scholarly journals Finding the "odd one out": Memory color effects and the logic of appearance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
JJ Valenti ◽  
Chaz Firestone
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Color Perception ◽  
Object Perception ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
General Utility ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Contemporary Work ◽  
Per Se

Can what we know change what we see? A line of research stretching back nearly a century suggests that knowing an object’s canonical color can alter its visual appearance, such that objectively gray bananas appear to be tinged with yellow, and objectively orange hearts appear redder than they really are. Such “memory color” effects have constituted the strongest and most complete evidence that basic sensory processing can be penetrated by higher-level knowledge, and have contributed to theories of object perception in psychology, neuroscience, and even philosophy. Are such phenomena truly perceptual? Or could they instead reflect shifts in judgments and responses without altering online color perception? Here, we take a novel approach to this question by exploiting a “logic” that is inherent in visual processing but that higher-level cognition often cannot follow. In four experiments spanning both classical and contemporary work, we exhaust the predictions of memory color theories by exploring scenarios where memory color accounts make tortuous hypotheses that would be difficult for subjects to grasp, but that should be easily accommodated by visual processing. We show that such conditions eliminate or even reverse memory color effects in ways unaccounted-for by their underlying theories — especially in a novel “odd one out” paradigm that may help distinguish visual appearance from higher-level judgment in a powerful and general way. We suggest that prior knowledge can influence color judgments in real and robust ways, but that such influences may not truly reflect changes in visual appearance per se. We further discuss the general utility of this approach for isolating perception from judgment, both for memory color effects and beyond.

Electrophysiological correlates of incidentally learned expectations in human vision

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 1461-1470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle G. Hall ◽  
Jason B. Mattingley ◽  
Paul E. Dux
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Human Vision ◽  
Low Probability ◽  
Sensory Encoding ◽  
Target Locations ◽  
Late Stages

The human visual system is remarkably sensitive to environmental regularities, which can facilitate behavioral performance when sensory events conform to past experience. The point at which prior knowledge is integrated during visual perception is unclear, particularly for incidentally learned associations. One possibility is that expectation shapes neural activity prospectively, in an anticipatory fashion, allowing prior knowledge to affect the earliest stages of sensory processing. Alternatively, cognitive processes underlying object recognition and conflict detection may be necessary precursors, constraining effects to later stages of processing. Here we used electroencephalography (EEG) to uncover neural activity that distinguishes between visual stimuli that match prior exposure and those that deviate from it. Participants identified visual targets that were associated with possible target locations; each location was associated with a high-probability target and a low-probability target. Alongside a behavioral cost for stimuli that had occurred infrequently at a cued location compared with those that had occurred frequently, we observed a focal modulation of the evoked EEG response at 250 ms after target onset. Relative to likely targets, unlikely targets evoked an enhanced negativity at midline frontal electrodes, and individual differences in the magnitude of this effect were correlated with the response time difference between likely and unlikely targets. In contrast, the evoked response at the latency of the P1, a correlate of early sensory processing, was indistinguishable for likely and unlikely targets. Together, these results point to postperceptual processes as a key stage at which experience modulates visual processing. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We combined electroencephalography with an incidental learning paradigm to investigate whether prior knowledge of environmental regularities modulates visual processing at early or late stages of sensory analysis. Our results reveal that modulations of neural activity arising at midlevel processing stages predict behavioral costs for unexpected stimuli rather than effects at early stages of sensory encoding.

scholarly journals Brain mechanisms associated with top-down processes in perception

1997 ◽  
Vol 352 (1358) ◽  
pp. 1221-1230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Frith ◽  
Raymond J. Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Response Preparation ◽  
Early Processing ◽  
Sensory Activity

Perception arises through an interaction between sensory input and prior knowledge. We propose that at least two brain areas are required for such an interaction: the ‘site’ where analysis of afferent signals occurs and the ‘source’ which applies the relevant prior knowledge. In the human brain, functional imaging studies have demonstrated that selective attention modifies activity in early visual processing areas specific to the attended feature. Early processing areas are also modified when prior knowledge permits a percept to emerge from an otherwise meaningless stimulus. Sources of this modification have been identified in parietal cortex and in prefrontal cortex. Modification of early processing areas also occurs on the basis of prior knowledge about the predicted sensory effects of the subject's own actions. Activity associated with mental imagery resembles that associated with response preparation (for motor imagery) and selective attention (for sensory imagery) suggesting that mental imagery reflects the effects of prior knowledge on sensory processing areas in the absence of sensory input. Damage to sensory processing areas can lead to a form of sensory hallucination which seems to arise from the interaction of prior knowledge with random sensory activity. In contrast, hallucinations associated with schizophrenia may arise from a failure of prior knowledge about motor intentions to modify activity in relevant sensory areas. When functioning normally, this mechanism permits us to distinguish our own actions from those of independent agents in the outside world. Failure to make this distinction correctly may account for the strong association between hallucinations and paranoid delusions in schizophrenia; the patient not only hears voices, but attributes (usually hostile) intentions to these voices.

