When dissimilar images are presented to the two eyes, they compete for perceptual dominance so that each image is visible in turn for a few seconds while the other is suppressed. Such binocular rivalry is associated with relative suppression of local, eye-based representations–, that are also modulated by high-level influences such as perceptual grouping,. But currently it is unclear how early in visual processing the suppression of eye-based signals can occur. Here, we used high spatial resolution fMRI in conjunction with a novel binocular rivalry stimulus to show that signals recorded from the human lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) exhibit eye-specific suppression during rivalry. Regions of LGN that showed strong eye-preference independently showed strongly reduced activity during binocular rivalry, when the stimulus presented in their preferred eye was perceptually suppressed. The human LGN is thus the earliest stage of visual processing that reflects eye-specific dominance and suppression.
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