Low-Level Motion Characteristics Do Not Account for Perceptions of Stream-Bounce Stimuli

Abstract

The stream-bounce effect refers to a bistable motion stimulus that is interpreted as two targets either ''streaming'' past or ''bouncing'' off one another, and the manipulations that bias responses. Directional bias, according to Bertenthal et al., is an account of the effect proposing that low-level motion integration promotes streaming, and its disruption leads to bouncing, and it is sometimes cited either directly in a bottom-up fashion or indirectly under top-down control despite Sekuler and Sekuler finding evidence inconsistent with it. We tested two key aspects of the hypothesis: (a) comparable changes in speed should produce comparable disruptions and lead to similar effects; and (b) speed changes alone should disrupt integration without the need for additional more complex changes of motion. We found that target motion influences stream-bounce perception, but not as directional bias predicts. Our results support Sekuler and Sekuler and argue against the low-level motion signals driving perceptual outcomes in stream-bounce displays (directly or indirectly) and point to higher level inferential processes involving perceptual history and expectation. Directional bias as a mechanism should be abandoned and either another specific bottom-up process must be proposed and tested or consideration should be given to top-down factors alone driving the effect.

The Effect of Transient Location on the Resolution of Bistable Visual and Audiovisual Motion Sequences

“…In both articles, tones were controlled for loudness and length, and an attention-capture manipulation check was performed for all tones in isolation (tones induced equal reaction times). In sum, Grassi and Casco’s findings favoured the inference account over the attentional hypothesis (see also Grove et al., 2016; Zeljko & Grove, 2017a, 2017b).…”

Arousing emoticons edit stream/bounce perception of objects moving past each other

“…This bistable visual phenomenon is known as ‘stream/bounce perception’ 1 . Generally, the streaming perception is dominant in stream/bounce perception, although no comprehensive mechanism for this predominance has been proposed yet (for discussions 2 – 4 ).…”

Temporal dynamics of a perceptual decision

“…Recent work has considered the influence of prior knowledge in the perception of ambiguous multisensory stimuli using the stream-bounce display (an ambiguous motion sequence in which two identical targets moving along intersecting trajectories are typically seen to either stream past or bounce off one another). Typically, the presence or absence of a brief sound at the point of coincidence of the targets biases responses: Sounds are reliably associated with increased bounce reports (Sekuler, Sekuler, & Lau, 1997;Zeljko & Grove, 2017a, 2017b. While stimulus manipulations at (or close to) the point of coincidence can modulate responses (for example, brief damped sounds lead to increased bouncing compared to brief ramped sounds; Grassi & Casco, 2009), other, seemingly extrastimulus factors also modulate responses.…”