Alpha-frequency feedback to early visual cortex orchestrates coherent naturalistic vision

Chen, Lixiang; Cichy, Radoslaw Martin; Kaiser, Daniel

doi:10.1101/2023.02.10.527986

Cited by 11 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…In the human visual system, the beauty of natural scene images was only robustly predicted from responses in scene-selective PPA. Previous studies indicate that PPA is capable of integrating scene elements distributed across visual space, specifically when the scenes form a meaningful perceptual whole (52,75,76). Here, we show that such integration processes systematically vary across scenes and that this variation is a determinant for a scene's aesthetic appeal.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Integrative processing in artificial and biological vision predicts the perceived beauty of natural images

Nara,

Kaiser

2024

Sci. Adv.

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Previous research shows that the beauty of natural images is already determined during perceptual analysis. However, it is unclear which perceptual computations give rise to the perception of beauty. Here, we tested whether perceived beauty is predicted by spatial integration across an image, a perceptual computation that reduces processing demands by aggregating image parts into more efficient representations of the whole. We quantified integrative processing in an artificial deep neural network model, where the degree of integration was determined by the amount of deviation between activations for the whole image and its constituent parts. This quantification of integration predicted beauty ratings for natural images across four studies with different stimuli and designs. In a complementary functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we show that integrative processing in human visual cortex similarly predicts perceived beauty. Together, our results establish integration as a computational principle that facilitates perceptual analysis and thereby mediates the perception of beauty.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Integrative processing in artificial and biological vision predicts the perceived beauty of natural images

Nara,

Kaiser

2024

Sci. Adv.

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“…In our previous study, we found that gamma rhythms, previously associated with feedforward processing in visual cortex (Bastos et al, 2012; van Kerkoerle et al, 2014; Fries, 2015; Michalareas et al, 2016), carried more information about incoherent than about coherent inputs, suggesting that feedforward processing is to some degree dominated by integration-related feedback (Chen et al, 2023). By contrast, we were not able to decode between the videos from gamma rhythms across all four conditions in the current study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Following our previous study (Chen et al, 2023), we primarily investigated integration-related effects in spectral EEG power. However, in principle, such effects may also be represented in the phase of neural rhythms (e.g., resulting from the different temporal dynamics of the videos).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coherent categorical information triggers integration-related alpha dynamics

Chen,

Cichy,

Kaiser

2023

Preprint

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To create coherent visual experiences, the brain spatially integrates the complex and dynamic information it receives from the environment. We previously demonstrated that feedback-related alpha activity carries stimulus-specific information when two spatially and temporally coherent naturalistic inputs can be integrated into a unified percept. In this study, we sought to determine whether such integration-related alpha dynamics are triggered by categorical coherence in visual inputs. In an EEG experiment, we manipulated the degree of coherence by presenting pairs of videos from the same or different categories through two apertures in the left and right visual hemifields. Critically, video pairs could be video-level coherent (i.e., stem from the same video), coherent in their basic-level category, coherent in their superordinate category, or incoherent (i.e., stem from videos from two entirely different categories). We conducted multivariate classification analyses on rhythmic EEG responses to decode between the video stimuli in each condition. As the key result, we significantly decoded the video-level coherent and basic-level coherent stimuli, but not the superordinate coherent and incoherent stimuli, from cortical alpha rhythms. This suggests that alpha dynamics play a critical role in integrating information across space, and that cortical integration processes are flexible enough to accommodate information from different exemplars of the same basic-level category.

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“…One potential explanation is that the second peak reflects feedback or recurrent processes. Alpha oscillations have been implicated in feedback-related coherent visual processing (Chen et al, 2023) and notably, frontal alpha and theta oscillations are difficult to measure using MEG (Srinivasan et al, 2006). Frontal oscillatory activity might therefore play a role in high level visual representations after 150ms, in a potential feedback process that influences processing within occipital cortex.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the Dynamics of Visual Feature Coding: Insights into Perception and Integration

Grootswagers

Robinson

Shatek

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The basic computations performed in the human early visual cortex are the foundation for visual perception. While we know a lot about these computations from work in non-human animals, a key missing piece is how the coding of visual features relates to our perceptual experience. To investigate visual feature coding, interactions, and their relationship to human perception, we investigated neural responses and perceptual similarity judgements to a large set of visual stimuli that varied parametrically along four feature dimensions. We measured neural responses using electroencephalography (N=16) to 256 grating stimuli that varied in orientation, spatial frequency, contrast, and colour. We then mapped the response profiles of the neural coding of each visual feature and their interactions, and related these to independently obtained behavioural judgements of stimulus similarity. The results confirmed fundamental principles of feature coding in the visual system, such that all four features were processed simultaneously but differed in their dynamics, and there was distinctive conjunction coding for different combinations of features in the neural responses. Importantly, modelling of the behaviour revealed that every feature contributed to perceptual experience, despite the untargeted nature of the behavioural task. Further, the relationship between neural coding and behaviour was evident from initial processing stages, signifying that the fundamental features, not just their interactions, are crucial for perceptual experience. This study highlights the importance of understanding how feature coding progresses through the visual hierarchy and the relationship between different stages of processing and perception.

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Alpha-frequency feedback to early visual cortex orchestrates coherent naturalistic vision

Cited by 11 publications

References 82 publications

Integrative processing in artificial and biological vision predicts the perceived beauty of natural images

Integrative processing in artificial and biological vision predicts the perceived beauty of natural images

Coherent categorical information triggers integration-related alpha dynamics

Mapping the Dynamics of Visual Feature Coding: Insights into Perception and Integration

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