One Thing Leads to Another: Anticipating Visual Object Identity Based on Associative-Memory Templates

Abstract

Probabilistic associations between stimuli afford memory templates that guide perception through proactive anticipatory mechanisms. A great deal of work has examined the behavioral consequences and human electrophysiological substrates of anticipation following probabilistic memory cues that carry spatial or temporal information to guide perception. However, less is understood about the electrophysiological substrates linked to anticipating the sensory content of events based on recurring associations between successive events. Here, we demonstrate behavioral and electrophysiological signatures of using associative-memory templates to guide perception, while equating spatial and temporal anticipation (experiments 1 and 2), as well as target probability and response demands (experiment 2). By recording the electroencephalogram in the two experiments (N= 55; 24 females), we show that two markers in human electrophysiology implicated in spatial and temporal anticipation also contribute to the anticipation of perceptual identity, as follows: attenuation of alpha-band oscillations and the contingent negative variation (CNV). Together, our results show that memory-guided identity templates proactively impact perception and are associated with anticipatory states of attenuated alpha oscillations and the CNV. Furthermore, by isolating object–identity anticipation from spatial and temporal anticipation, our results suggest a role for alpha attenuation and the CNV in specific visual content anticipation beyond general changes in neural excitability or readiness.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTProbabilistic associations between stimuli afford memory templates that guide perception through proactive anticipatory mechanisms. The current work isolates the behavioral benefits and electrophysiological signatures of memory-guided identity-based anticipation, while equating anticipation of space, time, motor responses, and task relevance. Our results show that anticipation of the specific identity of a forthcoming percept impacts performance and is associated with states of attenuated alpha oscillations and the contingent negative variation, extending previous work implicating these neural substrates in spatial and temporal preparatory attention. Together, this work bridges fields of attention, memory, and perception, providing new insights into the neural mechanisms that support complex attentional templates.

Multiplexing of EEG signatures for temporal and spatial distance estimates

“…This finding accords with recent work on anticipation, in which the probability of the interval offset grows with the elapsed interval, mathematically expressed as a hazard ratio (Nobre, et al 2007). Previous work has demonstrated that the CNV signal is sensitive to the probability of upcoming events and can be an index of the hazard ratio (Scheibe, et al 2009;Mento & Vallesi, 2016;Breska & Deoull, 2017;Boettcher, et al 2020).…”

Functional biases in attentional templates from associative memory

“…Our aim was to investigate whether the functional properties of attentional templates also generalizes to templates retrieved from associative memory ( Boettcher, Stokes, Nobre, & van Ede, 2020 ). In typical laboratory studies of attentional templates, the template is explicitly provided before the start of a trial or block of trials ( Carlisle et al, 2011 ; Chelazzi et al, 1993 ; Lee & Geng, 2019 ; Navalpakkam & Itti, 2007 ; van Driel, Gunseli, Meeter, & Olivers, 2017 ; Yu & Geng, 2019 ).…”

“…In typical laboratory studies of attentional templates, the template is explicitly provided before the start of a trial or block of trials ( Carlisle et al, 2011 ; Chelazzi et al, 1993 ; Lee & Geng, 2019 ; Navalpakkam & Itti, 2007 ; van Driel, Gunseli, Meeter, & Olivers, 2017 ; Yu & Geng, 2019 ). However, in the real world, attentional templates are more often derived from learned associations between stimuli, such that one stimulus (A) predicts another (B) ( Boettcher et al, 2020 ; Higuchi & Miyashita, 1996 ; Hutchinson & Turk-Browne, 2012 ; Kok et al, 2017 ; Stokes, Thompson, Nobre, & Duncan, 2009 ). Can the template for a stimulus B—retrieved on the basis of its long-term memory association to stimulus A— also be functionally biased in service of anticipated task demands?…”

Anticipatory reinstatement of expected perceptual events during visual sequence learning

“…Previous studies have shown that expectations can bias perception (Chalk et al, 2010;Sotiropoulos et al, 2011;Pajani et al, 2015), improve perceptual performance (Kok et al, 2012(Kok et al, , 2014Rohenkohl et al, 2012;Wyart et al, 2012) and action preparation and execution (Nobre et al, 2007). Numerous studies have explored the neural bases of expectation signals (Kok et al, 2017;Blom et al, 2020;Boettcher et al, 2020). For instance, it has been shown that expectations sharpen and bias neural representations of expected features in early visual cortex (Kok et al, 2013(Kok et al, , 2014.…”