Where’s Waldo: Revisiting the Administrative Novel

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
George Connor
Keyword(s):  
Organization And Administration ◽  
Player Piano ◽  
Simple Observation ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Contemporary Work

In 1968 Dwight Waldo published The Novelist on Organization and Administration: An Inquiry into the Relationships Between the Two Worlds.  His very simple observation was that “one can learn much about administration from novels” (1968, 4). After thirty years, it may be a time to re-examine both the literary and academic side of Waldo’s novel approach. The article offers Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano and David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, one classic and one contemporary work, as vehicles for revisiting Waldo’s pedagogy and reestablishing the linkage between administration and administrative novels.

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno and
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Life Problems ◽  
Multisensory Interactions ◽  
Contemporary Work ◽  
New Perspective

Multisensory interactions in perception are pervasive and fundamental, as we have documented throughout this book. In this final chapter, we propose that contemporary work on multisensory processing is a paradigm shift in perception science, calling for a radical reconsideration of empirical and theoretical questions within an entirely new perspective. In making our case, we emphasize that multisensory perception is the norm, not the exception, and we remark that multisensory interactions can occur early in sensory processing. We reiterate the key notions that multisensory interactions come in different kinds and that principles of multisensory processing must be considered when tackling multisensory daily-life problems. We discuss the role of unisensory processing in a multisensory world, and we conclude by suggesting future directions for the multisensory field.

The “Mosaic Stage” in Amodal Completion as Characterized by Magnetoencephalography Responses

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 1394-1405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gijs Plomp ◽  
Lichan Liu ◽  
Cees van Leeuwen ◽  
Andreas A. Ioannides
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Amodal Completion ◽  
Peak Latency ◽  
Per Se

We investigated the process of amodal completion in a same-different experiment in which test pairs were preceded by sequences of two figures. The first of these could be congruent to a global or local completion of an occluded part in the second figure, or a mosaic interpretation of it. We recorded and analyzed the magnetoencephalogram for the second figures. Compared to control conditions, in which unrelated primes were shown, occlusion and mosaic primes reduced the peak latency and amplitude of neural activity evoked by the occlusion patterns. Compared to occlusion primes, mosaic ones reduced the latency but increased the amplitude of evoked neural activity. Processes relating to a mosaic interpretation of the occlusion pattern, therefore, can dominate in an early stage of visual processing. The results did not provide evidence for the presence of a functional “mosaic stage” in completion per se, but characterize the mosaic interpretation as a qualitatively special one that can rapidly emerge in visual processing when context favors it.

scholarly journals Latent atrophy factors related to phenotypical variants of posterior cortical atrophy

Neurology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (12) ◽  
pp. e1672-e1685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Groot ◽  
B.T. Thomas Yeo ◽  
Jacob W. Vogel ◽  
Xiuming Zhang ◽  
Nanbo Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gray Matter ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Space Perception ◽  
Object Perception ◽  
Cortical Atrophy ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Posterior Cortical Atrophy ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Β Amyloid ◽  
The Right

ObjectiveTo determine whether atrophy relates to phenotypical variants of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) recently proposed in clinical criteria (i.e., dorsal, ventral, dominant-parietal, and caudal) we assessed associations between latent atrophy factors and cognition.MethodsWe employed a data-driven Bayesian modeling framework based on latent Dirichlet allocation to identify latent atrophy factors in a multicenter cohort of 119 individuals with PCA (age 64 ± 7 years, 38% male, Mini-Mental State Examination 21 ± 5, 71% β-amyloid positive, 29% β-amyloid status unknown). The model uses standardized gray matter density images as input (adjusted for age, sex, intracranial volume, MRI scanner field strength, and whole-brain gray matter volume) and provides voxelwise probabilistic maps for a predetermined number of atrophy factors, allowing every individual to express each factor to a degree without a priori classification. Individual factor expressions were correlated to 4 PCA-specific cognitive domains (object perception, space perception, nonvisual/parietal functions, and primary visual processing) using general linear models.ResultsThe model revealed 4 distinct yet partially overlapping atrophy factors: right-dorsal, right-ventral, left-ventral, and limbic. We found that object perception and primary visual processing were associated with atrophy that predominantly reflects the right-ventral factor. Furthermore, space perception was associated with atrophy that predominantly represents the right-dorsal and right-ventral factors. However, individual participant profiles revealed that the large majority expressed multiple atrophy factors and had mixed clinical profiles with impairments across multiple domains, rather than displaying a discrete clinical–radiologic phenotype.ConclusionOur results indicate that specific brain behavior networks are vulnerable in PCA, but most individuals display a constellation of affected brain regions and symptoms, indicating that classification into 4 mutually exclusive variants is unlikely to be clinically useful.

