Neural correlates of shape-from-shading

Visual evoked potentials were recorded during presentation of a single stimulus that generated bi-stable perceptual alternation between two different three-dimensional percepts. One interpretation (asymmetric) changed depth structure from flat to corrugated in depth and the other (symmetric) had the appearance of a flat surface translating laterally behind a set of apertures. Responses during perception of the asymmetric three-dimensional structure contained larger negative components than did responses during perception of the symmetric three-dimensional structure. Control experiments suggest that the interpretation of depth structure is selected after junction information caused by the interplay between shading and object shape is extracted.