Perceptual memory in ambiguous vision: A paradigmatic case of perceptual inference P Sterzer |
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Visual Perception Laboratory, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
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| When ambiguous images that normally cause alternation between two or more perceptual states are presented intermittently, perception tends to lock into one interpretation. This stabilization of perception has been suggested to indicate a form of perceptual memory. I will argue that the stabilization of perception across multiple presentations of an ambiguous stimulus is a paradigmatic case of perceptual inference and can be used to probe inferential mechanisms in perception. During repeated exposure of a stimulus endogenous predictions are automatically built up and facilitate perceptual inference at each recurrence of the stimulus. In the case of ambiguous stimuli, the incorporation of these predictions based on previous perceptual outcomes results in the stabilization of perception. I will present behavioral data showing that the experimental manipulation of endogenous predictions through associative learning can influence the stability of perception. Moreover, I will show that perceptual stability in ambiguous vision can be used to probe impairments in perceptual inference, e.g., in delusion-prone individuals. Finally, I will relate these ideas to functional neuroimaging findings that provide a neural basis for the stabilization of perception in ambiguous vision. |
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