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Critical slowing down and noise-induced intermittency in bistable perception: bifurcation analysis

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Abstract

Stochastic dynamics and critical slowing down were studied experimentally and numerically near the onset of dynamical bistability in visual perception under the influence of noise. Exploring the Necker cube as the essential example of an ambiguous figure, and using its wire contrast as a control parameter, we measured dynamical hysteresis in two coexisting percepts as a function of both the velocity of the parameter change and the background luminance. The bifurcation analysis allowed us to estimate the level of cognitive noise inherent to brain neural cells activity, which induced intermittent switches between different perception states. The results of numerical simulations with a simple energy model are in good qualitative agreement with psychological experiments.

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Acknowledgments

We thank K. M. Prado-Tabares for her help in the data collection and all voluntaries for their participation in the experiments. A. N. P. acknowledges support from CONACYT (Mexico).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones en Optica, Loma del Bosque 115, Lomas del Campestre, 37150 , Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico

    Alexander N. Pisarchik

  2. Center for Biomedical Technology, Technical University of Madrid, Campus Montegancedo, 28223 , Pozuelo de Alarcon, Madrid, Spain

    Alexander N. Pisarchik

  3. Centro Universitario de Los Lagos, Universidad de Guadalajara, Enrique Díaz de León 1144, Paseo de la Montaña, Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Mexico

    Rider Jaimes-Reátegui, C. D. Alejandro Magallón-García & C. Obed Castillo-Morales

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  1. Alexander N. Pisarchik
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  2. Rider Jaimes-Reátegui
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  3. C. D. Alejandro Magallón-García
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  4. C. Obed Castillo-Morales
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Correspondence to Alexander N. Pisarchik.

Additional information

This work has been supported by the COECYTJAL-UdeG through project 05-2010-1-783.

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Pisarchik, A.N., Jaimes-Reátegui, R., Magallón-García, C.D.A. et al. Critical slowing down and noise-induced intermittency in bistable perception: bifurcation analysis. Biol Cybern 108, 397–404 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-014-0607-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-014-0607-5

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