Connection between Synchronization of Oscillatory Activities at Early Stages and a Final Stage in the Visual System

Abstract

Singer's group and we found synchronized oscillatory responses at early stages and at a final stage in visual processing, respectively. However, the former occurs on a millisecond time scale and the latter on a second time scale. We have considered that this results from a difference in scale of something which takes part in the oscillations. From this viewpoint, here we first find suppression effects on both figure and ground of a pattern and on only the ground in a binocular-rivalry situation and then examine, using the effects of two steps, what oscillates and synchronizes at the last stage for form. Finally, we conclude that the synchronous neuronal oscillations depend on firing patterns of neurons at early stages in the visual system and the psychophysical ones on configurations of the spread effect of strength of pattern involved closely in whole processing of the visual system and the latter originates in the former.