Spatial spread of interocular suppression is guided by stimulus configuration.

Abstract

When the two eyes view dissimilar monocular stimuli, the resulting interocular suppression can spread beyond the region of explicit stimulus conflict: portions of one rival target will disappear even though there is no competing stimulation at the corresponding location in the other eye's view. In a series of experiments we examined whether this spread of suppression is spatially isotropic or governed by the configuration of the stimulus a portion of which is subject to suppression. Observers reported the incidence of stimulus disappearance at different locations along or nearby the contours of a large figure, part of which was suppressed by presentation of a continuous flash-suppression stimulus to a restricted region of the other eye. For all observers, suppression spread over several degrees along the contours of the figure, but tended not to spread to locations nearby but disconnected from the figure. Suppression spread effectively over a smoothly curved contour, and it spread around a sharp corner defined by two abutting contours, albeit less effectively. Suppression tended not to spread to features within the interior of a figure (a face), even if those features formed an integral part of the figure. A gap within a spatially extended stimulus arrested the spread of suppression, unless that gap appeared to arise from occlusion. Spread of suppression was unrelated to sensory eye dominance and was found with a more conventional binocular rivalry configuration, too. These findings implicate the involvement of neural circuitry in which inhibition propagates along paths of excitation beyond spatial regions of explicit interocular conflict.