Abstract
The initial dominance of bi-stable perception has a stable and local bias that vary across the visual field. The neural mechanism for this local onset bias remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the onset biases of two spatially adjacent locations, either in the same quadrant, or across the horizontal or vertical meridians. Stimuli presented across the vertical meridian project to different hemispheres, while cortical representations across the horizontal meridian are separated at V2 and beyond. For each subject, in multiple sessions from different days, we measured the initial dominance of binocular rivalry and monocular ambiguous structure-from-motion (SFM) stimuli at 24 locations across the visual field. These locations were arranged on a circle at an eccentricity of 7.7 degrees, and equally separated by 2 degrees of visual angle. For both binocular rivalry and SFM stimuli, the initial dominance at each location showed a stable perceptual bias across different days. We then evaluated the correlation of the onset biases from adjacent spatial locations. The onset bias of binocular rivalry was similar between two adjacent locations in the same quadrant or across the horizontal meridian. However, the perceptual bias became independent between locations across the vertical meridian. For the SFM stimuli, the perceptual bias was highly correlated between adjacent spatial locations, no meridian effect was found. Our data suggest that the long term onset bias of binocular rivalry might has a neural substrate in the early retinotopic visual cortex (likely V1).
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2017