Klink P Christiaan, van Ee Raymond, van Wezel Richard J A
Functional Neurobiology & Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2008;3(10):e3473. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003473. Epub 2008 Oct 22.
The mechanisms underlying conscious visual perception are often studied with either binocular rivalry or perceptual rivalry stimuli. Despite existing research into both types of rivalry, it remains unclear to what extent their underlying mechanisms involve common computational rules. Computational models of binocular rivalry mechanisms are generally tested against Levelt's four propositions, describing the psychophysical relation between stimulus strength and alternation dynamics in binocular rivalry. Here we use a bistable rotating structure-from-motion sphere, a generally studied form of perceptual rivalry, to demonstrate that Levelt's propositions also apply to the alternation dynamics of perceptual rivalry. Importantly, these findings suggest that bistability in structure-from-motion results from active cross-inhibition between neural populations with computational principles similar to those present in binocular rivalry. Thus, although the neural input to the computational mechanism of rivalry may stem from different cortical neurons and different cognitive levels the computational principles just prior to the production of visual awareness appear to be common to the two types of rivalry.
有意识视觉感知背后的机制通常通过双眼竞争或感知竞争刺激来研究。尽管对这两种竞争类型都有现有研究,但它们的潜在机制在多大程度上涉及共同的计算规则仍不清楚。双眼竞争机制的计算模型通常根据莱尔特的四个命题进行测试,这些命题描述了双眼竞争中刺激强度与交替动态之间的心理物理关系。在这里,我们使用一个双稳态旋转的运动结构球体(一种普遍研究的感知竞争形式)来证明莱尔特的命题也适用于感知竞争的交替动态。重要的是,这些发现表明,运动结构中的双稳态是由神经群体之间的主动交叉抑制导致的,其计算原理与双眼竞争中存在的原理相似。因此,尽管竞争计算机制的神经输入可能来自不同的皮层神经元和不同的认知水平,但在产生视觉意识之前的计算原理似乎在这两种竞争类型中是共同的。