title: Filling-in rivalry: Perceptual alternations in the absence of retinal image conflict.
abstract: During perceptual rivalry, an observer's perceptual experience alternates over time despite constant sensory stimulation. Perceptual alternations are thought to be driven by conflicting or ambiguous retinal image features at a particular spatial location and modulated by global context from surrounding locations. However, rivalry can also occur between two illusory stimuli-such as two filled-in stimuli within the retinal blind spot. In this "filling-in rivalry," what observers perceive in the blind spot changes in the absence of local stimulation. It remains unclear if filling-in rivalry shares common mechanisms with other types of rivalry. We measured the dynamics of rivalry between filled-in percepts in the blind spot, finding a high degree of exclusivity (perceptual dominance of one filled-in percept, rather than a perception of transparency), alternation rates that were highly consistent for individual observers, and dynamics that closely resembled other forms of perceptual rivalry. The results suggest that mechanisms common to a wide range of rivalry situations need not rely on conflicting retinal image signals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USADepartment of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USADivision of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Gerrit W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Maus
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Whitney
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Denison
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult