Neuroimaging studies of human binocular vision and stimulus selection

正常的视觉需要两眼信息的结合。在来自两只眼睛的信息与空间中的单个对象兼容的大多数情况下，可以提取深度信息。当两只眼睛的信息不一致时，就会产生竞争的感觉。为了全面了解大脑的功能，特别是双眼视觉，了解深度和竞争背后的过程之间的关系至关重要。我们的长期目标是提供一个知觉和生理帐户的双目结合，结合我们的理解，作为一个整体的视觉系统。本申请的目的是更好地表征人类大脑中的网络组织，该网络组织是双眼深度和竞争感知的基础，包括与单眼竞争和双视掩蔽的比较。我们建议，通过将这些视觉功能的表现与大脑活动的高分辨率神经成像相关联，我们可以评估双眼视觉的竞争理论，并将我们的发现与当前对感知意识的理解相关联。除了功能磁共振成像（fMRI），我们也开始纳入脑磁图（MEG）。我们还建议利用已知存在于正常视觉大脑中的强大的个体差异，特别是在双眼视觉和感知竞争中的行为差异。这些差异的直接相关性可以应用于有效地解决假定的神经机制，甚至比过去更精细。最后，将我们的竞争模型提升到单个受试者的水平，使得最终翻译到双眼视觉异常的受试者的可能性更大，并进一步增加了我们的影响。

Normal vision requires the combination of information from the two eyes. In most situations where the information from the two eyes is compatible with a single object in space, depth information can be extracted. In circumstances where the information from the two eyes is incompatible, a sensation of rivalry results. To fully understand brain function in general, and binocular vision in particular, it is crucial to know the relationship between the processes underlying depth and rivalry. Our long-term goal is to provide a perceptual and physiological account of binocular combination that integrates with our understanding of the visual system as whole. The objective of this application is to better characterize the network organization in the human brain that underlies the perception of binocular depth and rivalry, including comparison with monocular rivalry and dichoptic masking. We propose that by correlating performance of these visual functions with high-resolution neuroimaging of brain activity we can evaluate competing theories of binocular vision, and relate our findings to current understanding of perceptual awareness.This work will be enhanced by new analysis techniques such as network modeling of functional connectivity. In addition to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we have also begun to incorporate magnetoencephalography (MEG). We also propose to take advantage of the robust individual differences known to exist in the normal visual brain, and behaviorally in binocular vision and perceptual rivalry in particular. Direct correlation of these differences can be applied to effectively address the putative neural mechanisms even more finely than in the past. Finally, advancing our models of rivalry to the level of single subjects makes the eventual translation to subjects with abnormal binocular vision far more likely, and increases our impact even further.