Understanding Attentional Modulation of Binocular Rivalry: A Framework Based on Biased Competition

Abstract

Starting from early scientific explorations of binocular rivalry, researchers have wondered about the degree to which an observer can exert voluntary attentional control over rivalry dynamics. The answer to this question would not only reveal the extent to which we may determine our own conscious visual experience, but also advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying binocular rivalry. Classic studies, intriguingly, reached contradictory conclusions, ranging from an absence of attentional control, as advocated by Breese, to nearly complete control of rivalry dynamics, as reported by Helmholtz. Recent investigations have revisited this question, but the results have continued to echo the conflicting findings of earlier studies, seemingly precluding a comprehensive understanding of attentional effects on rivalry. Here, we review both classic and modern studies, and propose a unifying framework derived from the biased competition theory of attention. The key assumption of this theory is that the nature of stimulus conflict determines the limits of attentional modulation. For example, a condition in which unresolved stimulus conflict transpires through many levels of visual processing should be very susceptible to attentional control. When applied to binocular rivalry, this framework predicts strong attentional modulations under conditions of unresolved stimulus conflict (e.g., initial selection) and conditions where conflict is resolved at higher levels of visual processing (e.g., stimulus rivalry). Additionally, the efficacy of attentional control over rivalry can be increased by utilization of demanding, behaviorally relevant tasks, and likely through perceptual training paradigms. We show that this framework can help facilitate the understanding and synthesis of a diverse set of results on attentional control over rivalry, and we propose several directions for future research on this interesting topic.

Melodic sound enhances visual awareness of congruent musical notes, but only if you can read music

“…After all, attention can modulate the visual awareness of a stimulus engaged in binocular competition (57)(58)(59), and this modulation could be a mediating factor in our study. A weakness of this hypothesis, however, is the equally plausible expectation that incongruence should attract attention and therefore should more strongly boost dominance of mismatched melody/score combinations.…”

Rivalry-Like Neural Activity in Primary Visual Cortex in Anesthetized Monkeys

“…In the past nearly two centuries, many studies investigated the necessity and effects of attention on BR, and the results have been controversial (Dieter and Tadin, 2011;Paffen and Alais, 2011). Psychophysical studies show different degrees of attentional effects on BR perception that range from minor (Ooi and He, 1999;Mitchell et al, 2004) to complete suppression (Brascamp and Blake, 2012).…”

Does direction of walking impact binocular rivalry between competing patterns of optic flow?

“…One strategy for learning details about this neural competition is to ascertain what factors influence the relative predominance and the dynamics of rivalry (i.e., the pattern of alternations in dominance over time), and in recent years this strategy has led to some intriguing findings. We have learned, for example, that rivalry is susceptible to top-down influences such as expectations based on prior experience (Anderson et al, 2011), scene-based congruence (Mudrik et al, 2011), visual imagery (Pearson et al, 2008), symbolic magnitude , and attention (Neisser & Becklen, 1975;Lack, 1978;Ooi & He, 1999; see also reviews by Alais, 2011, andTadin, 2011). As well, we have learned in recent years that binocular rivalry dynamics are influenced by information conveyed by non-visual sensory modalities, such as hearing (e.g., Conrad et al, 2010;Lunghi et al, 2014), touch (e.g., Lunghi et al, 2010) and olfaction (e.g., Zhou et al, 2010).…”