Repetition priming of perceptual transitions: an empirical test of the “free-energy principle” A Pastukhov, S Stonkute, J Braun |
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Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto von Guericke University Magdburg, Germany
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| The visual system relies on prior knowledge to resolve perceptual uncertainty. According to the “free energy principle” [Friston, 2010, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127–38], these priors are adjusted dynamically to reflect recent visual experience. Importantly, the relevant experience is predicted to include both perceptual states and transitions. For the first time, we demonstrate here priming of transitions independently of states. Structure-from-motion was produced by planar flow of dots. Inversion of flow created an ambiguity as to how this physical event was perceptually resolved: as reversal of apparent motion (perceptual transition), or as constant rotation (no perceptual transition). Inter-trial correlations demonstrated facilitatory priming: past trial outcomes facilitating the same outcome on future trials. However, the results were equally compatible with states (clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation) priming states and with transitions (reversed or stable rotation) priming transitions. To distinguish these alternatives, we controlled the direction of rotation, obtaining negative correlations between states. Nevertheless, positive correlation between transitions remained comparably strong, demonstrating specific priming of transitions. Our findings show for the first time that perceptual transitions induce a specific memory trace, which facilitates future transitions independently of other memory traces induced by perceptual states, confirming a key prediction of the “free-energy principle”. |
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