History-dependent changes to distribution of dominance phases in multistable perception

Multistability - spontaneous switches of perception when viewing a stimulus compatible with several percepts - is often characterized by the distribution of durations of dominance phases. For continuous viewing conditions, these distributions are similar for various multistable displays and share two characteristic features: a Gamma-like distribution shape and dependence of dominance durations on the perceptual history. Both properties depend on a balance between self-adaptation (also conceptualized as a weakening stability prior) and noise. Prior experimental work and simulations that systematically manipulated displays showed that faster self-adaptation leads to a more normal-like distribution and, typically, to more regular dominance durations. We used a leaky integrator approach to estimate accumulated differences in self-adaptation between competing representations and used it as a predictor when fitting two parameters of a Gamma distribution independently. We confirmed earlier work showing that larger differences in self-adaptation led to a more normal-like distribution suggesting similar mechanisms that rely on the balance between self-adaptation and noise. However, these larger differences led to less regular dominance phases suggesting that longer times required for recovery from adaptation give noise more chances to induce a spontaneous switch. Our results also remind us that individual dominance phases are not independent and identically distributed.

Automated summary

Multistability refers to spontaneous switches of perception when viewing a stimulus compatible with multiple percepts, and is characterized by the distribution of dominance durations. This distribution shape is Gamma-like and dependent on perceptual history, resulting from a balance between self-adaptation and noise. Our study confirmed that larger differences in self-adaptation lead to a more normal-like distribution, but also result in less regular dominance phases due to longer recovery times from adaptation, which gives noise more chances to induce spontaneous switches. Furthermore, it is important to note that individual dominance phases are not independently and identically distributed.