Orientation-Selective Inhibition and Binocular Rivalry

It is hypothesized that a negative correlation exists between the readiness with which two visual stimuli display rivalry and the magnitude of the inhibition effects between the corresponding neural channels. With binocular rivalry being more readily observed than monocular rivalry, it is predicted that lateral inhibition between neural channels selectively sensitive to such fundamental parameters as orientation, is primarily confined to those monocularly driven channels deriving their sensory input from the same eye. In confirmation, it is shown that the visual tilt illusion, thought to reflect lateral inhibition between orientation-sensitive channels, is very much reduced under dichoptic viewing conditions. Moreover, it is shown that those subjects displaying the greatest interocular transfer of the illusion least readily experience binocular rivalry.