Following on from earlier demonstrations that different factors appear to be responsible for determining onset dominance compared to dominance during sustained rivalry, this study aims to identify which factors are in fact involved in determining which perceptual state will dominate with the initial stimulus onset.
Since Wheatstone's (1838) invention of the stereoscope, which initiated the scientific study of this fascinating phenomenon, it has been debated whether binocular rivalry is subject to attentional control 1 (for a review, see Paffen & Alais, 2011).
First, our study is an explorative study of rivalry relationship.
Binocular rivalry is used to study interocular conflict resolution and the formation of conscious awareness from retinal images.
Prior to participation in the binocular rivalry portion of the study, luminance values for red and green were equated using the minimum motion technique [31] in each of the eight locations of the visual field that were to be tested.
Concerning the frontal MEG activity that is thought to accompany visual rivalry [45], a recent study reported that measures of coherence between different sensors may be dominated by signals from a common occipital source [47], suggesting that previous claims about widespread synchronized networks during binocular rivalry are premature.
Even so, Johnette Howard, in her warm and richly reported book "The Rivals," relates a dream Navratilova had about Evert that those who study rivalries (there are beginning to be researchers who do) might want to consider for a conference panel: "She was playing Evert from a deep valley, and she kept having to scramble uphill, hit a shot, then chase Evert's return down into the abyss again".
However, some studies found that rivalry-induced competition works no better than cooperation and may reduce motivation and productivity (e.g., Lawless and Anderson 1996; Stanne et al. 1999).
In most studies on binocular rivalry, observers continuously report on their dominant percept of two rival images.
The concept of stimulus strength is restricted to studies on binocular rivalry and is used to describe the relative dominance of one rival image over the other.
