Introduction to Research Topic – Binocular Rivalry: A Gateway to Studying Consciousness

In 1593, Neapolitan polymath Giambattista della Porta publicly
\nlamented that he was unable to improve his impressive productivity
\n(he had published in areas as diverse as cryptography,
\nhydraulics, pharmacology, optics, and classic fiction). Della
\nPorta was trying to read two books simultaneously by placing
\nboth volumes side-by-side, and using each eye independently. To
\nhis great surprise, his setup allowed him to only read one book at
\na time. This discovery arguably marks the first written account
\nof binocular rivalry (Wade, 2000) – a perceptual phenomenon
\nthat more than 400 years later still both serves to intrigue as
\nwell as to illuminate the limits…