Binocular rivalry

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An example of binocular rivalry. If you look at the picture with red-cyan anaglyph 3D glasses, the words Red and Blue are only visible to one eye each.
3D glasses are recommended for viewing 3D images. Information on the 3D photo process

As binocular rivalry (also binocular rivalry ) are referred to the perception change spontaneously occurring that always occur when each eye at the same time another image is shown (called up visual presentation). The resulting phenomena can roughly be described as an irregular alternation between the two separately presented images. Even if the two images are mixed like a mosaic , there is never a simultaneous perception of both images in the form of diplopia or confusion . This phenomenon is based on a changing eye dominance .

phenomenology

This “competition” between the two eyes for visual awareness cannot be deliberately prevented or controlled and seems to be a random process. These and other shared properties suggest that it is a phenomenon of multistable perception .

However, through practice it is possible to make a clear winner emerge from the “competition”. Experienced users of a monocular microscope can completely suppress the perception of the “superfluous” eye for minutes. By contrast, squinting the superfluous eye is an emergency solution, because it also disrupts the perception of the open eye. It has also been found with meditating monks that they can concentrate on one of the images.

Historical background

Although the first descriptions of binocular rivalry appeared in the Middle Ages, the beginning of scientific study of this phenomenon is generally dated to the year 1838, when the British inventor Charles Wheatstone wrote the first abstract written in English. The stereoscope he invented enables both eyes to be stimulated separately in a controllable manner .

Scientific background

The fact that observers can only perceive one of two images in their eyes under these circumstances makes this phenomenon interesting for scientific research into consciousness . Using imaging techniques, for example, it is possible to examine which parts of the brain exhibit activity that is correlated with the changes in perception .

The exact brain processes on which this phenomenon is based are still unknown. It is increasingly assumed that the mechanism is distributed over large parts of the brain. The brain probably also processes the unconscious images that are not perceived.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Herbert Kaufmann: Strabismus. 4th, fundamentally revised and expanded edition. with the collaboration of W. de Decker u. a. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart / New York 2012, ISBN 978-3-13-129724-2 .
  2. ↑ Meditating monks enlighten researchers. In: Spiegel Online. Retrieved January 14, 2017 .