Cortical evidence accumulation for visual perception occurs irrespective of reports

François Stockart (), Ramla Msheik, Alexis Robin, Lenka Jurkovičová, Dorian Goueytes, Martin Rouy, Radek Mareček, Dominique Hoffmann, Liad Mudrik, Robert Roman, Milan Brázdil, Lorella Minotti, Philippe Kahane, Michael Pereira and Nathan Faivre
Additional contact information
François Stockart: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC
Ramla Msheik: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC
Alexis Robin: CHU Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm
Lenka Jurkovičová: St. Anne’s University Hospital and Medical Faculty of Masaryk University
Dorian Goueytes: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC
Radek Mareček: St. Anne’s University Hospital and Medical Faculty of Masaryk University
Dominique Hoffmann: CHU Grenoble Alpes
Liad Mudrik: Tel Aviv University
Robert Roman: St. Anne’s University Hospital and Medical Faculty of Masaryk University
Milan Brázdil: St. Anne’s University Hospital and Medical Faculty of Masaryk University
Lorella Minotti: CHU Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm
Philippe Kahane: CHU Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm
Michael Pereira: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC
Nathan Faivre: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Abstract Perception is a multi-faceted, dynamical process that can be tackled empirically through measures of stimulus detectability and confidence. We recorded stereo-electroencephalographic data of 29 participants partaking in three pre-registered experiments to assess if evidence accumulation, a form of sequential sampling of sensory evidence, can explain perception. In an immediate-response experiment, high-gamma activity from individual channels and decoded multivariate latent variables in the visual, inferior frontal, and anterior insular cortices display a correlation between the slope of their increase and reaction times. In two further experiments, this signal in the ventral visual cortex differentiates between (1) stimuli reported as seen vs. unseen in delayed detection, (2) high and low intensity stimuli during passive viewing, and (3) levels of confidence when stimuli were detected. A computational model of leaky evidence accumulation can successfully reproduce both behavioral and neural data. Overall, we show that evidence accumulation explains subjective aspects of visual perception.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63255-y

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