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

Informazioni relative al progetto

EXPAT

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101044616

DOI

10.3030/101044616

Data della firma CE 29 Giugno 2022

Data di avvio 1 Febbraio 2023

Data di completamento 31 Gennaio 2028

Finanziato da

• European Research Council (ERC)

Costo totale

€ 1 999 815,00

Contributo UE

€ 1 999 815,00

Coordinato da

UNIVERSITATSKLINIKUM SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
Germany

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

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-02-01 al 2025-07-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

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.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

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.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

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.