Waves of consciousness: ongoing cortical patterns during binocular rivalry.

Abstract

We present here ongoing patterns of distributed brain synchronous activity that correlate with the spontaneous flow of perceptual dominance during binocular rivalry. Specific modulation of the magnetoencephalographic (MEG) response evoked during conscious perception of a frequency-tagged stimulus was evidenced throughout rivalry. Estimation of the underlying cortical sources revealed, in addition to strong bilateral striate and extrastriate visual cortex activation, parietal, temporal pole and frontal contributions. Cortical activity was significantly modulated concomitantly to perceptual alternations in visual cortex, medial parietal and left frontal regions. Upon dominance, coactivation of occipital and frontal regions, including anterior cingulate and medial frontal areas, was established. This distributed cortical network, as measured by phase synchrony in the frequency tag band, was dynamically modulated in concert with the perceptual dominance of the tagged stimulus. While the anteroposterior pattern was recurrent through subjects, individual variations in the extension of the network were apparent.