retinal rivalry
Retinal rivalry, also called binocular rivalry, is an unstable perception that occurs when dissimilar images fall on corresponding retinal areas.1,2 The observer sees first one image, then the other, or a mosaic of the two, but never both contours at the same time.2 Rivalry can arise from dissimilar contours, from uniform surfaces of different color, or from unequal luminances.2
The two images are localized in the same visual direction, and two objects in one place create conflict. Fusion is impossible, and one or the other image is temporarily suppressed.2 Which image is suppressed more depends on the dominance of one eye rather than on the attention value of the object each eye sees.2
Retinal rivalry is basic to normal binocular vision. Constant foveal suppression of one eye, with rivalry ceasing, leaves the other eye in complete sensory dominance, and the return of retinal rivalry is required to reestablish binocular vision.2 Retinal rivalry must be distinguished from local adaptation, also called Troxler's phenomenon.2
More detail
In the classic demonstration, orthogonal gratings are presented to corresponding retinal areas, horizontal in one eye and vertical in the other. At times one set of gratings is seen whole and the other set washes over it after several seconds; at other times small interwoven patches from each eye alternate independently.3 The patches alternate roughly once every 4 seconds, but the rate and duty cycle vary with the difference between the two images and with stimulus strength.3 Rivalry needs a buildup of about 150 ms, and dichoptic stimuli shown for shorter periods are seen as fused.2
Sources (9)
- Pickwell's Binocular Vision Anomalies, Glossary
- von Noorden and Campos, Binocular Vision and Ocular Motility, ch. 2
- Adler's Physiology of the Eye, ch. 36
- Blake, R. and Logothetis, N.K. 2002. Visual competition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(1), pp.13-21.
- Brascamp, J., Klink, P.C. and Levelt, W.J. 2015. The 'laws' of binocular rivalry: 50 years of Levelt's propositions. Vision Research, 109, pp.20-37.
- Noorden, G.K. and Campos, E.C. 2002. Binocular vision and ocular motility: theory and management of strabismus. 6th ed. St. Louis: Mosby.
- Rutstein, R. and Daum, K. 1997. Anomalies of Binocular Vision: Diagnosis & Management. St. Louis: Mosby.
- Tong, F., Meng, M. and Blake, R. 2006. Neural bases of binocular rivalry. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(11), pp.502-511.
- Wheatstone, C. 1838. Contributions to the physiology of vision.--Part the first. On some remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, phenomena of binocular vision. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 128, pp.371-394.
Reviewed October 2026
Related terms
Nearby in the glossary
- random-dot stereogram
- recession
- resection
- retinal rivalry