Elsevier

Vision Research

Volume 45, Issue 18, August 2005, Pages 2417-2435
Vision Research

The role of (micro)saccades and blinks in perceptual bi-stability from slant rivalry

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2005.03.013Get rights and content
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Abstract

We exposed the visual system to an ambiguous 3D slant rivalry stimulus consisting of a grid for which monocular (perspective) and binocular (disparity) cues independently specified a slant about a horizontal axis. When those cues specified similar slants, observers perceived a single slant. When the difference between the specified slants was large, observers alternatively perceived a perspective- or a disparity-dominated slant. Eye movement measurements revealed that there was no positive correlation between a perceptual flip and both saccades (microsaccades as well as larger saccades) and blinks that occurred prior to a perceptual flip. We also found that changes in horizontal vergence were not responsible for perceptual flips. Thus, eye movements were not essential to flip from one percept to the other. After the moment of a perceptual flip the occurrence probabilities of both saccades and blinks were reduced. The reduced probability of saccades mainly occurred for larger voluntary saccades, rather than for involuntary microsaccades. We suggest that the reduced probability of voluntary saccades reflects a reset of saccade planning.

Keywords

Slant rivalry
Perceptual bi-stability
Saccades
Microsaccades
Blinks

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