Gaze orientation in perception of reversible figures.

We hypothesized that during perception of reversible figures the direction of gaze toward a specific perceptual focal point plays a determining role in the identification of the images, i.e., when subjects are asked by the experimenter to perceive one of the two images, a displacement of the eyes toward a specific spatial area of the figure occurs. For each image we think there is a particular point of the figure which 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 of ocular movements toward a different spatial direction were calculated for each suggested image of the reversing figure. Analysis showed that, in perceiving reversing figures, specific ocular displacements were present for each suggested image.