Generalization of prior information for rapid Bayesian time estimation

Roach, Neil W., McGraw, Paul V., Whitaker, David J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8271-7552 and Heron, James 2017. Generalization of prior information for rapid Bayesian time estimation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114 (2) , pp. 412-417. 10.1073/pnas.1610706114

Preview

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Download (7MB) | Preview

Abstract

To enable effective interaction with the environment, the brain combines noisy sensory information with expectations based on prior experience. There is ample evidence showing that humans can learn statistical regularities in sensory input and exploit this knowledge to improve perceptual decisions and actions. However, fundamental questions remain regarding how priors are learned and how they generalize to different sensory and behavioral contexts. In principle, maintaining a large set of highly specific priors may be inefficient and restrict the speed at which expectations can be formed and updated in response to changes in the environment. However, priors formed by generalizing across varying contexts may not be accurate. Here, we exploit rapidly induced contextual biases in duration reproduction to reveal how these competing demands are resolved during the early stages of prior acquisition. We show that observers initially form a single prior by generalizing across duration distributions coupled with distinct sensory signals. In contrast, they form multiple priors if distributions are coupled with distinct motor outputs. Together, our findings suggest that rapid prior acquisition is facilitated by generalization across experiences of different sensory inputs but organized according to how that sensory information is acted on.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Optometry and Vision Sciences
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
ISSN:	0027-8424
Related URLs:	http://www.pnas.org/
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 December 2016
Date of Acceptance:	28 November 2016
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2024 13:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/96730

Citation Data

Cited 41 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item