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Updated: Sep 27, 2026
Digital Inline Holographic Microscopy (DIHM) of Weakly-scattering Subjects
Published on: February 8, 2014
Differential ambiguity reduces grouping of metastable objects
Jon K Grossmann1, Allan C Dobbins
1Department of Biomedical Engineering and Vision Science Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. jkgrossmann@vsrc.uab.edu
Abstract:
Two coaxial, ambiguously rotating objects tend to be perceived as corotating. Such grouping could be the consequence of bottom-up, cooperative interactions between the stimuli, or the top-down selection of object properties consistent with a model of the objects or scene. However, we find that the coupling between an ambiguous and unambiguous object is sharply reduced, presenting a challenge for both explanations of grouping. We describe experiments that support the idea that top-down feedback is necessary to select and stabilize a perceptual interpretation for ambiguous figures. Reduced coupling between objects of differing ambiguity can be explained if the feedback is global and proportional to ambiguity.
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