Cargando…
Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise”
Troxler fading, the perceptual disappearance of stationary images upon sustained fixation, is common for objects with equivalent luminance to that of the background. Previous work showed that variations in microsaccadic rates underlie the perceptual vanishing and intensification of simple stimuli, s...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2021
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7878487/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33574386 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82222-3 |
_version_ | 1783650344243298304 |
---|---|
author | Alexander, Robert G. Venkatakrishnan, Ashwin Chanovas, Jordi Macknik, Stephen L. Martinez-Conde, Susana |
author_facet | Alexander, Robert G. Venkatakrishnan, Ashwin Chanovas, Jordi Macknik, Stephen L. Martinez-Conde, Susana |
author_sort | Alexander, Robert G. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Troxler fading, the perceptual disappearance of stationary images upon sustained fixation, is common for objects with equivalent luminance to that of the background. Previous work showed that variations in microsaccadic rates underlie the perceptual vanishing and intensification of simple stimuli, such as Gabor patches. Here, we demonstrate that microsaccade dynamics also contribute to Troxler fading and intensification during the viewing of representational art. Participants fixated a small spot while viewing either a Gabor patch on a blank background, or Monet’s painting “Impression, Sunrise.” They continuously reported, via button press/release, whether the Gabor patch, or the sun in Monet’s painting, was fading versus intensifying, while their eye movements were recorded with high precision. Microsaccade rates peaked before reports of increased visibility, and dropped before reports of decreased visibility or fading, both when viewing Gabor patches and Monet’s sun. These results reveal that the relationship between microsaccade production and the reversal and prevention of Troxler fading applies not only to the viewing of contrived stimuli, but also to the observation of “Impression, Sunrise.” Whether or not perceptual fading was consciously intended by Monet, our findings indicate that observers’ oculomotor dynamics are a contributor to the cornerstone of Impressionism. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7878487 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-78784872021-02-12 Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise” Alexander, Robert G. Venkatakrishnan, Ashwin Chanovas, Jordi Macknik, Stephen L. Martinez-Conde, Susana Sci Rep Article Troxler fading, the perceptual disappearance of stationary images upon sustained fixation, is common for objects with equivalent luminance to that of the background. Previous work showed that variations in microsaccadic rates underlie the perceptual vanishing and intensification of simple stimuli, such as Gabor patches. Here, we demonstrate that microsaccade dynamics also contribute to Troxler fading and intensification during the viewing of representational art. Participants fixated a small spot while viewing either a Gabor patch on a blank background, or Monet’s painting “Impression, Sunrise.” They continuously reported, via button press/release, whether the Gabor patch, or the sun in Monet’s painting, was fading versus intensifying, while their eye movements were recorded with high precision. Microsaccade rates peaked before reports of increased visibility, and dropped before reports of decreased visibility or fading, both when viewing Gabor patches and Monet’s sun. These results reveal that the relationship between microsaccade production and the reversal and prevention of Troxler fading applies not only to the viewing of contrived stimuli, but also to the observation of “Impression, Sunrise.” Whether or not perceptual fading was consciously intended by Monet, our findings indicate that observers’ oculomotor dynamics are a contributor to the cornerstone of Impressionism. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-02-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7878487/ /pubmed/33574386 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82222-3 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Article Alexander, Robert G. Venkatakrishnan, Ashwin Chanovas, Jordi Macknik, Stephen L. Martinez-Conde, Susana Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise” |
title | Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise” |
title_full | Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise” |
title_fullStr | Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise” |
title_full_unstemmed | Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise” |
title_short | Microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in Monet’s “Impression, sunrise” |
title_sort | microsaccades mediate perceptual alternations in monet’s “impression, sunrise” |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7878487/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33574386 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82222-3 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT alexanderrobertg microsaccadesmediateperceptualalternationsinmonetsimpressionsunrise AT venkatakrishnanashwin microsaccadesmediateperceptualalternationsinmonetsimpressionsunrise AT chanovasjordi microsaccadesmediateperceptualalternationsinmonetsimpressionsunrise AT macknikstephenl microsaccadesmediateperceptualalternationsinmonetsimpressionsunrise AT martinezcondesusana microsaccadesmediateperceptualalternationsinmonetsimpressionsunrise |