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Rivalry predominance is defined as the percentage of total viewing time that a given rival pattern is visually dominant. Predominance of a given rival pattern depends on its stimulus strength relative to that of the competing pattern. Stimulus strength is determined by stimulus variables such as contour density, spatial frequency, stimulus motion and pattern contrast (Levelt, 1965).
Using the pairs of rival targets
below, you can experience how predominance varies with contrast.
View each rival pair for about a minute, paying attention to how
long -- on average -- a given pattern remains dominant. According
to Fox and Rasche (197?), the average duration of dominance remains
more or less constant regardless of target contrast whereas the
average duration of suppression varies inversely with contrast.
In other words, "weak" patterns tend to remain suppressed
for longer durations than do "strong" patterns. This
has the effect of increasing the overall predominance of a "strong"
pattern.
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Predominance of a rival pattern
can also be influenced by the presence of neighboring visual features,
particularly when those features together with the rival pattern
form a coherent, global figure (Whittle et al, 1968; Kovacs et
al, 1997; Alais & Blake, 1999). There is also evidence that
predominance can be modulated by "top-down" influences
including the emotional content of the rival patterns (e.g., Engel,
1956). This latter possibility deserves more careful examination.
References
Alais, D. and Blake, R.,1999: Grouping visual features during
binocular rivalry, Vision Res. 39, 4341-4353.
Engel, E., 1956: The role of content in binocular resolution,
Amer. J. Psychol. 69, 87-91.
Fox, R. and Rasche, F. 1969: Binocular rivalry and reciprocal
inhibition, Percept. Psychophys. 5, 215-217.
Kovács, I., Papathomas, T.V., Yang, M. and Fehér,
A. 1997: When the brain changes its mind, Interocular grouping
during binocular rivalry, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 15508-15511.
Whittle, P., Bloor, D. and Pocock, S. 1968: Some experiments on
figural effects in binocular rivalry, Percept. Psychophys. 4,
183- 188.