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Related Experiment Videos

It's all in your head: Expectations create illusory perception in a dual-task setup.

Jaan Aru1, Kadi Tulver2, Talis Bachmann3

  • 1Institute of Penal Law, University of Tartu, Estonia; Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Estonia; Institute of Biology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.

Consciousness and Cognition
|September 14, 2018
PubMed
Summary

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Our perception can be misled by expectations, leading to illusory experiences. This study found that individuals with higher Autism Spectrum Quotient scores were less prone to these expectation-based illusions.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Perception Research

Background:

  • Expectations play a crucial role in guiding perception and action.
  • However, these predictive mechanisms can also lead to misperceptions or illusions.
  • Understanding the conditions under which expectations misguide perception is key to understanding cognitive processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the phenomenon of illusory perceptions, specifically the hallucination of absent stimuli.
  • To examine the relationship between illusory perceptions and individual differences, such as Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ) scores.
  • To determine the influence of spatial attention on expectation-based illusory presence of objects.

Main Methods:

  • Developed novel dual-task experimental paradigms.
Keywords:
Autistic traitsExpectationIllusionsIndividual differencesPerceptionPredictive codingPriors

Related Experiment Videos

  • Participants engaged in a primary task while periodically queried about an auxiliary task.
  • Measured the occurrence of illusory perceptions (hallucinating absent stimuli) and correlated with ASQ scores and spatial attention.

    • Main Results:

    • Illusory perceptions of absent stimuli are common, occurring in over 90% of participants.
    • A significant negative correlation was found between ASQ scores and the frequency of illusory perceptions.
    • Spatial attention did not significantly affect the likelihood of experiencing expectation-based illusory objects.

    Conclusions:

    • Expectations can commonly misguide perception, leading to the hallucination of absent stimuli.
    • Individuals with higher Autism Spectrum Quotient scores exhibit reduced susceptibility to these expectation-based illusions.
    • Perceptual misguidance by expectations is more pronounced when attentional resources are divided.