TY - JOUR TI - Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making AU - Cao, Robin AU - Pastukhov, Alexander AU - Aleshin, Stepan AU - Mattia, Maurizio AU - Braun, Jochen A2 - Rinzel, John A2 - Gold, Joshua I A2 - Rankin, James A2 - Klink, Peter Christiaan VL - 10 PY - 2021 DA - 2021/08/09 SP - e61581 C1 - eLife 2021;10:e61581 DO - 10.7554/eLife.61581 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61581 AB - In ambiguous or conflicting sensory situations, perception is often ‘multistable’ in that it perpetually changes at irregular intervals, shifting abruptly between distinct alternatives. The interval statistics of these alternations exhibits quasi-universal characteristics, suggesting a general mechanism. Using binocular rivalry, we show that many aspects of this perceptual dynamics are reproduced by a hierarchical model operating out of equilibrium. The constitutive elements of this model idealize the metastability of cortical networks. Independent elements accumulate visual evidence at one level, while groups of coupled elements compete for dominance at another level. As soon as one group dominates perception, feedback inhibition suppresses supporting evidence. Previously unreported features in the serial dependencies of perceptual alternations compellingly corroborate this mechanism. Moreover, the proposed out-of-equilibrium dynamics satisfies normative constraints of continuous decision-making. Thus, multistable perception may reflect decision-making in a volatile world: integrating evidence over space and time, choosing categorically between hypotheses, while concurrently evaluating alternatives. KW - binocular rivalry KW - Levelt's propositions KW - dominance distribution KW - attractor dynamics KW - discrete stochastic KW - decision making JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -