Adaptation decorrelates shape representations

Marcelo G. Mattar (), Maria Olkkonen, Russell A. Epstein and Geoffrey K. Aguirre
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Marcelo G. Mattar: University of Pennsylvania
Maria Olkkonen: Durham University
Russell A. Epstein: University of Pennsylvania
Geoffrey K. Aguirre: University of Pennsylvania

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Perception and neural responses are modulated by sensory history. Visual adaptation, an example of such an effect, has been hypothesized to improve stimulus discrimination by decorrelating responses across a set of neural units. While a central theoretical model, behavioral and neural evidence for this theory is limited and inconclusive. Here, we use a parametric 3D shape-space to test whether adaptation decorrelates shape representations in humans. In a behavioral experiment with 20 subjects, we find that adaptation to a shape class improves discrimination of subsequently presented stimuli with similar features. In a BOLD fMRI experiment with 10 subjects, we observe that adaptation to a shape class decorrelates the multivariate representations of subsequently presented stimuli with similar features in object-selective cortex. These results support the long-standing proposal that adaptation improves perceptual discrimination and decorrelates neural representations, offering insights into potential underlying mechanisms.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06278-y

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