Binocular Rivalry: Phase-Plane & Flow-Field View (2D)

When each eye is shown a different image, conscious perception does not merge them — it flips between one and the other every few seconds, without any change in the physical stimulus. This simulator runs the same reciprocal-inhibition neural rate model as the 3D version (Wilson 2003 / Laing & Chow 2002), but visualises it the way dynamical-systems neuroscience actually draws it: as a phase-plane portrait. A live vector field shows exactly which way the two-population state is being pushed at every instant, dashed nullclines mark where each population's rate stops changing, and a scrolling strip chart tracks both firing rates and their slow adaptation variables through time. Adjust input drive, mutual-inhibition strength, adaptation strength and noise and watch the fixed points appear, split and swap dominance live.