Malek Nour, Mendoza-Halliday Diego, Martinez-Trujillo Julio
Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
J Vis. 2012 Sep 26;12(10):16. doi: 10.1167/12.10.16.
Binocular rivalry describes the alternating perception of two competing monocular images. It is hypothesized to arise at multiple levels of the visual pathway due to competition between neuronal populations representing the displayed images. We tested whether an enhanced neural representation of expanding motion yields a bias over other spiral motion (i.e., contraction and rotation) and linear motion stimuli during binocular rivalry. We presented random dot patterns of different motion types (i.e., linear and spiral), matched in contrast and speed, to human subjects through a mirror stereoscope. During spiral rivalry, expansion rivalry periods dominated over those of contraction and rotation, and contraction dominated over rotation. During linear motion rivalry, up, down, left, and right directions had similar rivalry periods. All spiral motions dominated over linear motions. Interestingly, when these motion types rivaled against each other, the rivalry periods of spiral motion slightly decreased while those of linear motion significantly increased. This rivalry also caused the bias for expansion relative to other spirals to disappear. Our results suggest a correlation between neuronal representations of different moving patterns and their perception during binocular motion rivalry and provide further evidence that rivalry periods are constrained by the ecologic relevance of stimuli.
双眼竞争描述了对两个相互竞争的单眼图像的交替感知。据推测，由于代表所显示图像的神经元群体之间的竞争，它会在视觉通路的多个层面产生。我们测试了在双眼竞争期间，扩展运动的增强神经表征是否会对其他螺旋运动（即收缩和旋转）以及线性运动刺激产生偏差。我们通过镜像立体镜向人类受试者呈现了不同运动类型（即线性和螺旋）、对比度和速度相匹配的随机点图案。在螺旋竞争期间，扩展竞争期比收缩和旋转期占主导，且收缩期比旋转期占主导。在线性运动竞争期间，上、下、左和右方向具有相似的竞争期。所有螺旋运动都比线性运动占主导。有趣的是，当这些运动类型相互竞争时，螺旋运动的竞争期略有下降，而线性运动的竞争期显著增加。这种竞争也导致了相对于其他螺旋的扩展偏差消失。我们的结果表明，不同运动模式的神经元表征与其在双眼运动竞争期间的感知之间存在相关性，并进一步证明竞争期受到刺激的生态相关性的限制。
