How EXPectation and ATtention shape visual information processing in the human brain

Información del proyecto

EXPAT

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 101044616

DOI

10.3030/101044616

Fecha de la firma de la CE 29 Junio 2022

Fecha de inicio 1 Febrero 2023

Fecha de finalización 31 Enero 2028

Financiado con arreglo a

• European Research Council (ERC)

Coste total

€ 1 999 815,00

Aportación de la UE

€ 1 999 815,00

Coordinado por

UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EXPAT (How EXPectation and ATtention shape visual information processing in the human brain)

Período documentado: 2023-02-01 hasta 2025-07-31

Resumen del contexto y de los objetivos generales del proyecto

Visual perception always happens in the context of our knowledge about what we are observing. However, the neural mechanisms by which our brain leverages this knowledge to enhance visual perception remain largely unknown. Therefore, as part of our ERC program EXPAT, we are investigating how expectation and attention alter the way our brain processes images. Specifically, our aim is to reveal how these two top-down processes affect the speed and efficiency of visual information processing and how they influence the flow of image information between brain areas.

Trabajo realizado desde el comienzo del proyecto hasta el final del período abarcado por el informe y los principales resultados hasta la fecha

To realize our objectives, we have completed two EEG studies, and we are currently initiating one psychophysical study and two fMRI studies. The insights obtained so far from the two EEG studies are as follows: (1) our brain preferentially processes expected image components early on, while unexpected components are processed preferentially at a later stage, and (2) expectation and attention have independent and opposite effects on overall image identity information encoding during separate temporal stages of visual information processing. Moreover, we have developed a novel psychophysical method that allows us to determine which features of images are most and least important for image recognition. This method will be key for our future fMRI experiment, which will test whether expectation increases the efficiency of visual information processing in the human brain.

Avances que van más allá del estado de la técnica e impacto potencial esperado (incluida la repercusión socioeconómica y las implicaciones sociales más amplias del proyecto hasta la fecha)

Our results so far go beyond the state of the art by providing the first direct evidence of Bayesian and prediction error coding occurring during distinct time periods, and by showing that expectation and attention have independent and opposite effects on image information encoding in EEG response patterns.