RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Rivalry-Like Neural Activity in Primary Visual Cortex in Anesthetized Monkeys
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 3231
OP 3242
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3660-15.2016
VO 36
IS 11
A1 Haoran Xu
A1 Chao Han
A1 Ming Chen
A1 Peichao Li
A1 Shude Zhu
A1 Yang Fang
A1 Jiaming Hu
A1 Heng Ma
A1 Haidong D. Lu
YR 2016
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/36/11/3231.abstract
AB Two incongruent images viewed by the two eyes cause binocular rivalry, during which observers perceive continuous alternations between these two visual images. Previous studies in both humans and monkeys have shown that the primary visual cortex (V1) plays a critical role in the rivalry perception. However, it is unclear whether the rivalry activity observed in V1 relies on conscious influences. Here, we examine the responses of V1 in monkeys under general anesthesia. With intrinsic signal optical imaging and single-trial analysis, alternating activation of ocular dominance columns in V1 was observed during binocularly incongruent stimulation. Left- and right-eye columns exhibited counterphase activation, which were modulated by stimulus features in ways similar to those found in conscious human observers. These observations indicated that binocular rivalry occurs in V1 without consciousness, suggesting that the low-level automatic mechanisms play a more important role than previously believed in handling visual ambiguities.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT When visual input is ambiguous, for example, in viewing bistable images, human subjects normally perceive one of the interpretations at a particular moment. Previous studies have shown that both low-level visual processing and high-level attention contribute to the establishment of the final visual perception. However, it is not clear whether attention is indispensable in such a process. Here we show that rivalry-like neural activity persisted in monkey V1 when the monkeys were anesthetized and viewed binocularly incongruent stimuli. Such activity has many key features similar to those observed in conscious human subjects. These findings indicate that low-level visual processes play a critical role in solving visual ambiguity such as binocular rivalry.