Encoding of Stimulus Probability in Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex.

ABSTRACT: Optimal perceptual decisions require sensory signals to be combined with prior information about stimulus probability. Although several theories propose that probabilistic information about stimulus occurrence is encoded in sensory cortex, evidence from neuronal recordings has not yet fully supported this view. We recorded activity from single neurons in inferior temporal cortex (IT) while monkeys performed a task that involved discriminating degraded images of faces and fruit. The relative probability of the cue being a face versus a fruit was manipulated by a latent variable that was not revealed to the monkeys and that changed unpredictably over the course of each recording session. In addition to responding to stimulus identity (face or fruit), population responses in IT encoded the lo

SUBMITTER: Bell AH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5021632 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature