Does punishment influence conscious visual perception? A study of binocular rivalry using operant conditioning J van Slooten1, G Wilbertz2, P Sterzer2 |
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1Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| In everyday live, we perceive many things and situations and modify behavior accordingly to it. Behavior is shaped by perception. But can it also be the other way around? Can perception be shaped by our previous experiences, although we are not aware of this? Here, we addressed the question whether visual perception can be influenced by negative events. Specifically, can conditioning with monetary loss influence perceptual dominance durations in binocular rivalry? We presented blue and red grating stimuli to either of the two eyes during baseline, punishment and extinction phases. During the punishment phase, the sound of a falling coin was coupled to one of the two stimuli, representing monetary loss of 0.10 EUR every time it appeared. To avoid a reporting bias, perceptual alternations were tracked with a target detection task: Participant had to detect subtle changes of either of the two rivaling stimuli, which allowed us to infer the dominant percept indirectly. In accord with our hypothesis, we found a negative effect of punishment on dominance of the punished stimulus, while dominance increased for the other stimulus. Our results point to active adaptation of conscious visual perception to meet demands of the environment. |
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