Characterizing the precise dynamical balance of visual perception

该项目旨在证实和推广一种新的多稳态感知方法。从表面上看，在不同的观察者和不同的情况下，多稳定感知的动态是高度不同的，但从根本上说，它符合竞争、适应和噪声的精确平衡，正如我们发表的初步工作所表明的那样。该项目结合了对正常成年人、青少年和神经性厌食症患者多稳态感知的详细心理物理观察(与其他研究相比，使用了更多的统计方法)，并通过计算分析来推断每个人的精确动态运行状态。具体地说，我们希望在四个项目部分检验我们的核心工作假设(竞争、适应和噪声的精确平衡)：A部分：这种平衡的实验操作是否将动态运行状态转变为预测的方向？B部分：知觉稳定性是否随着对输入调制的敏感度降低而增加(反之亦然)？C部分：计算分析的结果是否适用于动力学模型的其他数学公式？D部分：具有诊断价值的动态运行状态是否具有诊断价值，即它是否揭示了不同个体的动态平衡的有意义的差异？事实上，有充分的理论理由期待视觉感知(就像任何其他基于统计推断的过程一样)在精确的动态平衡中运行。拟议项目的更大意义有三：(I)它将确定观察到的平衡是否真的是理论预测的平衡，即在感知推理的稳定性和敏感度之间进行权衡。(Ii)它将确定观察到的动态平衡是否由多稳定的吸引子动力学(竞争、适应和噪声的平衡)产生，而不是由其他产生巡回动力学的机制产生。(Iii)它将确定个体观察者的精确动态平衡是否具有诊断价值，无论是在发育过程中还是在神经紊乱的背景下。总之，拟议的项目将建立一种新的、定量的和实证的方法来测试和提炼重要的理论思想，如贝叶斯大脑假说[Knill和Pouget，2004]或自由能原理[Friston，2010]。

The proposed project aims to confirm and extend a novel approach to multi-stable perception. Superficially, the dynamics of multi-stable perception is highly diverse in different observers and in different situations but, fundamentally, it is consistent with a precise balance of competition, adaptation and noise, as our published preliminary work has shown. Several predictions flow from this observation, which the proposed project will test.The project combines detailed psychophysical observations of multi-stable perception (with more statistical measures than in other studies) in normal adults, in adolescents, and anorexia nervosa patients, with computational analyses to infer the precise dynamical operating regime of each individual. Specifically, we wish to test our central working hypothesis (precise balance of competition, adaptation, and noise) in four project parts:Part A: Do experimental manipulations of this balance shift the dynamical operating regime into the predicted direction?Part B: Does perceptual stability increase with decreasing sensitivity to input modulations (and vice versa), as computational theories of perception predict?Part C: Do the results of the computational analysis generalize to other mathematical formulations of the dynamical model?Part D: Is the dynamical operating regime of diagnostic value, that is, does it reveal meaningful differences in the dynamical balance of different individuals?In fact, there are good theoretical reasons to expect visual perception (like any other process based on statistical inference) to operate in a precise dynamical balance. The larger significance of the proposed projects is threefold:(i) It will establish whether or not the observed balance really is the balance predicted by theory, namely, a trade-off between the stability and the sensitivity of perceptual inference.(ii) It will establish whether or not the observed dynamical balance is generated by a multi-stable attractor dynamics (balance of competition, adaptation, and noise), rather than by some other mechanism generating itinerant dynamics.(iii) It will establish whether or not the precise dynamical balance of individual observers is of diagnostic value, either over the course of development or in the context of neurological disorders.In conclusion, the proposed project will establish a novel, quantitative, and empirical method to test and refine important theoretical ideas such as the Bayesian brain hypothesis [Knill and Pouget, 2004] or the free-energy principle [Friston, 2010].