Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.

Binocular rivalry (BR) is a dynamic visual illusion that provides insight into the cortical mechanisms of visual awareness, stimulus selection, and object identification. When dissimilar binocular images cannot be fused, perception switches every few seconds between the left and right eye images. Th...

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Main Authors: Elizabeth A Bock, Jeremy D Fesi, Sylvain Baillet, Janine D Mendola
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218529
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author Elizabeth A Bock
Jeremy D Fesi
Sylvain Baillet
Janine D Mendola
author_facet Elizabeth A Bock
Jeremy D Fesi
Sylvain Baillet
Janine D Mendola
author_sort Elizabeth A Bock
collection DOAJ
description Binocular rivalry (BR) is a dynamic visual illusion that provides insight into the cortical mechanisms of visual awareness, stimulus selection, and object identification. When dissimilar binocular images cannot be fused, perception switches every few seconds between the left and right eye images. The speed at which individuals switch between alternatives is a stable, partially heritable trait. In order to isolate the monocular and binocular processes that determine the speed of rivalry, we presented stimuli tagged with a different flicker frequency in each eye and applied stimulus-phase locked MEG source imaging. We hypothesized that the strength of the evoked fundamental or intermodulation frequencies would vary when comparing Fast and Slow Switchers. Ten subjects reported perceptual alternations, with mean dominance durations between 1.2-4.0 sec. During BR, event-related monocular input in V1, and broadly in higher-tier ventral temporal cortex, waxed and waned with the periods of left or right eye dominance/suppression. In addition, we show that Slow Switchers produce greater evoked intermodulation frequency responses in a cortical network composed of V1, lateral occipital, posterior STS, retrosplenial & superior parietal cortices. Importantly, these dominance durations were not predictable from the brain responses to either of the fundamental tagging frequencies in isolation, nor from any responses to a pattern rivalry control condition, or a non-rivalrous control. The novel cortical network isolated, which overlaps with the default-mode network, may contain neurons that compute the level of endogenous monocular difference, and monitor accumulation of this conflict over extended periods of time. These findings are the first to relate the speed of rivalry across observers to the 'efficient coding' theory of computing binocular differences that may apply to binocular vision generally.
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spelling doaj.art-f1432d4a29884fdeaa05353ef9185cc72022-12-21T21:31:33ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-01147e021852910.1371/journal.pone.0218529Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.Elizabeth A BockJeremy D FesiSylvain BailletJanine D MendolaBinocular rivalry (BR) is a dynamic visual illusion that provides insight into the cortical mechanisms of visual awareness, stimulus selection, and object identification. When dissimilar binocular images cannot be fused, perception switches every few seconds between the left and right eye images. The speed at which individuals switch between alternatives is a stable, partially heritable trait. In order to isolate the monocular and binocular processes that determine the speed of rivalry, we presented stimuli tagged with a different flicker frequency in each eye and applied stimulus-phase locked MEG source imaging. We hypothesized that the strength of the evoked fundamental or intermodulation frequencies would vary when comparing Fast and Slow Switchers. Ten subjects reported perceptual alternations, with mean dominance durations between 1.2-4.0 sec. During BR, event-related monocular input in V1, and broadly in higher-tier ventral temporal cortex, waxed and waned with the periods of left or right eye dominance/suppression. In addition, we show that Slow Switchers produce greater evoked intermodulation frequency responses in a cortical network composed of V1, lateral occipital, posterior STS, retrosplenial & superior parietal cortices. Importantly, these dominance durations were not predictable from the brain responses to either of the fundamental tagging frequencies in isolation, nor from any responses to a pattern rivalry control condition, or a non-rivalrous control. The novel cortical network isolated, which overlaps with the default-mode network, may contain neurons that compute the level of endogenous monocular difference, and monitor accumulation of this conflict over extended periods of time. These findings are the first to relate the speed of rivalry across observers to the 'efficient coding' theory of computing binocular differences that may apply to binocular vision generally.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218529
spellingShingle Elizabeth A Bock
Jeremy D Fesi
Sylvain Baillet
Janine D Mendola
Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.
PLoS ONE
title Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.
title_full Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.
title_fullStr Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.
title_full_unstemmed Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.
title_short Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate.
title_sort tagged meg measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218529
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AT jeremydfesi taggedmegmeasuresbinocularrivalryinacorticalnetworkthatpredictsalternationrate
AT sylvainbaillet taggedmegmeasuresbinocularrivalryinacorticalnetworkthatpredictsalternationrate
AT janinedmendola taggedmegmeasuresbinocularrivalryinacorticalnetworkthatpredictsalternationrate