Grasp Affordances in Bistable Perception of the Necker Cube.

Abstract

Stimulus-response compatibility effects illustrate the mutual depen-dence of perception and action processes. Ellis and Tucker (2000) showed that object identification was facilitated when the response required a grip that was compatible with the stimulus. In the current study, we extend grip-compatibility effects to perception of the Necker cube. Participants reported the perceived orientation of a Necker cube by orienting a hand-held cube into a compatible or an incompatible position. Participants in the incompatible condition were quickly attracted to the FRB (front-side right bottom) percept, consistent with previous work. However, participants in the compatible condition showed an extended period of metastability, switching between the two perceptual states about equally. A second experiment replicated these results and showed that a control condition in which responses were made with a key press produced intermediate levels of metastability. These results are interpreted in terms of the dynamics of bistable perception.