Abstract

Both binocular rivalry and saccadic suppression produce an elevation of the visual threshold and a diminution of the pupillary reflex. In addition, binocular rivalry is known to be accompanied by a reduction in the amplitude of the visually evoked response (VER) produced by stimuli delivered to the suppressed eye. In an attempt to discover whether saccadic suppression has a similar effect on the VER, subjects were placed in a situation in which saccadic suppression could be produced, and the VER was examined under three conditions: suppression occurring with the presentation of stimuli before the beginning of a saccade; suppression occurring with stimuli presented synchronously with the beginning of the eye movement; and with the intensity of the stimuli increased to a level where no suppression occurs. In all cases where suppression was reported obvious concurrent changes in the wave shape of the VER were observed. When no suppression occurred the VER was essentially unchanged. This additional similarity between binocular rivalry and saccadic suppression suggests that the two phenomena may share a common mechanism at the higher levels of the visual system. It is suggested that such a common mechanism may be located at a point in the visual system where monocularly oriented data processing occurs.

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