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Serial dependence in the perception of visual variance

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posted on 2023-06-09, 13:44 authored by Marta Suarez-Pinilla, Anil SethAnil Seth, Warrick RoseboomWarrick Roseboom
The recent history of perceptual experience has been shown to influence subsequent perception. Classically, this dependence on perceptual history has been examined in sensory adaptation paradigms, wherein prolonged exposure to a particular stimulus (e.g. a vertically oriented grating) produces changes in perception of subsequently presented stimuli (e.g. the tilt aftereffect). More recently, several studies have investigated the influence of shorter perceptual exposure with effects, referred to as serial dependence, being described for a variety of low and high-level perceptual dimensions. In this study, we examined serial dependence in the processing of dispersion statistics, namely variance - a key descriptor of the environment and indicative of the precision and reliability of ensemble representations. We found two opposite serial dependencies operating at different timescales, and likely originating at different processing levels: A positive, Bayesian-like bias was driven by the most recent exposures, dependent on feature-specific decision-making and appearing only when high confidence was placed in that decision; and a longer-lasting negative bias - akin to an adaptation after-effect - becoming manifest as the positive bias declined. Both effects were independent of spatial presentation location and the similarity of other close traits, such as mean direction of the visual variance stimulus. These findings suggest that visual variance processing occurs in high-level areas, but is also subject to a combination of multi-level mechanisms balancing perceptual stability and sensitivity, as with many different perceptual dimensions.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Journal of Vision

ISSN

1534-7362

Publisher

Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

Issue

7

Volume

18

Page range

1-24

Department affiliated with

  • Informatics Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics Publications
  • Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-06-14

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2018-07-11

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-06-13

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