Perceptual history propagates down to early levels of sensory analysis

Abstract

One function of perceptual systems is to construct and maintain a reliable representation of the environment. A useful strategy intrinsic to modern “Bayesian” theories of perception1Rao R.P. Ballard D.H. Predictive coding in the visual cortex: a functional interpretation of some extra-classical receptive-field effects.Nat. Neurosci. 1999; 2: 79-87Crossref PubMed Scopus (2671) Google Scholar, 2Mamassian P. Landy M. Maloney L.T. Bayesian modelling of visual perception.in: Rao R.P.N. Olshausen B.A. Lewicki M.S. Probabilistic Models of the Brain: Perception and Neural Function. MIT, 2002: 13-36Google Scholar, 3Kersten D. Yuille A. Bayesian models of object perception.Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 2003; 13: 150-158Crossref PubMed Scopus (205) Google Scholar, 4Kersten D. Mamassian P. Yuille A. Object perception as Bayesian inference.Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2004; 55: 271-304Crossref PubMed Scopus (813) Google Scholar, 5Knill D.C. Pouget A. 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Mikellidou K. Burr D.C. The functional role of serial dependence.Proc. Biol. Sci. 2018; 285: 20181722Crossref PubMed Scopus (65) Google Scholar,10Fischer J. Whitney D. Serial dependence in visual perception.Nat. Neurosci. 2014; 17: 738-743Crossref PubMed Scopus (341) Google Scholar Maximal serial dependence for a neutral stimulus preceded by an illusory one occurred when the perceived, not the physical, orientations of the two stimuli matched, suggesting that the priors biasing current perception incorporate the effect of the illusion. However, maximal serial dependence of illusory stimuli induced by neutral stimuli occurred when their physical (not perceived) orientations were matched, suggesting that priors interact with incoming sensory signals before they are biased by flanking stimuli. The evidence suggests that priors are high-level constructs incorporating contextual information, which interact directly with early sensory signals, not with highly processed perceptual representations.

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