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Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors
Early stages of visual processing are carried out by neural circuits activated by simple and specific features, such as the orientation of an edge. A fundamental question in human vision is how the brain organises such intrinsically local information into meaningful properties of objects. Classic mo...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6051992/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30022033 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28845-5 |
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author | Teufel, Christoph Dakin, Steven C. Fletcher, Paul C. |
author_facet | Teufel, Christoph Dakin, Steven C. Fletcher, Paul C. |
author_sort | Teufel, Christoph |
collection | PubMed |
description | Early stages of visual processing are carried out by neural circuits activated by simple and specific features, such as the orientation of an edge. A fundamental question in human vision is how the brain organises such intrinsically local information into meaningful properties of objects. Classic models of visual processing emphasise a one-directional flow of information from early feature-detectors to higher-level information-processing. By contrast to this view, and in line with predictive-coding models of perception, here, we provide evidence from human vision that high-level object representations dynamically interact with the earliest stages of cortical visual processing. In two experiments, we used ambiguous stimuli that, depending on the observer’s prior object-knowledge, can be perceived as either coherent objects or as a collection of meaningless patches. By manipulating object knowledge we were able to determine its impact on processing of low-level features while keeping sensory stimulation identical. Both studies demonstrate that perception of local features is facilitated in a manner consistent with an observer’s high-level object representation (i.e., with no effect on object-inconsistent features). Our results cannot be ascribed to attentional influences. Rather, they suggest that high-level object representations interact with and sharpen early feature-detectors, optimising their performance for the current perceptual context. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6051992 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-60519922018-07-23 Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors Teufel, Christoph Dakin, Steven C. Fletcher, Paul C. Sci Rep Article Early stages of visual processing are carried out by neural circuits activated by simple and specific features, such as the orientation of an edge. A fundamental question in human vision is how the brain organises such intrinsically local information into meaningful properties of objects. Classic models of visual processing emphasise a one-directional flow of information from early feature-detectors to higher-level information-processing. By contrast to this view, and in line with predictive-coding models of perception, here, we provide evidence from human vision that high-level object representations dynamically interact with the earliest stages of cortical visual processing. In two experiments, we used ambiguous stimuli that, depending on the observer’s prior object-knowledge, can be perceived as either coherent objects or as a collection of meaningless patches. By manipulating object knowledge we were able to determine its impact on processing of low-level features while keeping sensory stimulation identical. Both studies demonstrate that perception of local features is facilitated in a manner consistent with an observer’s high-level object representation (i.e., with no effect on object-inconsistent features). Our results cannot be ascribed to attentional influences. Rather, they suggest that high-level object representations interact with and sharpen early feature-detectors, optimising their performance for the current perceptual context. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-07-18 /pmc/articles/PMC6051992/ /pubmed/30022033 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28845-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Article Teufel, Christoph Dakin, Steven C. Fletcher, Paul C. Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors |
title | Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors |
title_full | Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors |
title_fullStr | Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors |
title_full_unstemmed | Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors |
title_short | Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors |
title_sort | prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6051992/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30022033 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28845-5 |
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