Predictive and postdictive mechanisms jointly contribute to visual awareness
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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis
Published on: November 9, 2011
Ryosuke Soga1, Rei Akaishi, Katsuyuki Sakai
1Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyom, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Abstract:
One of the fundamental issues in visual awareness is how we are able to perceive the scene in front of our eyes on time despite the delay in processing visual information. The prediction theory postulates that our visual system predicts the future to compensate for such delays. On the other hand, the postdiction theory postulates that our visual awareness is inevitably a delayed product. In the present study we used flash-lag paradigms in motion and color domains and examined how the perception of visual information at the time of flash is influenced by prior and subsequent visual events. We found that both types of event additively influence the perception of the present visual image, suggesting that our visual awareness results from joint contribution of predictive and postdictive mechanisms.
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