Visual masking and RSVP reveal neural competition.
A test visual stimulus is harder to recognize when another stimulus is presented in close temporal vicinity; presenting stimuli in close spatial vicinity of a test stimulus reduces its visibility; presenting a stimulus to one eye can render invisible another stimulus presented to the other eye; and perceiving one interpretation of an ambiguous image prevents the simultaneous perception of other visual interpretations. A single, neurophysiological theory, which may be called 'neural competition' might explain all these phenomena: when two alternative neural visual representations co-exist in the brain, they compete against each other.
Keysers
Christian
C
Istituto di Fisiologia Umana, Universita di Parma, Via Volturno 39, I-43100, Parma, Italy
Perrett
David I.
DI