Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Consciousness and Cognition journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/concog EEG correlates of cognitive time scales in the Necker-Zeno model for bistable perception J. Kornmeier a,b,c,d, ⁎ , E. Friedel a,b,c,d , M. Wittmann a , H. Atmanspacher a,e,f,g a Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Wilhelmstraße 3a, 79098 Freiburg, Germany b Center for Mental Disorders, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Hauptstraße 5, 79104 Freiburg, Germany c Eye Center, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Killianstraße 5, 79106 Freiburg, Germany d Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany e Collegium Helveticum, Schmelzbergstraße 25, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland f University of Zürich, Rämistraße 71, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland g ETH Zürich, Rämistraße 101, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Ambiguous figures Bistable perception Necker cube EEG Event-related potentials Meditation Cognitive time scales Necker-Zeno model Quantum cognition ABSTRACT The Necker-Zeno model of bistable perception provides a formal relation between the average duration of meta-stable percepts (dwell times T) of ambiguous figures and two other basic time scales (t 0 , ΔT) underlying cognitive processing. The model predicts that dwell times T covary with t 0 , ΔT or both. We tested this prediction by exploiting that observers, in particular experienced meditators, can volitionally control dwell times T. Meditators and non-meditators observed bistable Necker cubes either passively or tried to hold their current percept. The latencies of a centro-parietal event-related potential (CPP) were recorded as a physiological correlate of t 0 . Dwell times T and the CPP latencies, correlated with t 0 , differed between conditions and observer groups, while ΔT remained constant in the range predicted by the model. The covar- iation of CPP latencies and dwell times, as well as their quadratic functional dependence extends previous psychophysical confirmation of the Necker-Zeno model to psychophysiological mea- sures. 1. Introduction 1.1. Background In recent decades, there has been accumulating evidence that central conceptual features of quantum theory, such as non- commuting operations, are also of pivotal significance outside the domain of physics, e.g. in psychology and cognitive science (for overviews see Busemeyer & Bruza, 2012; Wang, Busemeyer, Atmanspacher, & Pothos, 2013; Wendt, 2015). As opposed to a number of approaches trying to describe brain activity in terms of quantum physical processes, this research program utilizes mathematical features of quantum theory to describe cognitive processes without explicit reference to quantum processes in the brain. Intuitively, it is not difficult to understand why features such as non-commuting operations should be relevant, even inevitable, for systems that have nothing to do with quantum physics. Simply speaking, the non-commutativity of operations means nothing else than that the sequence, in which operations are applied, matters for the final result. This is obvious in psychology and cognitive http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2017.04.011 Received 23 February 2017; Received in revised form 7 April 2017; Accepted 15 April 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Wilhelmstraße 3a, 79098 Freiburg, Germany. E-mail address: Juergen.kornmeier@uni-freiburg.de (J. Kornmeier). Consciousness and Cognition 53 (2017) 136–150 1053-8100/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc. MARK