Abstract
Two experiments were conducted with six and three subjects, respectively, to examine the “dynamic” wallpaper phenomenon in which the apparent location of a uniform repeating pattern shifted abruptly at a certain convergence distance when the pattern was viewed with the gradual change of convergence. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the critical convergence distances (shift points), at which the apparent location of the pattern shifted, differed between the two directions of the change of convergence, converging and diverging. It was greater in the diverging condition than in the converging condition. This fact shows a tendency to keep the same fusional state as far as possible when the convergence changes gradually. Experiment 2 showed that the difference of the critical convergence distance between the converging and diverging conditions is systematically related to the convergence level, that is, the difference increased as the convergence angle increased. The implications of the results of the two experiments were discussed in the context of the fusional hysteresis.
