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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 30, 2025

Methods for Presenting Real-world Objects Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions

Methods for Presenting Real-world Objects Under Controlled Laboratory Conditions

Published on: June 21, 2019

Multistability, perceptual value, and internal foraging.

Shervin Safavi¹, Peter Dayan¹

¹University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.

|August 30, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Perceptual multistability, where perceptions switch, may represent the brain

Keywords:

asthetics binocular rivalry cognitive control decision-making information foraging perceptual decision-making perceptual multistability perceptual value

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Perception Research

Background:

Perceptual multistability involves alternating perceptions from a single stimulus.
This phenomenon offers insights into sensory processing and brain mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To review findings on perceptual multistability.
To explore alternations as internal value-based choices by the brain.
To discuss the influence of external and internal values on perceptual switching.

Main Methods:

Review of experimental, theoretical, and computational findings.
Analysis of factors influencing perceptual alternations.

Main Results:

Perceptual alternations are proposed as internal brain choices driven by values.
External (experimenter-controlled) and internal (uncertainty, aesthetics) values impact multistability.
Brain regions like the anterior cingulate cortex may be involved in these value-dependent switching processes.

Conclusions:

Perceptual multistability provides a model for understanding value-based decision-making in the brain.
The study highlights the role of value computation in sensory perception and cognitive control.