Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making

Abstract

In ambiguous or conflicting sensory situations, perception is often ‘multistable’ in that it perpetually changes at irregular intervals, shifting abruptly between distinct alternatives. The interval statistics of these alternations exhibits quasi-universal characteristics, suggesting a general mechanism. Using binocular rivalry, we show that many aspects of this perceptual dynamics are reproduced by a hierarchical model operating out of equilibrium. The constitutive elements of this model idealize the metastability of cortical networks. Independent elements accumulate visual evidence at one level, while groups of coupled elements compete for dominance at another level. As soon as one group dominates perception, feedback inhibition suppresses supporting evidence. Previously unreported features in the serial dependencies of perceptual alternations compellingly corroborate this mechanism. Moreover, the proposed out-of-equilibrium dynamics satisfies normative constraints of continuous decision-making. Thus, multistable perception may reflect decision-making in a volatile world: integrating evidence over space and time, choosing categorically between hypotheses, while concurrently evaluating alternatives.

Bi-Stable Perception: Self-Coordinating Brain Regions to Make-Up the Mind

“…This would require the incorporation of a mechanism for the long-range coordination of neurons and populations, as the incorporation of distant areas would require a mechanism for making computations at proper time scales (Varela et al, 2001). More recent studies, have advanced in the aforementioned direction, by predicting all four Levelt laws (Cao et al, 2021) while at the same time incorporating two brain hierarchical levels possibly embodying feedback and feedforward connections (Cao et al, 2016(Cao et al, , 2021.…”

“…So far, the evidence in humans shows that complex interactions between frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal areas underlie the dynamics of the duration and changes between the different perceptions (summarized in Box 1; for a review: References: Laing and Chow, 2002;Wilson, 2003;Freeman, 2005;Moreno-Bote et al, 2007;Noest et al, 2007;Moreno-Bote et al, 2011;Gershman et al, 2012;Cao et al, 2021.…”

Alternative female and male developmental trajectories in the dynamic balance of human visual perception

“…However, the objective of such models is to reproduce lawful aspects of perceptual dynamics during binocular rivalry, not neurophysiological recordings. Besides dominance statistics (distribution moments) 23 , models of this kind reproduce the stochastic resonance exhibited by binocular rivalry during harmonic counter-phase stimulation 68 , as well as the counter-intuitive dependence of dominance durations on input strength (“Levelt’s propositions”) 26 , 70 , 71 .…”

“…We established the statistics of perceptual dominance periods from the recorded eye movements in terms of three distribution moments, as these are highly diagnostic about the stochastic accumulation of sensory information that underlies perceptual decisions 26 , 55 , 56 . Figure 2 a,b shows the combined trajectories of median duration (M), interquartile range (IQR), and medcouple (MC, a robust measure of skewness) of dominance period distributions, separately for female and male observers, computed with a log-normal weighted sliding average.…”

“…To study the inherent dynamics of sensory perception—as well as the trade-offs between conflicting objectives that this may entail—a suitable starting point is “multistable perception”, where perceived appearance perpetually changes at irregular intervals, shifting abruptly between distinct alternatives 24 . Presumably, this intrinsic instability reflects a spontaneous reassessment of perceptual decisions, even when the sensory scene remains unchanged 25 , 26 . Numerous properties of multistable perception support this notion; notably, the ecological plausibility of alternative appearances and their dependence on behavioural context and prior experience 27 .…”