title: Neural correlates of perceptual rivalry in the human brain.
abstract: When dissimilar images are presented to the two eyes, perception alternates spontaneously between each monocular view, a phenomenon called binocular rivalry. Functional brain imaging in humans was used to study the neural basis of these subjective perceptual changes. Cortical regions whose activity reflected perceptual transitions included extrastriate areas of the ventral visual pathway, and parietal and frontal regions that have been implicated in spatial attention; whereas the extrastriate areas were also engaged by nonrivalrous perceptual changes, activity in the frontoparietal cortex was specifically associated with perceptual alternation only during rivalry. These results suggest that frontoparietal areas play a central role in conscious perception, biasing the content of visual awareness toward abstract internal representations of visual scenes, rather than simply toward space.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK. elumer@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Lumer
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Friston
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rees
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception; D015348:Vision, Binocular; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception