Identification of competing neural mechanisms underlying positive and negative perceptual hysteresis in the human visual system
Authors: Teresa Sousa
Alexandre Sayal
Gabriel N Costa
Ricardo Martins
João V Duarte
Miguel Castelo-Branco
Journal: NeuroImage (2020)
Discipline: NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR
Keywords: Bistable visual motion; Hysteresis; Perceptual decision; Perceptual history.
Affiliations: Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), University of Coimbra, Portugal; Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Portugal; Siemens Healthineers, Portugal., Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), University of Coimbra, Portugal; Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Portugal., Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), University of Coimbra, Portugal; Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), University of Coimbra, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal; ICNAS Produção, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Hysteresis is a well-known phenomenon in physics that relates changes in a system with its prior history. It is also part of human visual experience (perceptual hysteresis), and two different neural mechanisms might explain it: persistence (a cause of positive hysteresis), which forces to keep a current percept for longer, and adaptation (a cause of negative hysteresis), which in turn favors the switch to a competing percept early on. In this study, we explore the neural correlates underlying these mechanisms and the hypothesis of their competitive balance, by combining behavioral assessment with fMRI. We used machine learning on the behavioral data to distinguish between positive and negative hysteresis, and discovered a neural correlate of persistence at a core region of the ventral attention network, the anterior insula. Our results add to the understanding of perceptual multistability and reveal a possible mechanistic explanation for the regulation of different forms of perceptual hysteresis. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
  In the motion domain, this is related to the aperture problem: when a moving straight line is viewed through an aperture so that its endpoints are not visible, only the component of the motion perpendicular to the line orientation is perceived (Wallach, 1935; Wuerger et al., 1996).  This is incorrect. What Wallach actually said (in the translation in [Wuerger et al, (1996)](http: apps.mni.mcgill.ca research cpack wuerger_wallach96.pdf)) is this:  There exists a tendency for line motion to be perpendicular to line orientation, and also a tendency to perceive motion along one of the cardinal directions of space. **Above all, however, the perceived direction of motion runs as parallel as possible to the direction of the edge of the aperture that the line happens to intersect.** If the two aperture edges that are intersected simultaneously have different orientations, then the line pursues an intermediate direction; being a subject of psychophysical `self-organizationu2019u2026u201d  Through a circular aperture the motion will be perceived to be perpendicular to the line orientation; however through a rectangular aperture it will appear to move, as seen in the barberpole illusion, parallel to the edges. ,