Abstract
Binocular rivalry occurs when the two eyes receive conflicting images and rival for perceptual dominance such that only one monocular image may be consciously perceived at a time. There is still no consensus regarding the potential neural sites of these competitive interactions. Here we test whether neural activity occurring before the stimulus can predict the initial percept in binocular rivalry, and if so whether it is activity in early retinotopic areas, or higher extrastraite areas, that is predictive of the initial percept. Subjects were scanned while viewing an image of a face in one eye and an image of a house in the other eye with anaglyph glasses. The rivalrous stimulus was presented briefly for each trial, and subjects indicated which image he or she preferentially perceived. Our results show that pre-trial fMRI pattern activity in the foveal confluence is correlated with the subsequent percept, whereas pre-trail activity in the FFA and PPA were not predictive of the initial percept, suggesting a greater causal role for the foveal confluence than higher extrastriate areas in determining the initial percept.