Neural model of temporal and stochastic properties of binocular rivalry

There is an intriguing temporal and stochastic relationship between stimulus strength and dominance duration in binocular rivalry (Blake, Psychol. Rev. 96 (1989) 145; Blake, Fox, McIntyre, J. Exp. Psychol. 88 (1971) 327; Levelt, 1965; Muller, Blake, Biol. Cybernet. 61 (1989) 223). Increasing the stimulus strength in the ipsilateral eye decreases the dominance duration of the stimulus in the contralateral eye. But, the dominance duration of the stimulus in the ipsilateral eye remains unchanged, and the alternation rate increases. In addition, during binocular rivalry successive dominance durations are independent. A simple neuro-biologically plausible cortical neural circuit exhibiting these characteristic properties is presented. In the model, the ipsilateral stimulus dominance duration is controlled by the contralateral stimulus strength. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.