Department of Neurophysics, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 406229 ER, Maastricht, Netherlands.
Cereb Cortex. 2024 Jan 14;34(1). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhad401.
Bistable perception follows from observing a static, ambiguous, (visual) stimulus with two possible interpretations. Here, we present an active (Bayesian) inference account of bistable perception and posit that perceptual transitions between different interpretations (i.e. inferences) of the same stimulus ensue from specific eye movements that shift the focus to a different visual feature. Formally, these inferences are a consequence of precision control that determines how confident beliefs are and change the frequency with which one can perceive-and alternate between-two distinct percepts. We hypothesized that there are multiple, but distinct, ways in which precision modulation can interact to give rise to a similar frequency of bistable perception. We validated this using numerical simulations of the Necker cube paradigm and demonstrate the multiple routes that underwrite the frequency of perceptual alternation. Our results provide an (enactive) computational account of the intricate precision balance underwriting bistable perception. Importantly, these precision parameters can be considered the computational homologs of particular neurotransmitters-i.e. acetylcholine, noradrenaline, dopamine-that have been previously implicated in controlling bistable perception, providing a computational link between the neurochemistry and perception.
双稳态感知源于观察具有两种可能解释的静态、模糊（视觉）刺激。在这里，我们提出了一种主动（贝叶斯）推理解释双稳态感知的方法，并假设在相同刺激的不同解释（即推理）之间的感知转换是由于特定的眼球运动引起的，这些眼球运动会将焦点转移到不同的视觉特征上。从形式上讲，这些推理是精度控制的结果，精度控制决定了信念的置信度，并改变了一个人能够感知和在两个不同感知之间交替的频率。我们假设存在多种但不同的精度调制方式，可以相互作用产生相似的双稳态感知频率。我们使用 Necker 立方体范式的数值模拟验证了这一点，并演示了支持感知交替频率的多种途径。我们的结果提供了一种（能动性）计算解释，说明了支持双稳态感知的复杂精度平衡。重要的是，这些精度参数可以被视为特定神经递质（即乙酰胆碱、去甲肾上腺素、多巴胺）的计算同系物，这些神经递质先前被认为可以控制双稳态感知，为神经化学和感知之间提供了计算联系。
