1. Neuroscience

Neural markers of predictive coding under perceptual uncertainty revealed with Hierarchical Frequency Tagging

  1. Noam Gordon  Is a corresponding author
  2. Roger Koenig-Robert
  3. Naotsugu Tsuchiya
  4. Jeroen van Boxtel
  5. Jakob Hohwy  Is a corresponding author
  1. Monash University, Australia
  2. The University of New South Wales, Australia
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22749
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Cite this article
  1. Noam Gordon
  2. Roger Koenig-Robert
  3. Naotsugu Tsuchiya
  4. Jeroen van Boxtel
  5. Jakob Hohwy
(2017)
Neural markers of predictive coding under perceptual uncertainty revealed with Hierarchical Frequency Tagging
eLife 6:e22749.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22749
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Abstract

There is a growing understanding that both top-down and bottom-up signals underlie perception. But it is not known how these signals integrate with each other and how this depends on the perceived stimuli's predictability. 'Predictive coding' theories describe this integration in terms of how well top-down predictions fit with bottom-up sensory input. Identifying neural markers for such signal integration is therefore essential for the study of perception and predictive coding theories. To achieve this, we combined EEG methods that preferentially tag different levels in the visual hierarchy. Importantly, we examined intermodulation components as a measure of integration between these signals. Our results link the different signals to core aspects of predictive coding, and suggest that top-down predictions indeed integrate with bottom-up signals in a manner that is modulated by the predictability of the sensory input, providing evidence for predictive coding and opening new avenues to studying such interactions in perception.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Noam Gordon

    Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Philosophy Department, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
    For correspondence
    noam.gordon@monash.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-4438-7449

  2. Roger Koenig-Robert

    School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8767-3552

  3. Naotsugu Tsuchiya

    Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Jeroen van Boxtel

    Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2643-0474

  5. Jakob Hohwy

    Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Philosophy Department, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
    For correspondence
    jakob.hohwy@monash.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3906-3060

Funding

Australian Research Council (DP130100194)

  • Roger Koenig-Robert
  • Naotsugu Tsuchiya

Australian Research Council (FT120100619)

  • Naotsugu Tsuchiya

Australian Research Council (FT100100322)

  • Jakob Hohwy

Australian Research Council (DP160102770)

  • Jakob Hohwy

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: Participants gave their written consent to participate in the experiment. Experimental procedures were approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (CF12/2542 - 2012001375)

Reviewing Editor

  1. Klaas Enno Stephan, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Version history

  1. Received: October 27, 2016
  2. Accepted: February 26, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: February 28, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: March 21, 2017 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2017, Gordon et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Noam Gordon
  2. Roger Koenig-Robert
  3. Naotsugu Tsuchiya
  4. Jeroen van Boxtel
  5. Jakob Hohwy
(2017)
Neural markers of predictive coding under perceptual uncertainty revealed with Hierarchical Frequency Tagging
eLife 6:e22749.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22749

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