Neural Markers of Interocular Grouping During Binocular Rivalry With MEG

Binocular rivalry (BR) occurs when incompatible images are simultaneously presented, one to each eye, and elicit perceptual alternations between image dominance and suppression. Remarkably, BR accommodates interocular grouping (IOG) such that portions of two globally coherent images shown separately to each eye, results in frequent global pattern perception. We investigated the neural correlates of BR and IOG with magnetoencephalography (MEG). Stimuli consisted of red or green orthogonal gratings flickering at 5 or 6.67 Hz, allowing for analysis of tagged fundamental, intermodulation frequencies, and steady-state visually evoked responses (N = 25). Our design included conditions with systematically increasing grouping demands; 2 or 4 complementary patches, with vertical or horizontal meridian image divisions. Participants reported their perception of dominant or mixed percepts, and the latter increased with grouping demands. IOG showed weaker fundamental power than BR in early visual cortex during perceptual dominance, while power for suppression was less affected in depth and topography. Multivariate logistic regression further highlighted differences between BR and IOG in V1 and V2, as well as higher-order visual areas (i.e., IP and LO). A support vector machine distinguished between dominance and suppression, with the highest accuracy near the time of the perceptual alternation. Interestingly, only the conditions with high IOG demands produced higher order intermodulation frequencies and significantly correlated with alternation rate in V1. Overall, we show evidence of a broad similarity for BR and IOG in neural representations across the visual cortex, as well as enhanced mechanisms of monocular image competition via segmentation and integration for IOG.