalant plus qu’un ciècle. Très tôt, sa dynamique temporelle et ses charactéristiques de stimulus étaient examinées. On a trouvé que le nombre des inversions en un intervalle de temps défini était reproductible avec grande précision au sein d’un individu mais qu’il pouvait varier considérablement entre des individus. Déjà tôt dans la première moitié du vientième siècle, on a essayé d’associer la perception bistable du cube de Necker avec les traits de personnalité. Bien que depuis on ait fait beaucoup de progrès dans la description de la dynamique temporelle, une compréhension amplective des différences entre individus dans la perception bistable en matière de traits de personnalité et de processus cognitifs s’en faut jusqu’à ce jour. Deux études de la perception neutre et controllée délibérément du cube de Necker etaient conduites. La dynamique temporelle, sa dépendance aux pa- ramètres du stimulus et sa relation aux traits de personnalité, à la pleine conscience, à la transformation temporelle, à la mémoire de travail, au temps de réaction, à l’attention et à la perception d’un stimulus bistable acoustique étaient explorés. Nouveaux résultats sur l’adaptation initiale, sur la qualité de l’ajustement et sur la stationnarité relatif à la taille du cube etaient trouvés. Une analyse quantitative d’un effet biais perceptif etait donnée en matiére de la distribu- tion des durées de phase. Differences entre individus de contrôle délibéré sur la perception du cube de Necker étaient trouvées de correspondre àux traits de personnalité et à la pleine conscience. Plusieurs traits de personnalités ne correspondant pas à la perception bistable et quelques correspondant à la perception neutre étaient identifiés. Par ailleurs, preuve à la présence de deux mécanismes de transformation temporelle dans la perception bistable, à savoir la vitesse de traitement et l’integration temporelle, était découverte. Ressemblances et différences entre la perception du cube de Necker et d’un stimulus de mot réversible étaient reportées. Finalement, differences indivi- duelles de la mémoire de travail font l’effet de ne pas être attachées à la perception bistable. En somme, une description améliorée de la dynamique temporelle de la per- ception bistable et de quelque facteurs modulants de niveau bas était donnée. De plus, on a demonstré que les différences entre individus de durées de phase se reflètent dans les traits de personnalité et dans les processus cognitifs, en particulier dans la transformation temporelle. Ça démontre que les variations 3 entre individus dans la perception bistable en effet peuvent être conçues et classifiées mieux si elles sont associées à des autres traits charactéristiques cognitifs et de personnalité. 4 Acknowledgement I am indebted to many who supported me during the course of my PhD, not all of whom I can list here. I would like to express my particular gratefulness to my supervisors at Col- legium Helveticum Gerd Folkers, Victor Candia, Harald Atmanspacher and Reinhold Nesper who helped me increase my knowledge and skills and closely supported my research. I would like to thank Jürgen Kornmeier and Marc Wittmann of IGPP, who shared their insights and their expertise providing great help in designing and analysing the presented studies. I thank all my colleagues at Collegium Helveticum for their advice and com- pany. My gratefulness goes to everybody who has and does constitute, support and shape Collegium Helveticum to be a place of broad, innovative and con- structive thinking. They have provided me with a unique environment that has encouraged a broadening of perspective and understanding of science and culture which I appreciate and value very much. I want to thank my family, my friends and those close to me for their support, understanding and encouragement, my teachers for their guidance. 5 Contents 1 Introduction 10 1.1 Why Look at Bistability? . 10 1.2 Classification of Multistability . 11 1.2.1 Ambiguous Figures . 12 1.2.2 Binocular Rivalry . 16 1.2.3 Monocular Rivalry . 17 1.2.4 Structure-from-Motion . 18 1.2.5 Apparent Motion Quartets . 19 1.2.6 Motion-induced Blindness . 19 1.2.7 Non-visual Multistability . 19 1.3 The Psychophysics of Visual Bistability . 20 1.3.1 Measuring Bistable Perception . 21 1.3.2 Viewing Parameters for the Necker Cube . 22 1.3.3 Reproducibility of Dwell Times . 24 1.4 The Physiology of Visual Bistability . 25 1.4.1 Eye Movements & Blinks . 25 1.4.2 Neuro-Imaging . 26 1.4.3 Lesions . 29 1.5 Genetics . 30 1.6 The Psychology of Visual Bistability . 31 1.7 Similarities and Differences . 33 2 Models of Bistable Perception 35 2.1 Up or Down? . 35 2.2 Oscillators or Attractors? . 38 2.3 Further Approaches . 40 6 3 Two Studies on Perception of the Necker Cube 41 3.1 NC-dist: Temporal Dynamics and Low-level Features in Bistable Perception of the Necker Cube . 42 3.1.1 Research Questions of the NC-dist Study . 42 3.2 NC-pers: Personality, cognitive abilities, temporal processing and the Necker cube . 43 3.2.1 Research Questions of the NC-pers Study . 43 3.3 Measuring Bistable Perception . 44 3.4 Analysis of Dwell Time Data . 46 4 Temporal Dynamics 48 4.1 Stationarity . 48 4.2 Reproducibility . 50 4.3 Dwell Times and Their Distribution . 51 4.4 Fitting Dwell Time Distributions . 53 4.4.1 Kernel Density Estimation . 53 4.4.2 Least Squares Method . 53 4.4.3 Maximum Likelihood Estimation . 53 4.5 Probability Density Functions . 54 4.5.1 The Gamma Distribution . 54 4.5.2 The Lognormal Distribution . 55 4.5.3 Other PDF’s . 56 4.6 Fit Quality . 56 4.6.1 Measures of Goodness of Fit . 57 4.6.2 Comparing Fit Quality . 59 4.6.3 Fit residuals . 64 5 Stimulus Properties 67 5.1 Size of the Necker Cube . 67 5.1.1 Reports on the Effect of Cube Size . 67 5.1.2 Comparing Five Cube Sizes . 68 5.1.3 Results . 68 5.1.4 Discussion . 68 5.2 Hysteresis Effect . 70 5.2.1 Hysteresis in (Psycho-)Physics . 70 5.2.2 Exploring Hysteresis of the Necker Cube . 71 5.2.3 Results . 72 5.2.4 Discussion . 72 7 6 Bias Effect 76 6.1 Qualitative Reports . 76 6.2 Quantifying the Perceptual Bias . 77 6.3 Results . 78 6.4 Seeing the Cube From Above . 78 7 Voluntary Influence 82 7.1 Volition in Bistability and Psychology . 82 7.2 Measuring Volition . 85 7.3 Results . 88 7.4 Discussion .
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