GAZE ORIENTATION IN PERCEPTION OF REVERSIBLE FIGURES

We hypothesized that during perception of reversible figures the direc tion of gaze toward a specific perceptual focal point plays a determin ing role in the identification of the images, i.e., when subjects are asked by the experimenter to perceive one of the two images, a displac ement of the eves toward a specific spatial area of the figure occurs. For each image we think there is a particular point of the figure whi ch acts as perceptual organizer. The stimuli were the Hill and Boring, Ehrenstein, Rubin, and Schroeder reversible figures. Subjects were 47 undergraduate psychology students (32 women and 15 men). The number o f ocular movements toward a different spatial direction were calculate d for each suggested image of the reversing figure. Analysis showed th at, in perceiving reversing figures, specific ocular displacements wer e present for each suggested image.