Temporal attention and expectation in the predictive coding framework

• Applicant: Dr. Ryszard Auksztulewicz
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2013 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 240108925

The way we perceive the world can be shaped by top-down influences, such as attention (prioritising behaviourally relevant stimuli) and expectation (exploiting probability of events). In most cases, attention and expectation lead to a more efficient processing of sensory stimuli. However, recent studies indicate opposing effects of attention and expectation, and current debates aim at reconciling their distinct mechanisms.The predictive coding framework, an influential theory of perceptual processing, has been proposed to form a basis for integrating the effects of attention and expectation in a parsimonious, biophysically realistic, and computationally precise fashion. To extend and generalise previous findings which have predominantly investigated spatial top-down processing, the proposed work will test whether temporal attention and expectation are dissociated in perception.Two studies using magnetoencephalography in healthy participants will disentangle the effects of attention and expectation in terms of neural oscillations, stimulus perceivability, and the interplay of top-down and bottom-up processing in the sensory cortex. A third study will use pharmacological manipulations of dopaminergic and glutamatergic signalling and test their distinct effects on perception. Establishing the links between top-down and bottom-up information processing in brain networks and their neurochemical substrates will be crucial for understanding schizophrenia and other conditions linked to disruptions in prediction systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Professor Dr. Karl Friston