Streaming, Bouncing, and Rotation: The Polka Dance Stimulus

When the objects in a typical stream-bounce stimulus are made to rotate on a circular trajectory, not two but four percepts can be observed: streaming, bouncing, clockwise rotation, and counterclockwise rotation, often with spontaneous reversals between them. When streaming or bouncing is perceived, the objects seem to move on individual, opposite trajectories. When rotation is perceived, however, the objects seem to move in unison on the same circular trajectory, as if constituting the edges of a virtual pane that pivots around its axis. We called this stimulus the Polka Dance stimulus. Experiments showed that with some viewing experience, the viewer can "hold" the rotation percepts. Yet even when doing so, a short sound at the objects' point of coincidence can induce a bouncing percept. Besides this fast percept switching from rotation to bouncing, an external stimulus might also induce slower rotation direction switches, from clockwise to counterclockwise, or vice versa.