McGill Vision Research, Dept. Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Dept. Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
Neuroimage. 2018 Feb 15;167:23-30. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.10.035. Epub 2017 Nov 7.
Interocular interaction in the visual system occurs under dichoptic conditions when contrast and luminance are imbalanced between the eyes. Human psychophysical investigations suggest that interocular interaction can be explained by a contrast normalization model. However, the neural processes that underlie such interactions are still unresolved. We set out to assess, for the first time, the proposed normalization model of interocular contrast interactions using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and to extend this model to incorporate interactions based on interocular luminance differences. We used MEG to record steady-state visual evoked responses (SSVER), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to obtain individual retinotopic maps that we used in combination with MEG source imaging in healthy participants. Binary noise stimuli were presented in monocular or dichoptic viewing and were frequency-tagged at 4 and 6 Hz. The contrast of the stimuli was modulated in a range between 0 and 32%. Monocularly, we reduced the luminance by placing a 1.5 ND filter over one eye in the maximal contrast condition. This ND filter reduces the mean light level by a factor of 30 without any alteration to the physical contrast. We observed in visual area V1 a monotonic increase in the magnitude of SSVERs with changes in contrast from 0 to 32%. For both eyes, dichoptic masking induced a decrease in SSVER signal power. This power decrease was well explained by the normalization model. Reducing mean luminance delayed monocular processing by approximately 38 ms in V1. The reduced luminance also decreased the masking ability of the eye under the filter. Predictions based on a temporal filtering model for the interocular luminance difference prior to the model's binocular combination stage were incorporated to update the normalization model. Our results demonstrate that the signals resulting from different contrast or luminance stimulation of the two eyes are combined in a way that can be explained by an interocular normalization model.
双眼间的相互作用发生在双眼视条件下,此时双眼之间的对比度和亮度不平衡。人类心理物理学研究表明,双眼间的相互作用可以用对比度归一化模型来解释。然而,这种相互作用的神经过程仍未解决。我们首次使用脑磁图(MEG)评估双眼间对比度相互作用的归一化模型,并将该模型扩展到包含基于双眼间亮度差异的相互作用。我们使用 MEG 记录稳态视觉诱发电位(SSVER),并使用功能磁共振成像(fMRI)获得个体视网膜图,我们将这些图与健康参与者的 MEG 源成像结合使用。我们在单眼或双眼观看中呈现二进制噪声刺激,并在 4 和 6 Hz 下对其进行频率标记。刺激的对比度在 0 到 32%的范围内调制。在最大对比度条件下,我们通过在一只眼睛上放置一个 1.5 ND 滤光片使单眼的亮度降低。该 ND 滤光片将平均光水平降低了 30 倍,而不会对物理对比度产生任何影响。我们在视觉区域 V1 中观察到,随着对比度从 0 到 32%的变化,SSVER 的幅度呈单调增加。对于两只眼睛,双眼掩蔽导致 SSVER 信号功率下降。归一化模型很好地解释了这种功率下降。降低平均亮度会使 V1 中的单眼处理延迟约 38 毫秒。较低的亮度也降低了滤光片下眼睛的掩蔽能力。在模型的双目组合阶段之前,根据双眼间亮度差的时间滤波模型进行预测,并将其纳入到归一化模型中进行更新。我们的结果表明,来自两只眼睛不同对比度或亮度刺激的信号以一种可以用双眼间归一化模型解释的方式组合在一起。