Rivalry-Like Neural Activity in Primary Visual Cortex in Anesthetized Monkeys
Rivalry-Like Neural Activity in Primary Visual Cortex in Anesthetized Monkeys
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.3660-15.2016
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发表时间：
2016-03
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Haoran Xu;Chao Han;Ming Chen;Peichao Li;Shude Zhu;Yang Fang;Jiaming Hu;Heng Ma;Haidong D. Lu
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文献类型：
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作者：
Haoran Xu;Chao Han;Ming Chen;Peichao Li;Shude Zhu;Yang Fang;Jiaming Hu;Heng Ma;Haidong D. Lu
两个不一致的图像由两个眼睛看到引起双眼竞争，在此期间，观察者感知到这两个视觉图像之间的连续交替。先前对人类和猴子的研究表明，初级视觉皮层（V1）在竞争感知中起着关键作用。然而，目前还不清楚在V1中观察到的竞争活动是否依赖于有意识的影响。在这里，我们研究的反应V1在猴子全身麻醉。利用内源性信号光学成像和单次试验分析，在双眼不一致刺激下观察到V1区眼优势柱的交替激活。左眼和右眼列表现出反相激活，这是调制的刺激功能的方式类似于有意识的人类观察者。这些观察结果表明，双眼竞争发生在V1没有意识，这表明低级别的自动机制发挥了更重要的作用比以前认为在处理视觉模糊。当视觉输入是模糊的，例如，在观看视频图像时，人类受试者通常会在特定时刻感知其中一种解释。以往的研究表明，低水平的视觉加工和高水平的注意都有助于最终视觉知觉的建立。然而，不清楚在这一过程中是否必须给予关注。在这里，我们表明，竞争样的神经活动持续在猴子V1时，猴子被麻醉，并认为双目不一致的刺激。这种活动有许多关键特征，与在有意识的人类受试者中观察到的相似。这些发现表明，低水平的视觉加工在解决视觉模糊，如双眼竞争中起着至关重要的作用。
Two incongruent images viewed by the two eyes cause binocular rivalry, during which observers perceive continuous alternations between these two visual images. Previous studies in both humans and monkeys have shown that the primary visual cortex (V1) plays a critical role in the rivalry perception. However, it is unclear whether the rivalry activity observed in V1 relies on conscious influences. Here, we examine the responses of V1 in monkeys under general anesthesia. With intrinsic signal optical imaging and single-trial analysis, alternating activation of ocular dominance columns in V1 was observed during binocularly incongruent stimulation. Left- and right-eye columns exhibited counterphase activation, which were modulated by stimulus features in ways similar to those found in conscious human observers. These observations indicated that binocular rivalry occurs in V1 without consciousness, suggesting that the low-level automatic mechanisms play a more important role than previously believed in handling visual ambiguities. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT When visual input is ambiguous, for example, in viewing bistable images, human subjects normally perceive one of the interpretations at a particular moment. Previous studies have shown that both low-level visual processing and high-level attention contribute to the establishment of the final visual perception. However, it is not clear whether attention is indispensable in such a process. Here we show that rivalry-like neural activity persisted in monkey V1 when the monkeys were anesthetized and viewed binocularly incongruent stimuli. Such activity has many key features similar to those observed in conscious human subjects. These findings indicate that low-level visual processes play a critical role in solving visual ambiguity such as binocular rivalry.