NOTE ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF DOMINANCE TIMES IN BINOCULAR RIVALRY

Abstract

The dominance periods of a stimulus in binocular rivalry show a characteristic time distribution that gives important clues as to the underlying mechanism in alternation. It is shown that the distribution can be approximated by a γ-function, which turns out to have a positive integral exponent. With an integral exponent the function describes a Poisson distribution. This suggests the existence of an underlying dominance generating process that is discrete in nature. The parameters of this process are determined by properties of the recessive stimulus in the other eye. The discrete events may be ‘flicks' of eye movement.