Volume 6, Number 10, Article 6, Pages 1068-1078 doi:10.1167/6.10.6 http://journalofvision.org/6/10/6/ ISSN 1534-7362
Depth of interocular suppression associated with continuous flash suppression, flash suppression, and binocular rivalry
Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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Christof Koch
Division of Biology and Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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Lee A. Gilroy
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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Randolph Blake
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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Abstract

When conflicting images are presented to the corresponding regions of the two eyes, only one image may be consciously perceived. In binocular rivalry (BR), two images alternate in phenomenal visibility; even a salient image is eventually suppressed by an image of low saliency. Recently, N. Tsuchiya and C. Koch (2005) reported a technique called continuous flash suppression (CFS), extending the suppression duration more than 10-fold. Here, we investigated the depth of this prolonged form of interocular suppression as well as conventional BR and flash suppression (FS) using a probe detection task. Compared to monocular viewing condition, CFS elevated detection thresholds more than 20-fold, whereas BR did so by 3-fold. In subsequent experiments, we dissected CFS into several components. By manipulating the number and timing of flashes with respect to the probe, we found that the stronger suppression in CFS is not due to summation between BR and FS but is caused by the summation of the suppression due to multiple flashes. Our results support the view that CFS is not a stronger version of BR but is due to the accumulated suppressive effects of multiple flashes.

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History
Received May 3, 2006; published September 21, 2006
Citation
Tsuchiya, N., Koch, C., Gilroy, L. A., & Blake, R. (2006). Depth of interocular suppression associated with continuous flash suppression, flash suppression, and binocular rivalry. Journal of Vision, 6(10):6, 1068-1078, http://journalofvision.org/6/10/6/, doi:10.1167/6.10.6.
Keywords
binocular rivalry, flash suppression, continuous flash suppression, interocular, depth of suppression, contrast sensitivity, awareness, consciousness
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