Prior object-knowledge sharpens properties of early visual feature-detectors.

ABSTRACT: Early stages of visual processing are carried out by neural circuits activated by simple and specific features, such as the orientation of an edge. A fundamental question in human vision is how the brain organises such intrinsically local information into meaningful properties of objects. Classic models of visual processing emphasise a one-directional flow of information from early feature-detectors to higher-level information-processing. By contrast to this view, and in line with predictive-coding models of perception, here, we provide evidence from human vision that high-level object representations dynamically interact with the earliest stages of cortical visual processing. In two experiments, we used ambiguous stimuli that, depending on the observer's prior object-knowledge, can be per

SUBMITTER: Teufel C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6051992 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature