Personality Measures Link Slower Binocular Rivalry Switch Rates to Higher Levels of Self-Discipline

Abstract

In this paper we investigated the relation between personality and the rate of perceptual alternations during binocular rivalry. Studies have demonstrated that slower rivalry alternations are associated with a range of clinical conditions. It is less clear whether rivalry dynamics similarly co-vary with individual differences in psychological traits seen across non-clinical population. We assessed rivalry rates in a non-clinical population (n = 149) and found slower rivalry alternations were positively related r(149) = 0.20, p = 0.01 to industriousness, a trait characterized by a high level of self-discipline using the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS). Switch rates were also negatively related r(149) = −0.20, p = 0.01 to cognitive disorganization, a schizotypy trait capturing schizophrenia-like symptoms of disorganization using the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE). Furthermore, we showed that that these relations with personality were unaffected by the inclusion or exclusion of mixed percept in the response analysis. Together these results are relevant to theoretical models of rivalry investigating individual differences in rivalry temporal dynamics and they may reduce concerns about the impact of task compliance in clinical research using rivalry as a potential diagnostic tool.

Ensemble modeling of auditory streaming reveals potential sources of bistability across the perceptual hierarchy

“…These findings are especially interesting in light of the existing evidence that there are substantial individual differences in perceptual bistability [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. The implication is that (1) perceptual bistability is pervasive and can emerge across many levels of the auditory hierarchy and (2) there may be greater individual variation in the higher level stages of auditory scene analysis, and less variation at the earliest stages, at least in terms of the magnitude of adaptation and inhibition.…”

“…The results also indicate that there are more variations of the later stages consistent with human data than earlier stages of processing. When interpreted in light of the significant individual differences found in perceptual bistability [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]85], a possible implication is that there is greater variability in human function for the higher-level stages of auditory processing, than lower-level stages of processing. April 3, 2019 13/28…”

“…The study of perceptual bistability, and the more general phenomena of multistability, has the potential to shed light on a number of fundamental principles of perception, as evidenced by four properties. First, its manifestation is characterized by substantial individual variation [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] providing a potential means for understanding how perceptual function differs across individuals. Second, it is a quite general phenomenon, as there are many forms of ambiguous stimuli that can generate perceptual bistability or multistability [1][2][3][4]6].…”

“…Furthermore, the range of levels of adaptation and inhibition that generate a plausible form of bistability is much larger at the highest stage of this hierarchy (Object), while a much more precise tuning of adaptation and inhibition is required at the earliest stage of analysis (Peripheral)-and the Central-analysis parameter tuning is somewhere in-between these extremes. These differences in parameter sensitivity across the model hierarchy raise an interesting possibility, given the evidence for considerable variability across listeners during bistable perception [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. It may be that these individual differences across human listeners originate primarily from later stages of the perceptual hierarchy, while earlier stages have a more precise tuning of adaptation and inhibition.…”

Missing the forest because of the trees: Slower alternations during binocular rivalry are associated with lower levels of visual detail during ongoing thought

“…Mean dominance duration shows robust and stable individual differences (Pettigrew and Miller, 1998), which have previously been shown to be associated with connectivity between regions of parietal cortex (Baker et al, 2015), as well as the concentration of inhibitory neurotransmitters (GABA) in visual regions of the brain (van Loon et al, 2013). Dominance durations are also affected by various personality types (Antinori et al, 2017a;Antinori et al, 2017b) and clinical conditions including autism (Robertson et al, 2013), bipolar disorder (Miller et al, 2003;Pettigrew and Miller, 1998) and schizophrenia (Xiao et al, 2018;Ye et al, 2019). The second metric was the time when neither percept dominated experience ('Mixed').…”