Decay of internal reference information in duration discrimination: Intertrial interval modulates the Type B effect

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 1578-1586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Ellinghaus ◽  
Mareike Gick ◽  
Rolf Ulrich ◽  
Karin M Bausenhart
Keyword(s):  
Intertrial Interval ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Type B ◽  
Internal Reference ◽  
Perceptual Memory ◽  
Negative Type

Psychophysical evidence suggests that human perception of a stimulus is assimilated towards previous stimuli. The internal reference model (IRM) explains such assimilation through an internal reference (IR), which integrates past and present stimulus representations and thus might be conceived as a form of perceptual memory. In this study, we investigated whether the IR decays with time, as previously shown for perceptual memory representations in general. One specific prediction of IRM is higher discrimination sensitivity when a constant standard precedes rather than follows a variable comparison in a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) discrimination task. Furthermore, the magnitude of this so-called negative Type B effect should decrease with decreasing weighting of past stimulus information in the integration process. Therefore, decay of the IR should result in a reduced Type B effect. To examine this prediction, we carried out a 2AFC duration discrimination experiment with a short (1,600 ms) and a long (3,200 ms) intertrial interval (ITI). As expected, a reduced negative Type B effect was observed at the long compared with the short ITI, consistent with the idea that humans rely on the immediate past when evaluating current sensory input, however, less so when the IR incorporating the perceptual short-term memory representation of these past stimuli has already decayed.

scholarly journals A common dynamic prior for time in duration discrimination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost de Jong ◽  
Elkan G. Akyürek ◽  
Hedderik van Rijn
Keyword(s):  
Context Effects ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Time Estimation ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Internal Reference ◽  
Standard Duration ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
Estimation Of Time ◽  
Relative Weighting ◽  
Perceived Duration

AbstractEstimation of time depends heavily on both global and local statistical context. Durations that are short relative to the global distribution are systematically overestimated; durations that are locally preceded by long durations are also overestimated. Context effects are prominent in duration discrimination tasks, where a standard duration and a comparison duration are presented on each trial. In this study, we compare and test two models that posit a dynamically updating internal reference that biases time estimation on global and local scales in duration discrimination tasks. The internal reference model suggests that the internal reference operates during postperceptual stages and only interacts with the first presented duration. In contrast, a Bayesian account of time estimation implies that any perceived duration updates the internal reference and therefore interacts with both the first and second presented duration. We implemented both models and tested their predictions in a duration discrimination task where the standard duration varied from trial to trial. Our results are in line with a Bayesian perspective on time estimation. First, the standard systematically biased estimation of the comparison, such that shorter standards increased the likelihood of reporting that the comparison was shorter. Second, both the previous standard and comparison systematically biased time estimation of subsequent trials in the same direction. Third, more precise observers showed smaller biases. In sum, our findings suggest a common dynamic prior for time that is updated by each perceived duration and where the relative weighting of old and new observations is determined by their relative precision.

scholarly journals A Common Dynamic Prior for Time in Duration Discrimination

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost de Jong ◽  
Elkan G. Akyurek ◽  
Hedderik van Rijn
Keyword(s):  
Context Effects ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Time Estimation ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Internal Reference ◽  
Standard Duration ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
Estimation Of Time ◽  
Relative Weighting ◽  
Perceived Duration

Estimation of time depends heavily on both global and local statistical context. For instance, durations that are short relative to the global distribution are systematically overestimated; durations that are locally preceded by long durations are also overestimated. Context effects are prominent in duration discrimination tasks, where a standard duration and a comparison duration are presented on each trial. In this study, we compare and test two models that posit a dynamically updating internal reference that biases time estimation on global and local scales in duration discrimination tasks. The Internal Reference Model suggests that the internal reference operates during post-perceptual stages and only interacts with the first presented duration. In contrast, a Bayesian account of time estimation implies that any perceived duration updates the internal reference and therefore interacts with both the first and second presented duration. We tested these predictions in a duration discrimination task where the standard duration varied from trial to trial. Our results are in line with a Bayesian perspective on time estimation. First, the standard systematically biased estimation of the comparison, such that shorter standards increased the likelihood of reporting that the comparison was shorter. Second, both the previous standard and comparison systematically biased time estimation of subsequent trials in the same direction. Third, more precise observers showed smaller biases. In sum, our findings suggest a common dynamic prior for time that is updated by each perceived duration and where the relative weighting of old and new observations is determined by their relative precision.

