Size matters: a study of binocular rivalry dynamics.

W.J.M. Levelt systematized the influence of stimulus strength on binocular rivalry dynamics in several formal propositions. His counterintuitive 2nd proposition states that mean dominance duration of one eye's stimulus depends not on the strength of that stimulus but, instead, on the strength of the stimulus viewed by the other eye. Some studies have reported results consistent with this proposition but others have found violations of the proposition. This paper examines the dynamics of binocular rivalry by changing the size of rival stimuli and the tracking instructions during rivalry tracking periods in which the contrasts of the two rival stimuli are varied independently. Levelt's 2nd proposition was validated when those stimuli were large, but it was violated when the rival stimuli were small, suggesting that the dynamics of binocular rivalry are spatiotemporal in nature. A simple energy model with coupling among neighboring areas of rivalry can account for these findings. Other dynamics depending on the size of rival stimuli are discussed.