Insightful inference compensates for distorted perception

Introspective agents can recognize the extent to which their internal perceptual experiences deviate from the actual states of the external world. This ability, also known as insight, is critically required for reality testing and is impaired in psychosis, yet very little is known about its cognitive underpinnings. We developed a Bayesian modeling framework and a novel psychophysics paradigm to quantitatively characterize this type of insight while participants experienced a motion-aftereffect illusion. Participants could compensate for the illusion when judging the actual direction of a motion stimulus. Furthermore, confidence, reaction-time, and pupil-dilation data all showed signatures consistent with inferential adjustments in the Bayesian insight model. Our results suggest that people can question what they see and make insightful inferences that incorporate introspective knowledge about internal distortions.

Reduced alpha amplitudes predict perceptual suppression

The amplitude of prestimulus alpha oscillations over parieto-occipital cortex has been shown to predict visual detection of masked and threshold-level stimuli. Whether alpha activity similarly predicts target visibility in perceptual suppression paradigms, another type of illusion commonly used to investigate visual awareness, is presently unclear. Here, we examined prestimulus alpha activity in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of healthy participants in the context of a generalized flash suppression (GFS) task during which salient target stimuli are rendered subjectively invisible in a subset of trials following the onset of a full-field motion stimulus. Unlike for masking or threshold paradigms, alpha (8–12 Hz) amplitude prior to motion onset was significantly higher when targets remained subjectively visible compared to trials during which the targets became perceptually suppressed. Furthermore, individual prestimulus alpha amplitudes strongly correlated with the individual trial-to-trial variability quenching following motion stimulus onset, indicating that variability quenching in visual cortex is closely linked to prestimulus alpha activity. We conclude that predictive correlates of conscious perception derived from perceptual suppression paradigms differ substantially from those obtained with “near threshold paradigms”, possibly reflecting the effectiveness of the suppressor stimulus.

Color Modulates Feature Integration

Bayesian models of object recognition propose the resolution of ambiguity through probabilistic integration of prior experience with available sensory information. Color, even when task-irrelevant, has been shown to modulate high-level cognitive control tasks. However, it remains unclear how color modulations affect lower-level perceptual processing. We investigated whether color affects feature integration using the flash-jump illusion. This illusion occurs when an apparent motion stimulus, a rectangular bar appearing at different locations along a motion trajectory, changes color at a single position. Observers misperceive this color change as occurring farther along the trajectory of motion. This mislocalization error is proposed to be produced by a Bayesian perceptual framework dependent on responses in area V4. Our results demonstrated that the color of the flash modulated the magnitude of the flash-jump illusion such that participants reported less of a shift, i.e., a more veridical flash location, for both red and blue flashes, as compared to green and yellow. Our findings extend color-dependent modulation effects found in higher-order executive functions into lower-level Bayesian perceptual processes. Our results also support the theory that feature integration is a Bayesian process. In this framework, color modulations play an inherent and automatic role as different colors have different weights in Bayesian perceptual processing.

A binocular test of sensory eye dominance based on the Pulfrich effect

Many studies have shown inconsistent results among traditional measures of sensory ocular dominance (SED), seriously questioning the very concept of SED as a unitary aspect of the visual system (e.g., Laby & Kirschen, 2011; Mapp et al., 2003; Walls, 1951).The test outcomes may also change even if the same measure is repeated under different conditions, for example by varying the distance and eccentricity of the target (e.g., Rice et al., 2008; Kahn & Crawford, 2001).On the other hand, some authors suggest that such inconsistencies may result from uncontrolled variables. A candidate to produce confusing variables is the frequent format of these tests, often dichotomous and introspective.In this paper, we propose a possibility of measuring SED on a continuous scale and in a comparative way using a stimulus that induces a Pulfrich effect. Here a dichoptic motion stimulus, borrowed from a previous study (Reynaud & Hess, 2017), was used, which produced different degrees of 3D illusory perception strength through the variation of retinal disparity. We observed that the responses of the subjects varied according to their classical SED test outcomes and we estimated the differences in terms of the time delay of the information coming from the two eyes. In our sample, it appears that information from the dominant eye was processed 8.2±5.8 ms faster than that of the fellow eye. People with a left dominant eye showed more marked differences in processing time (6.8±2.0 ms) than people with a right dominant eye (1.8±0.9 ms). Eyes without a clear dominance did not show significant differences in processing time (1.2±1.7 ms). These results are consistent with the previous literature and could lead to the development of a new continuous-scaled SED test.

