Relationship between Differentiation and Integration of Self and Nonself: An Investigation in Terms of Modes of Perceptual Adaptation

Abstract

Differentiation and integration of self- and nonself-aspects of perception were investigated as features of the process of adapting to a spiral aftereffect (SAE) induced with massed trials. The cessation of the SAE at each trial was assumed to indicate that self-aspects of perception had been differentiated from nonself-aspects, changes in SAE duration over trials being considered to represent the integration of these aspects. Degree and stability of self-nonself-differentiation, reflected in the level and persistence of field-dependence measured on a serial version of the Rod and Frame Test, varied between individuals ( N = 129). The results suggest that persistent field-independence requires both self- and nonself-aspects of perception to be adequately and continuously represented in an integrative process which is oriented towards stimulus-proximity, self-aspects of perception being successively replaced by nonself-aspects.