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Long-term priors influence visual perception through recruitment of long-range feedback
Richard Hardstone1, Michael Zhu1, Adeen Flinker2
1Neuroscience Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
Nature Communications
|November 2, 2021
Summary
Long-term prior knowledge influences perception by altering brain activity flow. This study reveals top-down signals during preferred perceptions and feedforward signals during non-preferred ones, enhancing our understanding of perceptual decision-making.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- Perception integrates sensory input with prior knowledge.
- The neural basis of how long-term priors influence perception is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms of long-term prior influence on perception.
- To understand large-scale information flow changes during perceptual switching.
Main Methods:
- Direct cortical recordings in neurosurgical patients viewing ambiguous images.
- Analysis of neural activity during spontaneous perceptual alternations.
- Computational modeling using hierarchical predictive coding and attractor networks.
Main Results:
- Observed top-down influences from temporal to occipital cortex during perception congruent with long-term priors.
- Identified stronger feedforward drive during perception not congruent with long-term priors, suggesting a prediction error signal.
- A computational model successfully replicated these experimental findings.
Conclusions:
- Large-scale changes in information flow underlie the influence of long-term priors on perception.
- Findings provide constraints for theories on how prior knowledge shapes perceptual experiences.
- The study elucidates the neural dynamics of perceptual decision-making influenced by prior knowledge.
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