Five experiments are presented that examine observers' reports with a new tri-stable reversible figure using two measures of observers' experience with the figure: observers' initial percept upon figure presentation in the test period and the total number of reversals reported in the test period. Experiment 1 demonstrates the equiprobability of the three alternatives for the figure. Experiment 2 demonstrates the powerful effect of fixation location on observers' reported organization of the tri-stable figure. Experiment 3 demonstrates clear priming effects following brief presentation of particular components of the tri-stable figure. Experiment 4 demonstrates clear adaptation effects following prolonged presentation of the same components of the figure used in experiment 3 as well as the transient nature of this adaptation. Experiment 5 demonstrates observers' ability to “hold” each of the three percepts regardless of fixation location. The special sensitivity of the tri-stable figure to these manipulations even with naive subjects and small sample sizes is discussed, and the interplay of both bottom–up and top–down processes on figural reversal is emphasized.
AmmonsR BUlrichPAmmonsC H, 1959“Voluntary perception of depth in a two-dimensional drawings”Proceedings of the Montana Academy of Sciences19160–168
2.
AttneaveF, 1968“Triangles as ambiguous figures”American Journal of Psychology81447–453
3.
AttneaveF, 1971“Multistability in perception”Scientific American225(6) 62–71
4.
BlakemoreCSuttonP, 1969“Size adaptation: A new aftereffect”Science166245–247
5.
BoringE G, 1930“A new ambiguous figure”American Journal of Psychology42444–445
6.
BoringE G, 1942Sensation and Perception in the History of Experimental Psychology (New York: Appleton Century)
7.
BotwinickJ, 1961“Husband and father-in-law: A new reversible figure”American Journal of Psychology74312–313
8.
BruggerP, 1999“One hundred years of an ambiguous figure: Happy birthday, duck/rabbit!”Perceptual and Motor Skills89973–977
9.
BugelskiB RAlampayD A, 1961“The role of frequency in developing perceptual sets”Canadian Journal of Psychology15205–211
10.
BurtonG, 2002“Successor states in a four-state ambiguous figure”Psychonomic Bulletin & Review9292–297
11.
ChastainGBurnhamC A, 1975“The first glimpse determines the perception of an ambiguous figure”Perception & Psychophysics17221–224
12.
DeValoisR LDeValoisK K, 1988Spatial Vision (New York: Oxford University Press)
13.
EllisS RStarkL, 1978“Eye movements during the viewing of a Necker cube”Perception7575–581
14.
FisherG H, 1967“Preparation of ambiguous stimulus materials”Perception & Psychophysics2241–422
15.
FisherG H, 1968“Ambiguity of form: Old and new”Perception & Psychophysics4189–192
16.
Garcia-PerezM A, 1989“Visual inhomogeneity and eye movements in multistable perception”Perception & Psychophysics46397–400
17.
GeorgiadesM SHarrisJ P, 1997“Biasing effects in ambiguous figures: Removal or fixation of critical features can affect perception”Visual Cognition4383–408
18.
GoolkasianP, 1991“The effect of size on the perception of ambiguous figures”Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society29161–164
19.
von GrünauM WWigginSReedM, 1984“The local character of perspective organization”Perception & Psychophysics35319–324
20.
HarrisJ P, 1980“How does adaptation to disparity affect the perception of reversible figures?”American Journal of Psychology93445–457
21.
HochbergJPetersonM A, 1987“Piecemeal organization and cognitive components in object perception: Perceptually coupled responses to moving targets”Journal of Experimental Psychology: General116370–380
22.
HorlitzK LO'LearyA, 1993“Satiation or availability? Effects of attention memory, and imagery on the perception of ambiguous figures”Perception & Psychophysics53668–681
23.
HowardI P, 1961“An investigation of a satiation process in the reversible perspective of revolving skeletal shapes”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology1319–33
24.
HubelD HWieselT N, 1959“Receptive fields of single neurons in the cat's striate cortex”Journal of Physiology (London)148574–591
KawabataNYamagamiKNoakiM, 1978“Visual fixation points and depth perception”Vision Research18853–854
27.
