Project description
Visual experience: reality vs imagination
A visual experience can be triggered by an external stimulus during perception or by a memory through mental imagery. Although these processes share similar neural mechanisms in the brain, we generally do not mistake imagination for reality. The EU-funded RealOrImagined project wishes to investigate the mechanism our brain uses to decide whether a visual experience is real or imagined. Using cutting-edge neuro-imaging techniques, scientists will assess how different brain areas work together to attribute the source of sensory signals and track external reality. The project’s findings will improve our understanding of how visual experience is created and have important implications for cases in which this process goes wrong, such as hallucinations.
Objective
Visual experience can either be triggered externally, by light entering our eyes during perception, or internally, during mental imagery. Perception and imagery rely on similar neural mechanisms; however, we generally do not mistake our mental imagery for reality. Here I propose to investigate the neural mechanisms responsible for this “reality monitoring” by combining insights from metacognition and visual neuroscience. Specifically, I propose that this function is supported by an evaluation of evidence from specific layers of visual cortex by frontal decision areas. I will test this using a novel experimental paradigm in combination with cutting-edge neuroimaging techniques. I will first investigate the decision process by determining whether frontal cortex carries information about the attributed source (real or imagined) of a visual experience. Then, I will test whether visual cortex could provide this evidence by determining whether layer-specific activation dissociates externally from internally triggered visual experience. Finally, I will investigate how this information is used for source attribution by characterizing the connectivity between visual and frontal areas during perceptual reality monitoring. This research will improve the understanding of the fundamentals of visual experience and will have important implications for perceptual misattributions such as hallucinations.
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Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
WC1E 6BT London
United Kingdom