Interocular interactions evoked by asynchronous checkerboard pattern reversals to each eye

To examine iterocular interactions in normal subjects, we recorded EEG activity from channel O1 and O2 on 14 healthy subjects while checkerboard pattern reversals were presented to each eye with different interstimulus intervals (ISIs) ranging from 0 to 218 ms. When pattern reversals were presented asynchronously to each eye, P-1 activity evoked by each reversal was significantly suppressed compared to the activation evoked by synchronous reversals. Furthermore, when there was time delay between pattern reversals to each eye, theta (4-10 Hz) band power was also significantly decreased, whereas beta (10-30 Hz) band power was relatively preserved. Our results suggest that neural activity evoked by sustained but not yet reversed checkerboard from one eye might inhibit upcoming neural response evoked by reversed checkerboard from the other eye. Decreased P-1 activity might reflect such inhibitory interaction between two eyes. Also, decreased theta and preserved beta band power might reflect engagement of different neural circuit for binocular / monocular vision.