New measures of agency from an adaptive sensorimotor task

Self-agency, the sense that one is the author or owner of one’s behaviors, is impaired in multiple psychological and neurological disorders, including functional movement disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, alien hand syndrome, schizophrenia, and dystonia. Existing assessments of self-agency, many of which focus on agency of movement, can be prohibitively time-consuming and often yield ambiguous results. Here, we introduce a short online motion tracking task that quantifies movement agency through both first-order perceptual and second-order metacognitive judgments. The task assesses the degree to which a participant can distinguish between a motion stimulus whose trajectory is influenced by the participant’s cursor movements and a motion stimulus whose trajectory is random. We demonstrate the task’s reliability in healthy participants and discuss how its efficiency, reliability, and ease of online implementation make it a promising new tool for both diagnosing and understanding disorders of agency.

Reduced alpha amplitudes predict perceptual suppression

The amplitude of prestimulus alpha oscillations over parieto-occipital cortex has been shown to predict visual detection of masked and threshold-level stimuli. Whether alpha activity similarly predicts target visibility in perceptual suppression paradigms, another type of illusion commonly used to investigate visual awareness, is presently unclear. Here, we examined prestimulus alpha activity in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of healthy participants in the context of a generalized flash suppression (GFS) task during which salient target stimuli are rendered subjectively invisible in a subset of trials following the onset of a full-field motion stimulus. Unlike for masking or threshold paradigms, alpha (8-12 Hz) amplitude prior to motion onset was significantly higher when targets remained subjectively visible compared to trials during which the targets became perceptually suppressed. Furthermore, individual prestimulus alpha amplitudes strongly correlated with the individual trial-to-trial variability quenching following motion stimulus onset, indicating that variability quenching in visual cortex is closely linked to prestimulus alpha activity. We conclude that predictive correlates of conscious perception derived from perceptual suppression paradigms differ substantially from those of obtained with “near threshold paradigms”, possibly reflecting the effectiveness of the suppressor stimulus.

A multi-source co-frequency stimulus method for electroencephalogram (EEG) enhancement

The electroencephalogram (EEG) induced by steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) will contain background noise. Most existing research on this problem uses signal-processing methods to enhance the EEG. The purpose of this paper is to explore another method that can be used to enhance the EEG. We creatively combined motion stimuli with light-flashing stimuli and designed a paradigm in which motion and light-flashing simultaneously will stimulate with the same frequency; this is called multi-source co-frequency stimulus. To avoid the direct stimulus of light-flashing in the human eye and ensure that the composite paradigm provided adequate comfort, the light-flashing pattern was presented in a ring form and the motion stimulus was presented in the center of that ring. Our hypothesis is that when the motion and the light-flashing are simultaneously stimulated with the same frequency, the EEG they induce will be superimposed in some way, and this will enhance the EEG. The multi-source co-frequency stimulus was found to achieve a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), better accuracy, and a higher information transmission rate (ITR) than single stimulus. The experimental results showed that it is feasible to use the method proposed in this study to enhance the EEG.

Reduced alpha amplitudes predict perceptual suppression

ABSTRACTThe amplitude of prestimulus alpha oscillations over parieto-occipital cortex has been shown to predict visual detection of masked and threshold-level stimuli. Whether alpha activity similarly predicts target visibility in perceptual suppression paradigms, another type of illusion commonly used to investigate visual awareness, is presently unclear. Here, we examined prestimulus alpha activity in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of healthy participants in the context of a generalized flash suppression (GFS) task during which salient target stimuli are rendered subjectively invisible in a subset of trials following the onset of a full-field motion stimulus. Unlike for masking or threshold paradigms, alpha (8-12 Hz) amplitude prior to motion onset was significantly higher when targets remained subjectively visible compared to trials during which the targets became perceptually suppressed. Furthermore, individual prestimulus alpha amplitudes strongly correlated with the individual trial-to-trial variability quenching following motion stimulus onset, indicating that variability quenching in visual cortex is closely linked to prestimulus alpha activity. We conclude that predictive correlates of conscious perception derived from perceptual suppression paradigms differ substantially from those of obtained with “near threshold paradigms”, possibly reflecting the effectiveness of the suppressor stimulus.

New measures of agency from an adaptive sensorimotor task

Self-agency, the sense that one is the author or owner of one’s behaviors, is impaired in multiple psychological and neurological disorders, including functional movement disorders, Parkinson’s Disease, alien hand syndrome, schizophrenia, and dystonia. Existing assessments of self-agency, many of which focus on agency of movement, can be prohibitively time-consuming and often yield ambiguous results. Here, we introduce a short online motion tracking task that quantifies movement agency through both first-order perceptual and second-order metacognitive judgments. The task assesses the degree to which a participant can distinguish between a motion stimulus whose trajectory is influenced by the participant’s cursor movements and a motion stimulus whose trajectory is random. We demonstrate the task’s reliability in healthy participants and discuss how its efficiency, reliability, and ease of online implementation make it a promising new tool for both diagnosing and understanding disorders of agency.