Visual form created solely from temporal structure

In several experiments, it was found that global perception of spatial form can arise exclusively from unpredictable but synchronized changes among Lo cal features. Within an array of nonoverlapping apertures, contours move in one of two directions, with direction reversing randomly over time. When c ontours within a region of the array reverse directions in synchrony, they stand out conspicuously from the rest of the array where direction reversal s are unsynchronized. Clarity of spatial structure from synchronized change depends on the rate of motion reversal and on the proportion of elements r eversing direction in synchrony. Evidently, human vision is sensitive to th e rich temporal structure in these stochastic events.