The brain prioritizes rapid fusion of the two eyes' views to the extent that even incongruent binocular stimuli are briefly fused before one eye's image dominates (i.e., binocular rivalry). Specifically, when grating stimuli of orthogonal orientation are presented briefly (∼150 ms), observers report a fused percept that resembles a plaid (Carter & Cavanagh,
2007; Katyal, He, & Engel,
2015; Wolfe,
1983). Following this brief period of fusion, binocular rivalry ensues, and observers perceive one of the two gratings at a time (Blake & Logothetis,
2002). Previous work has shown that alternating perceptual states during binocular rivalry correlate with changes in cortical activity (Gail, Brinksmeyer, & Eckhorn,
2004; Keliris, Logothetis, & Tolias,
2010; Knapen, Brascamp, Pearson, van Ee, & Blake,
2011; Lee, Blake, & Heeger,
2005; Leopold & Logothetis,
1996; Macknik & Martinez-Conde,
2004; Maier, Logothetis, & Leopold,
2007; Maier, Wilke, Aura, Zhu, Ye, & Leopold,
2008; Panagiotaropoulos, Deco, Kapoor, & Logothetis,
2012; Polonsky, Blake, Braun, & Heeger,
2000; Schmid & Maier,
2015; Sheinberg & Logothetis,
1997; Sterzer & Rees,
2008; Tong & Engel,
2001; Tong, Nakayama, Vaughan, & Kanwisher,
1998; Wilke, Logothetis, & Leopold,
2006). Yet little is known about the temporal dynamics of cortical responses directly following the onset of binocular rivalry—or, indeed, binocular stimulation in general.