During binocular rivalry, perception spontaneously changes without any alteration to the visual stimulus. What neural events bring about this illusion that a constant stimulus is changing? We recorded from intracranial electrodes placed on the occipital and posterior temporal cortex of two patients with epilepsy while they experienced illusory changes of a face-house binocular-rivalry stimulus or observed a control stimulus that physically changed. We performed within-patient comparisons of broadband high-frequency responses, focusing on single epochs recorded along the ventral processing stream. We found transient face- and house-selective responses localized to the same electrodes for illusory and physical changes, but the temporal characteristics of these responses markedly differed. In comparison with physical changes, responses to illusory changes were longer lasting, in particular exhibiting a characteristic slow rise. Furthermore, the temporal order of responses across the visual hierarchy was reversed for illusory as compared to physical changes: for illusory changes, higher order fusiform and parahippocampal regions responded before lower order occipital regions. Our tentative interpretation of these findings is that two stages underlie the initiation of illusory changes: a destabilization stage in which activity associated with the impending change gradually accumulates across the visual hierarchy, ultimately graduating in a top-down cascade of activity that may stabilize the new perceptual interpretation of the stimulus.

在双眼竞争期间，感知自发地改变，而视觉刺激没有任何改变。是什么神经事件导致了这种持续刺激正在改变的错觉？我们从放置在两名癫痫患者的枕骨和颞后皮层上的颅内电极进行记录，同时他们经历了面罩双目竞争刺激的幻觉变化或观察到物理变化的对照刺激。我们对宽带高频响应进行了患者内比较，重点关注沿腹侧处理流记录的单个时期。我们发现瞬态的面部和房屋选择性响应位于相同的电极上，以实现幻觉和物理变化，但这些响应的时间特征明显不同。与物理变化相比，对幻觉变化的反应更持久，特别是表现出缓慢上升的特征。此外，与物理变化相比，视觉层次中的响应的时间顺序与物理变化相反：对于幻觉变化，高阶梭状和海马旁区域在低阶枕叶区域之前响应。我们对这些发现的初步解释是，幻觉变化的启动有两个阶段：一个不稳定阶段，在这个阶段，与即将发生的变化相关的活动在视觉层次中逐渐积累，最终在自上而下的活动级联中毕业，这可能会稳定新的变化。对刺激的感性解释。与物理变化相比，视觉层次中的响应的时间顺序与物理变化相反：对于幻觉变化，高阶梭状和海马旁区域在低阶枕叶区域之前响应。我们对这些发现的初步解释是，幻觉变化的开始有两个阶段：一个不稳定阶段，在这个阶段，与即将发生的变化相关的活动在视觉层次中逐渐积累，最终以自上而下的级联活动结束，这可能会稳定新的变化。对刺激的感性解释。与物理变化相比，视觉层次中的响应的时间顺序与物理变化相反：对于幻觉变化，高阶梭状和海马旁区域在低阶枕叶区域之前响应。我们对这些发现的初步解释是，幻觉变化的启动有两个阶段：一个不稳定阶段，在这个阶段，与即将发生的变化相关的活动在视觉层次中逐渐积累，最终在自上而下的活动级联中毕业，这可能会稳定新的变化。对刺激的感性解释。