Rat sensitivity to multipoint statistics is predicted by efficient coding of natural scenes.
Rat sensitivity to multipoint statistics is predicted by efficient coding of natural scenes.
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DOI：
10.7554/elife.72081
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发表时间：
2021-12-07
期刊：
影响因子：
7.7
通讯作者：
Zoccolan D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Caramellino R;Piasini E;Buccellato A;Carboncino A;Balasubramanian V;Zoccolan D
有效地处理感官数据需要使神经元编码策略适应自然刺激的统计。此前，在Hermundstad et al.， 2014中，我们表明，在自然图像中变化最大的局部多点相关模式对人类观察者来说也是感知上最显著的，这与高效编码原则是一致的。理解这种适应图像统计的神经元机制需要进行侵入性实验，而这在人类身上是不可能的。因此，了解是否可以在允许强大实验操作的动物物种（如啮齿动物）中检测到类似的现象是很重要的。在这里，我们选择了四种图像统计（从单点相关性到四点相关性），并训练四组大鼠区分白噪声模式和包含其中一种统计变量强度水平的二元纹理。我们用一个理想的观察者模型解释了由此产生的心理测量数据，发现从两点到四点的相关性敏感性急剧下降，从四点到三点的相关性进一步下降。这一排名完全再现了我们之前在人类身上观察到的趋势，从而将有效编码的直接演示扩展到一个物种，在这个物种中，神经元和发育过程可以被询问和因果操纵。
Efficient processing of sensory data requires adapting the neuronal encoding strategy to the statistics of natural stimuli. Previously, in Hermundstad et al., 2014, we showed that local multipoint correlation patterns that are most variable in natural images are also the most perceptually salient for human observers, in a way that is compatible with the efficient coding principle. Understanding the neuronal mechanisms underlying such adaptation to image statistics will require performing invasive experiments that are impossible in humans. Therefore, it is important to understand whether a similar phenomenon can be detected in animal species that allow for powerful experimental manipulations, such as rodents. Here we selected four image statistics (from single- to four-point correlations) and trained four groups of rats to discriminate between white noise patterns and binary textures containing variable intensity levels of one of such statistics. We interpreted the resulting psychometric data with an ideal observer model, finding a sharp decrease in sensitivity from two- to four-point correlations and a further decrease from four- to three-point. This ranking fully reproduces the trend we previously observed in humans, thus extending a direct demonstration of efficient coding to a species where neuronal and developmental processes can be interrogated and causally manipulated.