scholarly journals A neural basis for perceptual memory during binocular rivalry in humans

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 50-50
Author(s):  
P. Sterzer ◽  
G. Rees
Keyword(s):  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Perceptual Memory

scholarly journals Single units and conscious vision

1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1377) ◽  
pp. 1801-1818 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
N. K. Logothetis
Keyword(s):  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Awareness ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Binocular Fusion ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Multistable Perception ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Psychophysical Studies

Figures that can be seen in more than one way are invaluable tools for the study of the neural basis of visual awareness, because such stimuli permit the dissociation of the neural responses that underlie what we perceive at any given time from those forming the sensory representation of a visual pattern. To study the former type of responses, monkeys were subjected to binocular rivalry, and the response of neurons in a number of different visual areas was studied while the animals reported their alternating percepts by pulling levers. Perception–related modulations of neural activity were found to occur to different extents in different cortical visual areas. The cells that were affected by suppression were almost exclusively binocular, and their proportion was found to increase in the higher processing stages of the visual system. The strongest correlations between neural activity and perception were observed in the visual areas of the temporal lobe. A strikingly large number of neurons in the early visual areas remained active during the perceptual suppression of the stimulus, a finding suggesting that conscious visual perception might be mediated by only a subset of the cells exhibiting stimulus selective responses. These physiological findings, together with a number of recent psychophysical studies, offer a new explanation of the phenomenon of binocular rivalry. Indeed, rivalry has long been considered to be closely linked with binocular fusion and stereopsis, and the sequences of dominance and suppression have been viewed as the result of competition between the two monocular channels. The physiological data presented here are incompatible with this interpretation. Rather than reflecting interocular competition, the rivalry is most probably between the two different central neural representations generated by the dichoptically presented stimuli. The mechanisms of rivalry are probably the same as, or very similar to, those underlying multistable perception in general, and further physiological studies might reveal a much about the neural mechanisms of our perceptual organization.

scholarly journals Distinct Contributions of the Magnocellular and Parvocellular Visual Streams to Perceptual Selection

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 246-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel N. Denison ◽  
Michael A. Silver
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Multiple Stimulus ◽  
Perceptual Alternation ◽  
New Framework ◽  
Regular Alternation

During binocular rivalry, conflicting images presented to the two eyes compete for perceptual dominance, but the neural basis of this competition is disputed. In interocular switch rivalry, rival images periodically exchanged between the two eyes generate one of two types of perceptual alternation: (1) a fast, regular alternation between the images that is time-locked to the stimulus switches and has been proposed to arise from competition at lower levels of the visual processing hierarchy or (2) a slow, irregular alternation spanning multiple stimulus switches that has been associated with higher levels of the visual system. The existence of these two types of perceptual alternation has been influential in establishing the view that rivalry may be resolved at multiple hierarchical levels of the visual system. We varied the spatial, temporal, and luminance properties of interocular switch rivalry gratings and found, instead, an association between fast, regular perceptual alternations and processing by the magnocellular stream and between slow, irregular alternations and processing by the parvocellular stream. The magnocellular and parvocellular streams are two early visual pathways that are specialized for the processing of motion and form, respectively. These results provide a new framework for understanding the neural substrates of binocular rivalry that emphasizes the importance of parallel visual processing streams, and not only hierarchical organization, in the perceptual resolution of ambiguities in the visual environment.

scholarly journals A Neural Basis for Percept Stabilization in Binocular Rivalry

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Sterzer ◽  
Geraint Rees
Keyword(s):  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Delay Period ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
Conscious Perception ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Bistable Perception ◽  
Face Area ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
High Level

When the same visual input has conflicting interpretations, conscious perception can alternate spontaneously between each competing percept. Surprisingly, such bistable perception can be stabilized by intermittent stimulus removal, suggesting the existence of perceptual “memory” across interruptions in stimulation. The neural basis of such a process remains unknown. Here, we studied binocular rivalry, one type of bistable perception, in two linked experiments in human participants. First, we showed, in a behavioral experiment using binocular rivalry between face and grating stimuli, that the stabilizing effect of stimulus removal was specific to perceptual alternations evoked by rivalry, and did not occur following physical alternations in the absence of rivalry. We then used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity in a variable delay period of stimulus removal. Activity in the fusiform face area during the delay period following removal of rivalrous stimuli was greater following face than grating perception, whereas such a difference was absent during removal of non-rivalrous stimuli. Moreover, activity in areas of fronto-parietal regions during the delay period correlated with the degree to which individual participants tended to experience percept stabilization. Our findings suggest that percept-related activity in specialized extrastriate visual areas help to stabilize perception during perceptual conflict, and that high-level mechanisms may determine the influence of such signals on conscious perception.

scholarly journals Binocular rivalry perceptual memory in schizophrenia and in acute ayahuasca administration

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 2203
Author(s):  
Keith White ◽  
Chichun Sun ◽  
Ede Frecska
Keyword(s):  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Perceptual Memory

Emotional Reactivity to Visual Content as Revealed by ERP Component Clustering

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽  
Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽  
Jan Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Occipital Lobe ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. In the study, the neural basis of emotional reactivity was investigated. Reactivity was operationalized as the impact of emotional pictures on the self-reported ongoing affective state. It was used to divide the subjects into high- and low-responders groups. Independent sources of brain activity were identified, localized with the DIPFIT method, and clustered across subjects to analyse the visual evoked potentials to affective pictures. Four of the identified clusters revealed effects of reactivity. The earliest two started about 120 ms from the stimulus onset and were located in the occipital lobe and the right temporoparietal junction. Another two with a latency of 200 ms were found in the orbitofrontal and the right dorsolateral cortices. Additionally, differences in pre-stimulus alpha level over the visual cortex were observed between the groups. The attentional modulation of perceptual processes is proposed as an early source of emotional reactivity, which forms an automatic mechanism of affective control. The role of top-down processes in affective appraisal and, finally, the experience of ongoing emotional states is also discussed.

An Overview of the Neural Basis of Memory

2001 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 462-464
Author(s):  
Roberto Cabeza
Keyword(s):  
Neural Basis
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