When one eye is presented with an image that is distinct from the image presented to the other eye, the eyes start to rival and suppress each other’s image. Binocular rivalry leads to perceptual alternations between the images of each eye, during which only one of the images is perceived at a time. However, when the eyes exert weak and shallow suppression, participants tend to perceive both images intermixed more often. A recent study proposed that the precedence of mixed percepts positively correlates with the degree of adaptation to conflict between the eyes. However, this study neglected the role of visual transients, which covaried with the degree of conflict in the stimulus design. Here we report that not the conflict between the eyes but prolonged and repeated observations of strong visual transients cause participants to report more mixed percepts. We conclude that visual transients, such as sudden changes in contrast, draw attention, strengthen both eyes’ image representations, and facilitate the adaptation to interocular suppression, which consequentially disrupts the spatial coherence in binocular rivalry. This finding is relevant to virtual- and augmented reality for which it is crucial to design stereoscopic environments in which binocular rivalry is limited.

当一只眼睛呈现的图像不同于另一只眼睛呈现的图像时，眼睛开始相互竞争并压制彼此的图像。双眼竞争导致每只眼睛的图像之间发生感知交替，在此期间一次只能感知其中一个图像。但是，当眼睛施加弱而浅的抑制时，参与者往往会感觉到这两个图像更加频繁地混合在一起。最近的一项研究提出，混合感知的优先级与两眼之间的冲突适应程度呈正相关。但是，这项研究忽略了视觉瞬变的作用，视觉瞬变的作用与刺激设计中的冲突程度有关。在这里，我们报告说，不是眼睛之间的冲突，而是长时间和反复观察强烈的视觉瞬变会导致参与者报告更多的混合感觉。我们得出结论，视觉瞬态，例如对比度的突然变化，引起了人们的注意，增强了两只眼睛的图像表现，并促进了对眼内压制的适应，从而破坏了双眼竞争中的空间连贯性。这一发现与虚拟现实和增强现实有关，因此对于设计双眼竞争受限的立体环境至关重要。因此破坏了双目竞争中的空间连贯性。这一发现与虚拟现实和增强现实有关，因此对于设计双眼竞争受限的立体环境至关重要。因此破坏了双目竞争中的空间连贯性。这一发现与虚拟现实和增强现实有关，因此对于设计双眼竞争受限的立体环境至关重要。