Oscillations in the perception of ambiguous patterns a model based on synergetics

An algorithm which can be realized by synergetic systems and which was introduced by one of us (Haken 1987) for the recognition of patterns is extended so that the perception of ambiguous patterns can be modelled. In this approach so-called attention parameters are subjected to a damping mechanism mimicking the effect of saturation of attention. In this way oscillations of perception arise quite naturally. Our approach takes also ambiguous patterns with bias into account which leads to different periods of the attention paid to the one or the other interpretation of the pattern. Our results are in good agreement with previous psycho-physical studies by other authors. Finally we show how hysteresis of perception can be modelled.