The Constitution of Visual Consciousness

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Visual consciousness and binocular rivalry: An introduction

Constituents, organization and processes of the human brain

Introduction

Phylogeny

Ontogeny

Cellular constituents

Organization of neural circuitry

Structural and functional organization

Cerebral cortex

Molecular constituents

Conclusions

References

Overview of visual system structure and function

1. Introduction

2. From retina to cortex

2.1 Parallel processing in the retina

2.2 Transforming the retinal signal

3. Parallel and multiplexed processing within early visual cortex

3.1 Functional clustering in V1

3.2 Receptive field properties in V1

3.3 Anatomy of pathways through V1 and V2

4. Beyond striate cortex

4.1 Two streams of cortical visual processing

4.2 The dorsal stream

4.3 The ventral stream

4.4 Cortical confluences

4.5 Response timing

5. Active vision

5.1 Why move the eyes?

5.2 Selection and control of saccades

5.3 Implications of saccadic eye movements for studies of perception

5.4 Attention and expectations

6. Conclusions

References

Early views on binocular rivalry

Introduction

Binocular vision in antiquity

Binocular color rivalry: From color mixture to perceptual grouping

Binocular contour rivalry: Conflicting views and philosophical traditions

Alternations in attention and consciousness

Summary and conclusions

References

Psychophysics of binocular rivalry

What is psychophysics?

Psychophysics of binocular rivalry

Two classes of binocular rivalry psychophysics

Class I. Phenomenology of binocular rivalry

Class II. Binocular rivalry as a tool for probing unconscious processing

Parallels with other ambiguous stimuli

Concluding remarks: What have we learnt about consciousness?

References

Investigating the structure and function of the brain: A methodological overview

Introduction

Measuring the electrophysiology of the brain

EEG: From brain to scalp

Magnetoencephalography

Source localization

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

Magnetic resonance imaging

Structural imaging

Functional imaging

Future focus points

References

The neuron doctrine of binocular rivalry

Introduction to single-cell recording

Relating single-cell responses to perception

Single-cell investigations of binocular rivalry

Effects of binocular rivalry on neuronal firing patterns

Correlation with percept vs. correlation with switch mechanism

Conclusions

References

Functional neuroimaging of binocular rivalry

Introduction

fMRI as a tool to study binocular rivalry

Neural processing of perceptually suppressed information during binocular rivalry

The constructive nature of visual perception: Neural mechanisms underlying perceptual changes

Conclusions

References

Binocular rivalry, brain stimulation and bipolar disorder

Rivalry mechanisms: A tale of two levels

The interhemispheric switch (IHS) model of rivalry

CVS technique overview

Review of brain stimulation studies of rivalry

CVS and predominance modulation

Single-pulse TMS and perceptual disruption

Repetitive TMS and rate modulation

Status of the IHS model

Clinical, genetic and molecular aspects of rivalry

Concluding remarks

References

High-level modulations of binocular rivalry

Introduction

Effects of stimulus configuration

Effects of visual context

Spatial context

Temporal context

Effects of observer state

Volition and attention

Pharmacology and genetics

Conclusions

References

Binocular rivalry: Cooperation, competition, and decisions

Neural modeling, binocular rivalry and consciousness

Models of binocular rivalry

Extending the basic rivalry model

Generalized rivalry and deliberative processes

Generalized rivalry and conscious decisions

Discussion

References

The future of binocular rivalry research: Reaching through a window on consciousness

1. Introduction

1.1 A window on consciousness

1.2 A brief history of binocular rivalry research

2. The future of binocular rivalry research

2.1 A challenge on three fronts

2.2 Observing streams of consciousness

2.3 Mechanisms of binocular rivalry: How the window works

2.4 Reaching through a window on consciousness

3. Concluding remarks

References

Index