Critical slowing down and noise-induced intermittency in bistable perception: bifurcation analysis.
Stochastic dynamics and critical slowing down were studied experimentally and numerically near the onset of dynamical bistability in visual perception under the influence of noise. Exploring the Necker cube as the essential example of an ambiguous figure, and using its wire contrast as a control parameter, we measured dynamical hysteresis in two coexisting percepts as a function of both the velocity of the parameter change and the background luminance. The bifurcation analysis allowed us to estimate the level of cognitive noise inherent to brain neural cells activity, which induced intermittent switches between different perception states. The results of numerical simulations with a simple energy model are in good qualitative agreement with psychological experiments.
Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Loma del Bosque 115, Lomas del Campestre, 37150 , Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, apisarch@cio.mx.
Alexander N
AN
Pisarchik
Rider
R
Jaimes-Reátegui
C D Alejandro
CD
Magallón-García
C Obed
CO
Castillo-Morales
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009622:Noise; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D013334:Students; D013997:Time Factors; D014495:Universities; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*