Binocular rivalry is a powerful tool to study human consciousness [1]: two equally salient stimuli are imaged on the retinae, but at any given instant only one is consciously perceived, the other suppressed. The suppression takes place early, probably in V1 [2]. However, a trace of the suppressed signal has been detected along the dorsal visual pathway (BOLD responses [3]) and demonstrated with psychophysical experiments. The suppressed image of a rotating sphere during rivalry is restored to consciousness when the observer actively controls the rotation [4] and a similar effect on the suppressed signal has been shown for motion perception [5] and reflexive eye movements (see Supplemental References). Here, we asked whether cross-modal sensory signals could selectively interact with rivalrous visual signals that are analyzed at a very early stage, probably V1. An auditory stimulus, when attended, can influence binocular rivalry, extending dominance times for a congruent visual stimulus [6]. Tactile information can also disambiguate unstable visual motion [7] and can fuse with vision to improve discrimination (e.g. slant) [8]. Our results indicate that a haptic oriented stimulus can disambiguate visual perception during binocular rivalry of gratings of orthogonal orientation, not only by prolonging dominance but also by curtailing suppression of the visual stimulus of matched orientation. The effect is selective for the spatial frequency of the stimuli, suggesting that haptic signals interact with early visual representations to enhance access to conscious perception.
Touch disambiguates rivalrous perception at early stages of visual analysis
LUNGHI, CLAUDIA;BINDA, PAOLA;MORRONE, MARIA CONCETTA
2010-01-01
Abstract
Binocular rivalry is a powerful tool to study human consciousness [1]: two equally salient stimuli are imaged on the retinae, but at any given instant only one is consciously perceived, the other suppressed. The suppression takes place early, probably in V1 [2]. However, a trace of the suppressed signal has been detected along the dorsal visual pathway (BOLD responses [3]) and demonstrated with psychophysical experiments. The suppressed image of a rotating sphere during rivalry is restored to consciousness when the observer actively controls the rotation [4] and a similar effect on the suppressed signal has been shown for motion perception [5] and reflexive eye movements (see Supplemental References). Here, we asked whether cross-modal sensory signals could selectively interact with rivalrous visual signals that are analyzed at a very early stage, probably V1. An auditory stimulus, when attended, can influence binocular rivalry, extending dominance times for a congruent visual stimulus [6]. Tactile information can also disambiguate unstable visual motion [7] and can fuse with vision to improve discrimination (e.g. slant) [8]. Our results indicate that a haptic oriented stimulus can disambiguate visual perception during binocular rivalry of gratings of orthogonal orientation, not only by prolonging dominance but also by curtailing suppression of the visual stimulus of matched orientation. The effect is selective for the spatial frequency of the stimuli, suggesting that haptic signals interact with early visual representations to enhance access to conscious perception.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
