Deactivation in the posterior mid-cingulate cortex reflects perceptual transitions during binocular rivalry: Evidence from simultaneous EEG-fMRI.
Abhrajeet V Roy, Keith W Jamison, Sheng He, Stephen A Engel, Bin He
Neuroimage February 20, 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.041 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational neuroimaging study (concurrent EEG-fMRI) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | Healthy human subjects |
| Measures | steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), fMRI BOLD activity |
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Keywords | Gyrus cinguli Humans Magnetic resonance imaging Electroencephalography Brain mapping Photic stimulation Evoked potentials, visual Vision, binocular Binocular rivalry Fronto-parietal network Simultaneous EEG-FMRI |
| Key findings | The authors report that BOLD activity in the right superior and inferior parietal lobules was significantly elevated throughout binocular rivalry and particularly during perceptual transitions, compared with a replay control, implicating a right-lateralized fronto-parietal network in bistable perception. An SSVEP-informed analysis further associated rivalry with enhanced BOLD suppression in the posterior mid-cingulate cortex during perceptual transitions relative to SSVEP crosses, suggesting an interplay among early visual areas, right posterior parietal cortex, and mid-cingulate cortex. |
Abstract
Binocular rivalry is a phenomenon in which perception spontaneously shifts between two different images that are dichoptically presented to the viewer. By elucidating the cortical networks responsible for these stochastic fluctuations in perception, we can potentially learn much about the neural correlates of visual awareness. We obtained concurrent EEG-fMRI data for a group of 20 healthy human subjects during the continuous presentation of dichoptic visual stimuli. The two eyes' images were tagged with different temporal frequencies so that eye specific steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) signals could be extracted from the EEG data for direct comparison with changes in fMRI BOLD activity associated with binocular rivalry. We additionally included a smooth replay condition that emulated the perceptual transitions experienced during binocular rivalry as a control stimulus. We evaluated a novel SSVEP-informed fMRI analysis in this study in order to delineate the temporal dynamics of rivalry-related BOLD activity from both an electrophysiological and behavioral perspective. In this manner, we assessed BOLD activity during rivalry that was directly correlated with peaks and crosses of the two rivaling, frequency-tagged SSVEP signals, for comparison with BOLD activity associated with subject reported perceptual transitions. Our findings point to a critical role of a right lateralized fronto-parietal network in the processing of bistable stimuli, given that BOLD activity in the right superior/inferior parietal lobules was significantly elevated throughout binocular rivalry and in particular during perceptual transitions, compared with the replay condition. Based on the SSVEP-informed analysis, rivalry was further associated with significantly enhanced BOLD suppression in the posterior mid-cingulate cortex during perceptual transitions, compared with SSVEP crosses. Overall, this work points to a careful interplay between early visual areas, the right posterior parietal cortex and the mid-cingulate cortex in mediating the spontaneous perceptual changes associated with binocular rivalry and has significant implications for future multimodal imaging studies of perception and awareness.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on default mode network, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Functional connectivity of default mode network components: Correlation, anticorrelation, and causality Healthy subjects | 2008 | Observational study using resting-state fMRI and seed correlation analysis | |
| Patterns of Brain Activity Supporting Autobiographical Memory, Prospection, and Theory of Mind, and Their Relationship to the Default Mode Network Healthy subjects | 2009 | Experimental study using fMRI | |
| Dynamic reconfiguration of the default mode network during narrative comprehension Human subjects | 2016 | Experimental study | |
| Broadband Cortical Desynchronization Underlies the Human Psychedelic State Healthy human participants | 2013 | Experimental study | |
| The brain on art: intense aesthetic experience activates the default mode network Human observers | 2012 | Observational study with fMRI and behavioral analysis |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Intrinsic Rivalry. Can White Bears Help Us With the Other Side of Consciousness? Frontiers in Psychology May 10, 2019
- The complexity of human subjective experience during binocular rivalry. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2025
- Tracking rivalry with neural rhythms: multivariate SSVEPs reveal perception during binocular rivalry. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2024
- Intrinsic brain dynamics in the Default Mode Network predict involuntary fluctuations of visual awareness. Nature Communications November 14, 2022
- Perturbation or Function? Intrinsic brain dynamics in the Default Mode Network predict involuntary fluctuations of visual awareness
Cites 3
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