Abstract
Predictions shape our perception. The theory of predictive processing poses that our brains make sense of incoming sensory input by generating predictions, which are sent back from higher to lower levels of the processing hierarchy. These predictions are based on our internal model of the world and enable inferences about the hidden causes of the sensory input data. It has been proposed that conscious perception corresponds to the currently most probable internal model of the world. Accordingly, predictions influencing conscious perception should be fed back from higher to lower levels of the processing hierarchy. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivoxel pattern analysis to show that non‐stimulated regions of early visual areas contain information about the conscious perception of an ambiguous visual stimulus. These results indicate that early sensory cortices in the human brain receive predictive feedback signals that reflect the current contents of conscious perception.
Highlights
Predictions play an important role in perception (de Lange, Heilbron, & Kok, 2018)
Within the framework of predictive processing, it has been proposed that conscious perception corresponds to the currently most probable internal model of the world, that is, the model that makes the best predictions about the incoming sensory data (Hohwy, Roepstorff, & Friston, 2008)
Our findings show that the current perceptual state during bistability can be decoded from fMRI signal patterns in stimulated early visual regions, which is in line with previous studies (Haynes & Rees, 2005), but crucially in non-stimulated retinotopic visual cortex, which did not receive any bottom-up input
Summary
According to the theory of predictive processing, our brains use an internal model of the world to make predictions that are fed back from higher to lower levels of the processing hierarchy, thereby enabling inferences about the hidden causes of the sensory input data (Friston, 2005; Rao & Ballard, 1999) This framework might provide the key to a neuroscientific account of conscious perceptual experiences, one of the greatest challenges for theories of human brain function. Measuring neural activity in regions of retinotopic visual cortex that do not receive feedforward input provides an elegant way to isolate effects of predictive feedback signalling in the human brain. We used this method to probe whether the actual contents of conscious visual perception, too, would be reflected by neural signals in non-stimulated regions of early visual cortex. We decoded from area hMT +/V5, and performed univariate ROI analyses both on stimulated and non-stimulated regions in early visual cortex and on area hMT+/V5 to better understand the neural processes underlying bistable plaid perception
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
