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Poster Session A: Tuesday, August 12, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Anticipated Relevance Modulates Early Visual Processing

Lasse Dietz¹, Samson Chota, Christoph Strauch, Kabir Arora¹, Stefan van der Stigchel, Surya Gayet; ¹Utrecht University

Presenter: Lasse Dietz

Finding objects in our environment involves comparing visual input with memory representations to prioritize relevant over irrelevant visual input. In dynamic environments, relevance can change. Anticipating relevant visual events allows the visual system to allocate resources efficiently. We examined how predictable changes in stimulus relevance affect memory-guided visual processing. Participants memorized an oriented grating and a cue indicated which of two sequentially presented probes was relevant for a memory match/mismatch judgment. First, using rapid invisible frequency tagging (RIFT), we imperceptibly modulated the luminance at the stimulus location with 60Hz, inducing a corresponding oscillatory response in the occipital electrodes of the EEG signal. We found an increased RIFT response -reflecting that early visual processing intensified- before the presentation of relevant compared to irrelevant probes. Second, using multivariate pattern analyses, we found that memory-matching and memory-mismatching probes evoke a more distinct neural response when they are task-relevant compared to irrelevant. Together, these findings demonstrate that anticipating the relevance of upcoming events enables the visual system to prepare visual processing for efficient memory-guided visual selection.

Topic Area: Visual Processing & Computational Vision

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