To produce binocular rivalry, one stimulates each eye with images that are incompatible, meaning that they cannot be readily merged into a unified percept. It has generally been assumed that the dominance of one image over another involves competition at the earliest point of binocular synthesis, this being primary visual cortex. Further, it has been assumed that the elicited percept will be dominant only if the image is continuously present as a stimulus.

These investigators provide evidence that a briefly displayed image can control perception over an interval that is much greater than the stimulus duration. Persistence of an image that is no longer present can be described as iconic memory, or short-term visual memory. That topic area has not received much attention from vision scientists in recent years, nor has there been much discussion of possible neural mechanisms for mediating this process. However, the subject of “working memory” has received considerable attention, and it is possible that the concepts that have evolved in that area might have some utility for an investigator who wants to study or model what might be called “binocular iconic rivalry.”

Without suggesting endorsement of a particular viewpoint, here is a sampling of recent articles that may be of use:

Barak O, Tsodyks M (2007) Persistent activity in neural networks with dynamic synapses. PLoS Comput Biol 3(2): e35
http://compbiol.plosjourn...

Compte, A. (2006) Computational and in vitro studies of persistent activity: edging
toward cellular and synaptic mechanisms of working memory. Neuroscience, 139, 135-
151

Durstewitz, D. & Weamans, J.K. (2006) Beyond bistability: biophysics and temporal
dynamics of working memory. Neuroscience,139, 119-133

Macoveanu, J., Klingberg, T. & Tegner, J. (2007) Neural firing rates account for
distractor effects on mnemonic accuracy in a visuo-spatial working memory task.
Biological Cybernetics, 96, 407-419