The neural systems for perceptual updating

Abstract

In a constantly changing environment we must adapt to both abrupt and gradual changes to incoming information. Previously, we demonstrated that a distributed network (including the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex) was active when participants updated their initial representations (e.g., it's a cat) in a gradually morphing picture task (e.g., now it's a rabbit; Stöttinger et al., 2015). To shed light on whether these activations reflect the proactive decisions to update or perceptual uncertainty, we introduced two additional conditions. By presenting picture morphs twice we controlled for uncertainty in perceptual decision making. Inducing an abrupt shift in a third condition allowed us to differentiate between a proactive decision in uncertainty-driven updating and a reactive decision in surprise-based updating. We replicated our earlier result, showing the robustness of the effect. In addition, we found activation in the anterior insula (bilaterally) and the mid frontal area/ACC in all three conditions, indicative of the importance of these areas in updating of all kinds. When participants were naïve as to the identity of the second object, we found higher activations in the mid-cingulate cortex and cuneus - areas typically associated with task difficulty, in addition to higher activations in the right TPJ most likely reflecting the shift to a new perspective. Activations associated with the proactive decision to update to a new interpretation were found in a network including the dorsal ACC known to be involved in exploration and the endogenous decision to switch to a new interpretation. These findings suggest a general network commonly engaged in all types of perceptual decision making supported by additional networks associated with perceptual uncertainty or updating provoked by either proactive or reactive decision making.

Updating impairments and the failure to explore new hypotheses following right brain damage

“…When we presented healthy individuals with some of the gradually morphing picture sets used here in an fMRI experiment, we found that the anterior insula was active not only at the actual time point of reported object change but also about five seconds before—consistent with the involvement of the anterior insula in the exploration of alternative choices (Stöttinger et al 2015 ). We have recently replicated this finding (Stöttinger et al 2018 ).…”

Age Affects How Task Difficulty and Complexity Modulate Perceptual Decision-Making

“…Analogously, our age-related modulation in the ACC and seeming change in task-set importance could reflect distribution of task load. A possible mechanism involves perceptual updating, where insula and ACC activation appear when participants proactively update representations regardless of uncertainty (Stöttinger et al, 2018). In this scenario, older participants could be continuously updating their initial stimulus representations when there is a likelihood or chance for improving performance, as per our behavioral analysis.…”

A New Explanation for the Frog-in-the-Pan Phenomenon Based on the Cognitive-Evolutionary Model of Surprise

“…Second, people would exhibit surprise-driven learning when they were surprised. They were more likely to believe that the context had been changed, and information obtained before the surprise was no longer helpful in making predictions [17,33,58]. Therefore, people would discard their prior beliefs and emphasize newly arriving information, which led to participants being more sensitive to abrupt changes.…”