Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular Rivalry

When monocular images cannot be fused, perception alternates between the two (or more) possible images. This phenomenon, binocular rivalry (BR), is driven by the physical properties of the stimuli (size, contrast, spatial frequency, etc.) but it can also be modulated by attention to features of one...

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Main Authors: Manuel Moreno-Sánchez, J. Antonio Aznar-Casanova, Fernando Valle-Inclán
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnsys.2019.00012/full
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author Manuel Moreno-Sánchez
J. Antonio Aznar-Casanova
Fernando Valle-Inclán
author_facet Manuel Moreno-Sánchez
J. Antonio Aznar-Casanova
Fernando Valle-Inclán
author_sort Manuel Moreno-Sánchez
collection DOAJ
description When monocular images cannot be fused, perception alternates between the two (or more) possible images. This phenomenon, binocular rivalry (BR), is driven by the physical properties of the stimuli (size, contrast, spatial frequency, etc.) but it can also be modulated by attention to features of one of the rival stimuli (Chong et al., 2005; Dieter et al., 2016) and by attentional demands independent of the BR assessment (Paffen et al., 2008). Instead of the perceptually demanding tasks previously used to bias BR, we designed a simple counting task. We monocularly presented a number of trials (around 10 min) with a set of symbols and asked participants to count them. We found that after this task, dominance durations decreased for the unattended channel, and did not change for the attended channel. The results parallel those of Paffen et al. (2008) and square nicely with Levelt’s second proposition, suggesting that the counting task effectively increased the sensibility of one channel which led to increased strength of the images presented to that channel. Alternatively, the results could be explained assuming that the non-attended channel was inhibited during the counting task, and the inhibition was carried over to the BR task.
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spelling doaj.art-ad59c8db23c94427b14394fabfef72522022-12-21T23:41:02ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience1662-51372019-03-011310.3389/fnsys.2019.00012427659Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular RivalryManuel Moreno-Sánchez0J. Antonio Aznar-Casanova1Fernando Valle-Inclán2Department of Cognitive Processes, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Cognitive Processes, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Psychology, Universidad de La Coruña, La Coruña, SpainWhen monocular images cannot be fused, perception alternates between the two (or more) possible images. This phenomenon, binocular rivalry (BR), is driven by the physical properties of the stimuli (size, contrast, spatial frequency, etc.) but it can also be modulated by attention to features of one of the rival stimuli (Chong et al., 2005; Dieter et al., 2016) and by attentional demands independent of the BR assessment (Paffen et al., 2008). Instead of the perceptually demanding tasks previously used to bias BR, we designed a simple counting task. We monocularly presented a number of trials (around 10 min) with a set of symbols and asked participants to count them. We found that after this task, dominance durations decreased for the unattended channel, and did not change for the attended channel. The results parallel those of Paffen et al. (2008) and square nicely with Levelt’s second proposition, suggesting that the counting task effectively increased the sensibility of one channel which led to increased strength of the images presented to that channel. Alternatively, the results could be explained assuming that the non-attended channel was inhibited during the counting task, and the inhibition was carried over to the BR task.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnsys.2019.00012/fullvisual awarenessvisual attentionbinocular rivalryendogenous attentionattention
spellingShingle Manuel Moreno-Sánchez
J. Antonio Aznar-Casanova
Fernando Valle-Inclán
Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular Rivalry
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
visual awareness
visual attention
binocular rivalry
endogenous attention
attention
title Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular Rivalry
title_full Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular Rivalry
title_fullStr Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular Rivalry
title_full_unstemmed Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular Rivalry
title_short Attention to Monocular Images Bias Binocular Rivalry
title_sort attention to monocular images bias binocular rivalry
topic visual awareness
visual attention
binocular rivalry
endogenous attention
attention
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnsys.2019.00012/full
work_keys_str_mv AT manuelmorenosanchez attentiontomonocularimagesbiasbinocularrivalry
AT jantonioaznarcasanova attentiontomonocularimagesbiasbinocularrivalry
AT fernandovalleinclan attentiontomonocularimagesbiasbinocularrivalry