Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Anatomy of the Eyeball

Anatomy of the Eyeball

The eye is a spherical, hollow structure composed of three tissue layers. The outer layer — the fibrous tunic, comprises the sclera — a white structure — and the cornea, which is transparent. The sclera encompasses some of the ocular surface, most of which is not visible. However, the 'white of the eye' is distinctively visible in humans compared to other species. The cornea, a clear covering at the front of the eye, enables light penetration. The eye's middle layer, the vascular tunic,...

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.

Visual System

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Could agentic AI topple grant-funding systems?

Nature·2026

Same author

Decreased thickness of the individually-mapped genital cortex after childhood sexual abuse exposure in adult women.

Communications biology·2026

Same author

Synthesis and perceptual scaling of high-resolution naturalistic images using Stable Diffusion.

Behavior research methods·2025

Same author

Metabolic inflammation, brain age and cognitive functioning in short- and long-term clinical weight loss trials.

EBioMedicine·2025

Same author

Temporal dynamics and readout latency in perception and iconic memory.

Journal of vision·2025

Same author

Individualized prescriptive inference in ischaemic stroke.

Nature communications·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Published on: August 1, 2018

Fine-scale activity patterns in high-level visual areas encode the category of invisible objects.

Philipp Sterzer¹, John-Dylan Haynes, Geraint Rees

¹Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, United Kingdom. philipp.sterzer@charite.de

Journal of Vision

|January 17, 2009

Summary

Even when visual stimuli are invisible due to binocular rivalry, the brain retains category-specific information. High-resolution neuroimaging reveals that fine-grained activity patterns in visual areas can predict whether faces or houses were suppressed.

More Related Videos

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Published on: November 9, 2011

Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns

Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns

Published on: May 12, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Published on: August 1, 2018

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis

Published on: November 9, 2011

Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns

Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns

Published on: May 12, 2019

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroimaging
Visual Perception

Background:

Binocular rivalry occurs when incompatible images presented to each eye lead to one image dominating awareness while the other is suppressed.
Understanding the neural basis of suppressed, invisible stimuli is crucial for comprehending visual awareness.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural representation of invisible stimuli using high-resolution functional neuroimaging.
To determine if category-specific information (faces vs. houses) is present in visual areas during interocular suppression.

Main Methods:

Functional neuroimaging (fMRI) was employed in human participants.
Participants were presented with either face or house stimuli to each eye, inducing binocular rivalry and suppression.
Analysis focused on fine-grained spatial activity patterns in high-level ventral visual areas.

Main Results:

Overall neural responses in high-level ventral visual areas were weak and did not differ between stimulus types when invisible.
Despite weak overall responses, fine-grained spatial activity patterns allowed significant prediction of stimulus category (faces vs. houses) even when stimuli were invisible.
Predictive accuracy was achieved for both visible and suppressed stimuli.

Conclusions:

Category-specific information for objects like faces and houses exists in high-level visual areas even during profound interocular suppression.
This information is not reflected in overall neural response amplitude but in the fine-scale patterns of neural activity.
Retrieval of suppressed information depends on analyzing the detailed spatial patterns within these visual areas.