Binocular interactions in the human visual evoked potential after short-term occlusion and anisometropia

The human visual evoked potential was recorded during 9 hr. of monocular occlusion or deprivation of fine detail by anisometropia. Some decrement in the response from the occluded eye was evident, but the major result was a sustained increase in the response from the nonoccluded eye. The anisometropic condition produced no decrement for stimulation of the deprived eye, but again there was an increase in the response from the nondeprived eye. Under some conditions the changes became apparent after only 6 hr. of deprivation. The data may be interpreted in terms of binocular competition or reciprocal inhibition at the level of the visual cortex or lateral geniculate nucleus.