Duck Eats Rabbit: Exactly Which Type of Relational Phrase Can Disambiguate the Perception of Identical Side by Side Ambiguous Figures?. (April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mathewson, Kyle E.
• Is Part Of: Perception. Volume 47:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 466
• Page End: 469
• Publication Date: 2018-04
• Subjects: ambiguous figure -- illusion -- endogenous/exogenous -- semantics -- top-down; Perception -- Periodicals; Perception -- Periodicals; Perception; Periodicals; 153.705
• DOI: 10.1177/0301006618756810
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-0066

Abstract

Many individuals cannot at first see two ambiguous figures as different interpretations simultaneously, even with effort. Here in a large sample replication, we find that the phrase "duck eats rabbit" allows those who could not see a duck and rabbit side by side to do so. In a second experiment, we show that a relational phrase "next to" that does not disambiguate the spatial position interpretation does not similarly allow the duck to be seen next to the rabbit, supporting the proposal that top-down semantic-framing can influence perception of ambiguous figures.