Insight: Neuroscientific investigations of knowledge effects on visual perception and awareness

根据经典和当前的模型，视觉感知可以被看作是封装在这个意义上，它是不调制的认知因素，如预期或先验知识。然而，越来越多的证据表明，即使是口头传播的知识也会塑造感知，正如目前项目第一阶段所证明的那样。对面孔和物体的感知可以通过知识来调节，这不仅对我们如何感知和评估我们的环境有相当大的影响，而且对我们的社交和社会互动也有相当大的影响。迄今为止，人们对知识影响知觉的确切机制知之甚少，对知识影响视觉意识的机制更是知之甚少。因此，第二阶段的主要目标是确定知识对感知的影响的确切机制，并调查知识对视觉意识的潜在影响。第1部分用事件相关脑电位研究（1）视觉衍生信息的影响（例如，关于情感状态，吸引力或人格印象的可信度）对社会相关的人相关信息的影响，（2）口头标记为不确定的八卦对面孔感知和道德判断的影响，以及（3）抽象的，口头传播的信息的观察效果是否推广到基于直接交际经验的知识。第2部分研究视觉意识以及它是如何通过（1）长期建立的记忆并潜在地嵌入在面部视觉表征中的社会相关知识，（2）感知语义专业知识，以及（3）知识的一致性和面部和物体的视觉特性来调节的。研究的目的是为了更好地理解知识对视觉感知和视觉意识的影响的基本机制和限度。

According to classic and current models visual perception can be viewed as encapsulated in the sense that it is not modulated by cognitive factors such as expectations or prior knowledge. Yet, evidence is cumulating that even verbally transmitted knowledge shapes perception, as has been demonstrated in the first phase of the current project. The perception of faces and objects can be modulated by knowledge, and this can have considerable conse-quences not only on how we perceive and evaluate our environment, but also on our behav-iour and social interactions. To date, not much is known about the precise mechanisms of knowledge effects on perception, and even less is known about influences of knowledge on visual awareness. The main goals of the second phase are therefore to determine the precise mechanisms that underlie knowledge effects on perception and to investigate the potential influences of knowledge on visual awareness. Part 1 investigates with event-related brain potentials (1) the influence of visually derived information (e.g., about emotional states, attrac-tiveness or personality impressions as trustworthiness) on effects of socially relevant person related information, (2) effects of gossip that is verbally marked as uncertain on face percep-tion and moral judgments, and (3) whether the observed effects of abstract, verbally transmit-ted information generalize to knowledge that is based on direct communicative experience. Part 2 investigates visual awareness and how it is modulated by (1) by socially relevant knowledge that is long established memory and potentially embedded in the visual represen-tations of faces, (2) by perceptual-semantic expertise, and (3) by the congruency of knowledge and the visual properties of faces and objects. The planned research should con-tribute to a better understanding of the basic mechanisms and limits of knowledge induced influences on visual perception and visual awareness.