Increasing depth of binocular rivalry suppression along two visual pathways.
Binocular rivalry refers to the alternating perception that occurs when the two eyes are presented with incompatible stimuli: one monocular image is seen exclusively for several seconds before disappearing as the other image comes into view. The unseen stimulus is physically present but is not perceived because the sensory signals it elicits are suppressed. The neural site of this binocular rivalry suppression is a source of continuing controversy. We psychophysically tested human subjects, using test probes designed to selectively activate the visual system at a variety of processing stages. The results, which apply to both form and motion judgements, show that the sensitivity loss during suppression increases as the subject's task becomes more sophisticated. We conclude that binocular rivalry suppression is present at a number of stages along two visual cortical pathways, and that suppression deepens as the visual signal progresses along these pathways.
Nguyen
Vincent A
VA
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sydney, P.O. Box 170, NSW 1825, Lidcombe, Australia.
Freeman
Alan W
AW
Alais
David
D
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D003867:Depth Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014792:Visual Acuity