KohlerW, 1940Dynamics in Psychology (New York: Liveright)
28.
LeeperR, 1935“A study of a neglected portion of the field of earning: The development of sensory organization”Journal of Genetic Psychology4641–75
29.
LeopoldD ALogothetisN K, 1999“Multistable phenomena: Changing views in perception”Trends in Cognitive Sciences3254–264
30.
LiebertR MBurkB, 1985“Voluntary control of reversible figures”Perceptual and Motor Skills611307–1310
31.
LongG MMoranC J, 2007“How to keep a reversible figure from reversing: Teasing out top–down and bottom–up processes”Perception36431–445
32.
LongG MOlszweskiA D, 1999“To reverse or not to reverse: When is an ambiguous figure not ambiguous?”American Journal of Psychology11241–71
33.
LongG MToppinoT C, 2004“Enduring interest in perceptual ambiguity: Alternating views in reversible figures”Psychological Bulletin130748–768
34.
LongG MToppinoT CMondinG W, 1992“Prime time: Fatigue and set effects in the perception of reversible figures”Perception & Psychophysics52609–616
35.
NaberMGruenhageGEinhauserW, 2010“Tri-stable stimuli reveal interactions among subsequent percepts: Rivalry is biased by perceptual history”Vision Research50818–828
36.
NawrotMBlakeR, 1989“Neural integration of information specifying structure from stereopsis and motion”Science244716–718
37.
NeckerL A, 1832“Observations on an optical phenomenon which occurs on viewing a figure of a crystal or geometrical solid”Philosophical Magazine1329–337
38.
ParkerA JKrugK, 2003“Neuronal mechanisms for the perception of ambiguous stimuli”Current Opinion in Neurobiology13433–439
39.
PeltonL HSolleyC M, 1968“Acceleration of reversals of a Necker cube”American Journal of Psychology81585–588
40.
PetersikJ TShepardAMalschR, 1984“A three-dimensional motion aftereffect produced by prolonged adaptation to rotation stimulation”Perception13489–497
41.
PetersonM AHarveyE MWeidenbacherH J, 1991“Shape recognition contributions to figure–ground reversal: Which route counts?”Journal of experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance171075–1089
42.
PorterE L H, 1938“Factors in the fluctuation of fifteen ambiguous phenomena”Psychological Record2231–253
43.
PriceJ R, 1969a“Effect of extended observation on reversible perspective duration”Psychonomic Science1675–76
44.
PriceJ R, 1969b“Studies of reversible perspective: A methodological review”Behavioral Research Methods & Instrumentation1102–106
45.
RockI, 1975An Introduction to Perception (New York: Macmillan)
46.
RuggieriVFernandezM F, 1994“Gaze orientation in perception of reversible figures”Perceptual and Motor Skills78299–303
47.
StrüberDStadlerM, 1999“Differences in top-down influences on the reversal rate of different categories of reversible figures”Perception281185–1196
48.
ToppinoT C, 2003“Reversible-figure perception: Mechanisms of intentional control”Perception & Psychophysics651285–1295
49.
ToppinoT CLongG M, 1987“Selective adaptation with reversible figures: Don't change that channel”Perception & Psychophysics4237–48
50.
VirsuV, 1975“Determination of perspective organization”Nature257786–787
51.
WashburnM FGilletteA, 1933“Motor factors in voluntary control of cube perspective fluctuations and retinal rivalry fluctuations”American Journal of Psychology45315–319
52.
WashburnM FReaganCThurstonE, 1934“The comparative comparability of the fluctuations of simple and complex ambiguous perspective figures”American Journal of Psychology46636–638
53.
WentzellMHollandD K, 1973Optricks: A Book of Optical Illusions (San Francisco, CA: Troubador Press)
54.
WimmerM CDohertyM J, 2011“The development of ambiguous figure perception”Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Serial No. 298761–130