scholarly journals mixtur: An R package for designing, analysing, and modelling continuous report visual short-term memory studies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Grange ◽  
Stuart Bryan Moore ◽  
Ed David John Berry
Keyword(s):  
Mixture Models ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
R Package ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Angular Deviation ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Target Feature ◽  
Component Mixture ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Visual Short Term Memory

Visual short-term memory (vSTM) is often measured via continuous-report tasks whereby participants are presented with stimuli that vary along a continuous dimension (e.g., colour) with the goal of memorising the stimuli features. At test, participants are probed to recall the feature value of one of the memoranda in a continuous manner (e.g., by clicking on a colour wheel). The angular deviation between the participant response and the true feature value provides an estimate of recall---and hence, vSTM---precision. Two prominent models of performance on such tasks are the two- and three-component mixture models (Bays et al., 2009; Zhang & Luck, 2008). Both models decompose participant responses into probabilistic mixtures of: (1) responses to the true target value based on a noisy memory representation; (2) random guessing when memory fails. In addition, the three-component model proposes (3) responses to a non-target feature value (i.e., binding errors). Here we report the development of mixtur, an open-source package written for the statistical programming language R that facilitates the fitting of the 2- and 3-component mixture models to continuous report data. We also report the results of several simulations conducted to develop recommendations for researchers on trial numbers, set-sizes and memoranda similarity, as well as conducting parameter recovery and model recovery simulations. It is our hope that mixtur will lower the barrier of entry for utilising mixture modelling

Neuromodulation of Reactive Sensorimotor Mappings as a Short-Term Memory Mechanism in Delayed Response Tasks

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Ziemke ◽  
Mikael Thieme
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Neural Nets ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Mechanism ◽  
Control Networks ◽  
Behavioral Dynamics ◽  
Sensorimotor Mechanisms

This article addresses the relation between memory, representation, and adaptive behavior. More specifically, it demonstrates and discusses the use of synaptic plasticity, realized through neuromodulation of sensorimotor mappings, as a short-term memory mechanism in delayed response tasks. A number of experiments with extended sequential cascaded networks, that is, higher-order recurrent neural nets, controlling simple robotic agents in six different delayed response tasks are presented. The focus of the analysis is on how short-term memory is realized in such control networks through the dynamic modulation of sensorimotor mappings (rather than through feedback of neuronal activation, as in conventional recurrent nets), and how these internal dynamics interact with environmental/behavioral dynamics. In particular, it is demonstrated in the analysis of the last experimental scenario how this type of network can make very selective use of feedback/memory, while as far as possible limiting itself to the use of reactive sensorimotor mechanisms and occasional switches between them.

scholarly journals Dynamics of visual perceptual processing in freely behaving mice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Kai You ◽  
Shreesh P. Mysore
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Orientation Discrimination ◽  
Sensory Encoding ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Speed Accuracy

ABSTRACTMice are being used increasing commonly to study visual behaviors, but the time-course of their perceptual dynamics is unclear. Here, using conditional accuracy analysis, a powerful method used to analyze human perception, and drift diffusion modeling, we investigated the dynamics and limits of mouse visual perception with a 2AFC orientation discrimination task. We found that it includes two stages – a short, sensory encoding stage lasting ∼300 ms, which involves the speed-accuracy tradeoff, and a longer visual short-term memory-dependent (VSTM) stage lasting ∼1700 ms. Manipulating stimulus features or adding a foil affected the sensory encoding stage, and manipulating stimulus duration altered the VSTM stage, of mouse perception. Additionally, mice discriminated targets as brief as 100 ms, and exhibited classic psychometric curves in a visual search task. Our results reveal surprising parallels between mouse and human visual perceptual processes, and provide a quantitative scaffold for exploring neural circuit mechanisms of visual perception.

On the Cognitive Processes of Human Perception with Emotions, Motivations, and Attitudes

2009 ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Yingxu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Comprehensive Model ◽  
Time Process ◽  
Rigorous Model ◽  
The Brain

An interactive motivation-attitude theory is developed based on the Layered Reference Model of the Brain (LRMB) and the object-attributerelation (OAR) model. This paper presents a rigorous model of human perceptual processes such as emotions, motivations, and attitudes. A set of mathematical models and formal cognitive processes of perception is developed. Interactions and relationships between motivation and attitude are formally described in real-time process algebra (RTPA). Applications of the mathematical models of motivations and attitudes in software engineering are demonstrated. This work is a part of the formalization of LRMB, which provides a comprehensive model for explaining the fundamental cognitive processes of the brain and their interactions. This work demonstrates that the complicated human emotional and perceptual phenomena can be rigorously modeled and formally treated based on cognitive informatics theories and denotational mathematics.

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