Pre-coincidence brain activity predicts the perceptual outcome of streaming/bouncing motion display

When two identical visual discs move toward each other on a two-dimensional visual display, they can be perceived as either “streaming through” or “bouncing off” each other after their coincidence. Previous studies have observed a strong bias toward the streaming percept. Additionally, the incidence of the bouncing percept in this ambiguous display could be increased by various factors, such as a brief sound at the moment of coincidence and a momentary pause of the two discs. The streaming/bouncing bistable motion phenomenon has been studied intensively since its discovery. However, little is known regarding the neural basis underling the perceptual ambiguity in the classic version of the streaming/bouncing motion display. The present study investigated the neural basis of the perception disambiguating underling the processing of the streaming/bouncing bistable motion display using event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Surprisingly, the amplitude of frontal central P2 (220–260 ms) that was elicited by the moving discs ~200 ms before the coincidence of the two discs was observed to be predictive of subsequent streaming or bouncing percept. A larger P2 amplitude was observed for streaming percept than the bouncing percept. These findings suggest that the streaming/bouncing bistable perception may have been disambiguated unconsciously ~200 ms before the coincidence of the two discs.

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