Abstract
Authenticating valuable objects is widely assumed to involve protracted scrutiny for detection of reproduction flaws. Yet, accurate authentication of banknotes is possible within one second of viewing, suggesting that rapid neural processes may underpin counterfeit detection. To investigate, we measured event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in response to briefly viewed genuine or forensically recovered counterfeit banknotes presented in a visual oddball counterfeit detection task. Three ERP components, P1, P3, and extended P3, were assessed for each combination of banknote type (genuine, counterfeit) and overt response (“real”, “fake”). P1 amplitude was greater for oddballs, demonstrating that the initial feedforward sweep of visual processing yields the essential information for differentiating genuine from counterfeit. A similar oddball effect was found for P3. The magnitude of this P3 effect was positively correlated with behavioural counterfeit sensitivity, although the corresponding correlation for P1 was not. For the extended P3, amplitude was greatest for correctly detected counterfeits and similarly small for missed counterfeits, incorrectly and correctly categorised genuine banknotes. These results show that authentication of complex stimuli involves a cascade of neural processes that unfolds in under a second, beginning with a very rapid sensory analysis, followed by a later decision stage requiring higher level processing.
Highlights
Authenticating valuable objects is widely assumed to involve protracted scrutiny for detection of reproduction flaws
Is the discrimination of counterfeit objects from their genuine counterparts critical for food and predator identification for many animal species[1], it is increasing important for humans due to the rapid increase of counterfeit goods in contemporary marketplaces[2,3] and use of faked images on social media[4]
The brain anticipates the appearance of an object based on learned and contextual factors and sets information processing mechanisms to selectively boost sensitivity to relevant sensory cues and reduce sensitivity to non-relevant cues. This may be achieved by a series of feedback loops whereby high-level cortical networks exert object-specific top-down modulatory effects that act on initial, incoming sensory signals about 100 ms after stimulus o nset[12]. Such processes depend on experience and expertise in recognizing specific types of complex visual objects is associated with the appearance of early event-related brain potentials (ERPs) components that are not found in n ovices[13]
Summary
Authenticating valuable objects is widely assumed to involve protracted scrutiny for detection of reproduction flaws. High-level object recognition is widely assumed to involve predictive coding[10,11] In this view, the brain anticipates the appearance of an object based on learned and contextual factors and sets information processing mechanisms to selectively boost sensitivity to relevant sensory cues and reduce sensitivity to non-relevant cues. The brain anticipates the appearance of an object based on learned and contextual factors and sets information processing mechanisms to selectively boost sensitivity to relevant sensory cues and reduce sensitivity to non-relevant cues This may be achieved by a series of feedback loops whereby high-level cortical networks exert object-specific top-down modulatory effects that act on initial, incoming sensory signals about 100 ms after stimulus o nset[12]. Participants judged each note as real or fake on each presentation
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