scholarly journals Daily oscillation of the excitation/inhibition ratio is disrupted in two mouse models of autism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Bridi ◽  
Nancy Luo ◽  
Grace Kim ◽  
Caroline O'Ferrall ◽  
Ruchit Oatel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mouse Models ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Behavioral State ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission ◽  
Sleep Timing ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Daily Oscillation

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder involving sensory processing abnormalities. Alterations to the balance between excitation and inhibition (E/I ratio) are postulated to underlie behavioral phenotypes in ASD patients and mouse models. However, in primary visual cortex (V1) of wild type mice, the E/I ratio is not a fixed value, but rather oscillates across the 24h day. Therefore, we hypothesized that the E/I oscillation, rather than the overall E/I ratio, may be disrupted in ASD mouse models. To this end, we measured the E/I ratio in Fmr1 KO and BTBR mice, models of syndromic and idiopathic ASD, respectively. We found that the E/I ratio is dysregulated in both models, but in different ways: the oscillation is flattened in Fmr1 KO and phase-shifted in BTBR mice. These phenotypes cannot be explained by altered sleep timing, which was largely normal in both lines. Furthermore, we found that E/I dysregulation occurs due to alterations in both excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in both models. These findings provide a crucial perspective on the E/I ratio in ASD, suggesting that ASD phenotypes may be produced by a mismatch of E/I to the appropriate behavioral state, rather than alterations to overall E/I levels per se.

Synesthesia and Sensory Processing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa J. Rinaldi
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Color Perception ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
The World ◽  
Over Time

Synesthesia is a neurodevelopmental condition that causes 4.4% of the population to experience the world differently. For these individuals certain stimuli (e.g., letters of the alphabet) trigger a secondary experience (e.g., color perception). This process is automatic and remains consistent over time. Tests for measuring synesthesia have successfully built on this principle of synesthetic associations being consistent over time, and using this method a number of studies have investigated the heritability of the condition, cognitive differences that synesthetes have compared with non-synesthetes, and the neurological architecture of synesthete brains. These measures have largely focused on adult synesthetes for whom the condition is already fully developed. Since 2009 researchers have begun to also investigate childhood synesthesia, which has helped to advance our understanding of how this condition emerges. Drawing on both adult and child studies, we can better understand the neurological and cognitive implications of a lifetime of experiencing synesthetic associations.

Das Spiel des Übersetzens. Grundzüge einer komparativen Studie

2021 ◽  
pp. 453-486
Author(s):  
Eliane Laverdure
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Linguistic Transfer ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Hans Georg Gadamer

This article seeks to shed some light on the experience of interpretation and translation from a hermeneutical point of view, more precisely on how the subjectivity of the translator plays an essential mediation role in the process of rendering the meaning of a text in a new language, a role that certainly goes beyond the sole linguistic transfer, without being per se subjective. This idea can best be understood through the concept of “game” as developed by the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer and introduced in translation theory by Fritz Paepcke, because it offers a model in which the participation of the individual is necessary without being arbitrary, since the players have to abide by the rules of the specific game they are playing – in this case, the text itself. However, the aim of this article is not to offer a method of translation, but is rather an attempt to consider the adequacy of translation on the basis of subjective and intersubjective factors – including the translator’s own prior knowledge and experience, his openness towards the text and his critical self-awareness – and therefore to propose an alternative to the overly normative and restrictive theoretical framework strictly focused on linguistic equivalence between ST and TT.

Enhancing the Process of Knowledge Discovery in Geographic Databases Using Geo-Ontologies

2009 ◽  
pp. 2405-2426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vania Bogorny ◽  
Paulo Martins Engel ◽  
Luis Otavio Alavares
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Discovery ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Association Rules ◽  
Pattern Mining ◽  
Spatial Association ◽  
Geographic Pattern ◽  
Geographic Patterns ◽  
Geographic Databases ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Amount Of Knowledge

This chapter introduces the problem of mining frequent geographic patterns and spatial association rules from geographic databases. In the geographic domain most discovered patterns are trivial, non-novel, and noninteresting, which simply represent natural geographic associations intrinsic to geographic data. A large amount of natural geographic associations are explicitly represented in geographic database schemas and geo-ontologies, which have not been used so far in frequent geographic pattern mining. Therefore, this chapter presents a novel approach to extract patterns from geographic databases using geoontologies as prior knowledge. The main goal of this chapter is to show how the large amount of knowledge represented in geo-ontologies can be used to avoid the extraction of patterns that are previously known as noninteresting.

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