Differential effects of attention and contrast on transition appearance during binocular rivalry.
Journal of vision January 5, 2026 Cemre Yilmaz, Kerstin Maitz, Maximilian Gerschütz et al.
Binocular rivalry occurs when each eye sees a different image, causing conscious perception to alternate between them even though the physical stimuli remain constant. Contrast and attention have been shown to influence these alternations similarly, suggesting attention boosts effective stimulus contrast. This study examined brief transition periods between clear percepts, which are less understood. Observers reported four common transition types while contrast or exogenous attention was manipulated. Contrast and attention similarly affected overall rivalry dynamics, but their effects on transition appearance differed. This indicates attention's effect is not merely enhancing stimulus strength, a distinction revealed only when analyzing transition types.