High-level modulations of binocular rivalry

The selection and maintenance of a specific percept during binocular rivalry have often been considered to be relatively automatic and influenced primarily by low-level stimulus attributes such as contrast and luminance. However, numerous studies have identified other, higher-level, factors that substantially influence perceptual selection, dominance, and suppression in binocular rivalry. These factors include the configuration of stimulus elements, the spatial and temporal context in which the rivaling stimuli are presented, and manipulations of attentional and pharmacological state. The studies summarized in this chapter broaden traditional conceptions of binocular rivalry as a competition between populations of stimulus-selective neurons and demonstrate that multiple factors can operate over extended spatial and temporal scales to modulate the competitive processes underlying perceptual selection.