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Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making

In ambiguous or conflicting sensory situations, perception is often ‘multistable’ in that it perpetually changes at irregular intervals, shifting abruptly between distinct alternatives. The interval statistics of these alternations exhibits quasi-universal characteristics, suggesting a general mecha...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cao, Robin, Pastukhov, Alexander, Aleshin, Stepan, Mattia, Maurizio, Braun, Jochen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8352598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34369875
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61581
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author Cao, Robin
Pastukhov, Alexander
Aleshin, Stepan
Mattia, Maurizio
Braun, Jochen
author_facet Cao, Robin
Pastukhov, Alexander
Aleshin, Stepan
Mattia, Maurizio
Braun, Jochen
author_sort Cao, Robin
collection PubMed
description In ambiguous or conflicting sensory situations, perception is often ‘multistable’ in that it perpetually changes at irregular intervals, shifting abruptly between distinct alternatives. The interval statistics of these alternations exhibits quasi-universal characteristics, suggesting a general mechanism. Using binocular rivalry, we show that many aspects of this perceptual dynamics are reproduced by a hierarchical model operating out of equilibrium. The constitutive elements of this model idealize the metastability of cortical networks. Independent elements accumulate visual evidence at one level, while groups of coupled elements compete for dominance at another level. As soon as one group dominates perception, feedback inhibition suppresses supporting evidence. Previously unreported features in the serial dependencies of perceptual alternations compellingly corroborate this mechanism. Moreover, the proposed out-of-equilibrium dynamics satisfies normative constraints of continuous decision-making. Thus, multistable perception may reflect decision-making in a volatile world: integrating evidence over space and time, choosing categorically between hypotheses, while concurrently evaluating alternatives.
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spelling pubmed-83525982021-08-11 Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making Cao, Robin Pastukhov, Alexander Aleshin, Stepan Mattia, Maurizio Braun, Jochen eLife Neuroscience In ambiguous or conflicting sensory situations, perception is often ‘multistable’ in that it perpetually changes at irregular intervals, shifting abruptly between distinct alternatives. The interval statistics of these alternations exhibits quasi-universal characteristics, suggesting a general mechanism. Using binocular rivalry, we show that many aspects of this perceptual dynamics are reproduced by a hierarchical model operating out of equilibrium. The constitutive elements of this model idealize the metastability of cortical networks. Independent elements accumulate visual evidence at one level, while groups of coupled elements compete for dominance at another level. As soon as one group dominates perception, feedback inhibition suppresses supporting evidence. Previously unreported features in the serial dependencies of perceptual alternations compellingly corroborate this mechanism. Moreover, the proposed out-of-equilibrium dynamics satisfies normative constraints of continuous decision-making. Thus, multistable perception may reflect decision-making in a volatile world: integrating evidence over space and time, choosing categorically between hypotheses, while concurrently evaluating alternatives. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2021-08-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8352598/ /pubmed/34369875 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61581 Text en © 2021, Cao et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Cao, Robin
Pastukhov, Alexander
Aleshin, Stepan
Mattia, Maurizio
Braun, Jochen
Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making
title Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making
title_full Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making
title_fullStr Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making
title_full_unstemmed Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making
title_short Binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making
title_sort binocular rivalry reveals an out-of-equilibrium neural dynamics suited for decision-making
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8352598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34369875
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61581
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