Topic: Prediction in perception: How expectations change visual computations

Speaker: Floris P. de Lange

Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior

Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

Time: 13:00-15:00, May 15th, 2018

Location: #1113, Wangkezhen Building, Peking University

Host: Dr. Huan Luo

Abstract

One of the fundamental functions of the human brain is to predict future events on the basis of the recent past. Prediction plays a prominent role in models of seemingly disparate cognitive functions such as perception, motor control, and language processing. Although there is ample behavioral evidence for the predictive nature of perception, the incorporation of prior knowledge in the neural computations underlying perception is still poorly understood.

In my lecture, I will review recent work on how prior expectations about the sensory world change the neural computations that give rise to perception. I will provide empirical evidence for generative models in perception, and show how prediction signals are integrated with bottom-up input, drawing on electrophysiological (MEG) and hemodynamic (fMRI) methods.

Summerfield C, de Lange FP (2014). Expectation in perceptual decision-making: neural and computational mechanisms. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15, 745-56.