Learning priors for Bayesian computations in the nervous system.

ABSTRACT: Our nervous system continuously combines new information from our senses with information it has acquired throughout life. Numerous studies have found that human subjects manage this by integrating their observations with their previous experience (priors) in a way that is close to the statistical optimum. However, little is known about the way the nervous system acquires or learns priors. Here we present results from experiments where the underlying distribution of target locations in an estimation task was switched, manipulating the prior subjects should use. Our experimental design allowed us to measure a subject's evolving prior while they learned. We confirm that through extensive practice subjects learn the correct prior for the task. We found that subjects can rapidly learn the mean

SUBMITTER: Berniker M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2937037 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature