Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision
A key function of the brain is to interpret noisy sensory information. To do so optimally, observers must, in many tasks, take into account knowledge of the precision with which stimuli are encoded. In an orientation change detection task, we find that encoding precision does not only depend on an e...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Public Library of Science
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72430 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5907-6259 |
| _version_ | 1826203487154733056 |
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| author | Keshvari, Shaiyan Oliver Berg, Ronald van den Ma, Wei Ji |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Keshvari, Shaiyan Oliver Berg, Ronald van den Ma, Wei Ji |
| author_sort | Keshvari, Shaiyan Oliver |
| collection | MIT |
| description | A key function of the brain is to interpret noisy sensory information. To do so optimally, observers must, in many tasks, take into account knowledge of the precision with which stimuli are encoded. In an orientation change detection task, we find that encoding precision does not only depend on an experimentally controlled reliability parameter (shape), but also exhibits additional variability. In spite of variability in precision, human subjects seem to take into account precision near-optimally on a trial-to-trial and item-to-item basis. Our results offer a new conceptualization of the encoding of sensory information and highlight the brain’s remarkable ability to incorporate knowledge of uncertainty during complex perceptual decision-making. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:37:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/72430 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:37:49Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/724302022-10-01T10:09:32Z Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision Keshvari, Shaiyan Oliver Berg, Ronald van den Ma, Wei Ji Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Keshvari, Shaiyan Oliver Keshvari, Shaiyan Oliver A key function of the brain is to interpret noisy sensory information. To do so optimally, observers must, in many tasks, take into account knowledge of the precision with which stimuli are encoded. In an orientation change detection task, we find that encoding precision does not only depend on an experimentally controlled reliability parameter (shape), but also exhibits additional variability. In spite of variability in precision, human subjects seem to take into account precision near-optimally on a trial-to-trial and item-to-item basis. Our results offer a new conceptualization of the encoding of sensory information and highlight the brain’s remarkable ability to incorporate knowledge of uncertainty during complex perceptual decision-making. 2012-08-29T18:31:43Z 2012-08-29T18:31:43Z 2012-06 2011-11 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72430 Keshvari, Shaiyan, Ronald van den Berg, and Wei Ji Ma. “Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception Under Variability in Encoding Precision.” Ed. Marc O. Ernst. PLoS ONE 7.6 (2012): e40216. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5907-6259 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040216 PLoS ONE Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ application/pdf Public Library of Science PLoS |
| spellingShingle | Keshvari, Shaiyan Oliver Berg, Ronald van den Ma, Wei Ji Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision |
| title | Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision |
| title_full | Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision |
| title_fullStr | Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision |
| title_full_unstemmed | Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision |
| title_short | Probabilistic Computation in Human Perception under Variability in Encoding Precision |
| title_sort | probabilistic computation in human perception under variability in encoding precision |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/72430 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5907-6259 |
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