Bayesian Inference Explains Perception of Unity and Ventriloquism Aftereffect: Identification of Common Sources of Audiovisual Stimuli

Satō, Yoshiyuki; Toyoizumi, Taro; Aihara, Kazuyuki

doi:10.1162/neco.2007.19.12.3335

Cited by 156 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(65 reference statements)

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“…A modern variant of this idea is that stimulus integration follows Bayesian laws. The idea here is that auditory and visual cues are combined in an optimal way by weighting each cue relative to an estimate of its noisiness, rather than one modality capturing the other (Alais & Burr, 2004b;Burr & Alais, 2006;Sato, Toyoizumi & Aihara, 2007).…”

Section: Bayesian Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The general understanding of the Bayesian approach is that an inference is based on two factors, the likelihood and the prior. The likelihood represents the sensory noise in the environment or in the brain, whereas the prior captures the statistics of the events in the environment (Alais & Burr, 2004b;Battaglia, Jacobs & Aslin, 2003;Burr & Alais, 2006;Ernst & Banks, 2002;Sato et al, 2007;Shams & Beierholm, 2010;Shi et al, 2010;Witten & Knudsen, 2005). With a localization task, Alais and Burr (2004b) demonstrated that the ventriloquist effect results from near-optimal integration.…”

Section: Bayesian Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intersensory binding across space and time: A tutorial review

Chen

Vroomen

2013

Atten Percept Psychophys

203

178

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Spatial ventriloquism refers to the phenomenon that a visual stimulus such as a flash can attract the perceived location of a spatially discordant but temporally synchronous sound. An analogous example of mutual attraction between audition and vision has been found in the temporal domain, where temporal aspects of a visual event, such as its onset, frequency, or duration, can be biased by a slightly asynchronous sound. In this review, we examine various manifestations of spatial and temporal attraction between the senses (both direct effects and aftereffects), and we discuss important constraints on the occurrence of these effects. Factors that potentially modulate ventriloquism-such as attention, synesthetic correspondence, and other cognitive factors-are described. We trace theories and models of spatial and temporal ventriloquism, from the traditional unity assumption and modality appropriateness hypothesis to more recent Bayesian and neural network approaches. Finally, we summarize recent evidence probing the underlying neural mechanisms of spatial and temporal ventriloquism.

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Section: Bayesian Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bayesian Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersensory binding across space and time: A tutorial review

Chen

Vroomen

2013

Atten Percept Psychophys

203

178

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“…However, over the past decade several studies have shown that Bayesian-like processing can underlie both sensory percepts and motor actions when prior expectations are combined with sensory inputs and when different sensory inputs are combined with one another (Ernst and Banks 2002;Stocker and Simoncelli 2006a;Weiss et al 2002;Wolpert et al 1995) and several perceptual illusions have been explained on the basis of Bayes' law (Gregory 2006;Sato et al 2007;Stocker and Simoncelli 2006a;Weiss et al 2002). For example, visual uncertainty biases the perception of speed in a manner consistent with Bayes' law.…”

Section: Perceptual Illusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Filtering noisy sensory information through prior expectations can yield more accurate estimates than when this information is used alone. Bayes' theorem (or Bayes' law) can be used to determine optimally accurate estimates that minimize errors in judgment, given noisy sensory measurements and prior expectations, and recent studies have suggested that Bayes' law explains several key features of perceptions and motor actions, including certain perceptual illusions (Ernst and Banks 2002;Gregory 2006;Norris and Kinoshita 2008;Sato et al 2007;Stocker and Simoncelli 2006a;Weiss et al 2002). Therefore Bayes' law may provide a framework for understanding illusory weight perceptions driven by prior expectations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bayesian and “Anti-Bayesian” Biases in Sensory Integration for Action and Perception in the Size–Weight Illusion

Brayanov

Smith

2010

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Brayanov JB, Smith MA. Bayesian and "anti-Bayesian" biases in sensory integration for action and perception in the size-weight illusion. J Neurophysiol 103: 1518 -1531, 2010. First published January 20, 2010 doi:10.1152/jn.00814.2009. Which is heavier: a pound of lead or a pound of feathers? This classic trick question belies a simple but surprising truth: when lifted, the pound of lead feels heavier-a phenomenon known as the size-weight illusion. To estimate the weight of an object, our CNS combines two imperfect sources of information: a prior expectation, based on the object's appearance, and direct sensory information from lifting it. Bayes' theorem (or Bayes' law) defines the statistically optimal way to combine multiple information sources for maximally accurate estimation. Here we asked whether the mechanisms for combining these information sources produce statistically optimal weight estimates for both perceptions and actions. We first studied the ability of subjects to hold one hand steady when the other removed an object from it, under conditions in which sensory information about the object's weight sometimes conflicted with prior expectations based on its size. Since the ability to steady the supporting hand depends on the generation of a motor command that accounts for lift timing and object weight, hand motion can be used to gauge biases in weight estimation by the motor system. We found that these motor system weight estimates reflected the integration of prior expectations with real-time proprioceptive information in a Bayesian, statistically optimal fashion that discounted unexpected sensory information. This produces a motor sizeweight illusion that consistently biases weight estimates toward prior expectations. In contrast, when subjects compared the weights of two objects, their perceptions defied Bayes' law, exaggerating the value of unexpected sensory information. This produces a perceptual size-weight illusion that biases weight perceptions away from prior expectations. We term this effect "anti-Bayesian" because the bias is opposite that seen in Bayesian integration. Our findings suggest that two fundamentally different strategies for the integration of prior expectations with sensory information coexist in the nervous system for weight estimation.

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“…In the no-cue condition, the monitor displayed only an exclamation mark, followed by the stimulus presentation. Directly after the presentation of the stimulus, the fixation cross was replaced ing et al, 2007;Roach, Heron, & McGraw, 2006;Sato, Toyoizumi, & Aihara, 2007;Shams, Ma, & Beierholm, 2005;Wozny, Beierholm, & Shams, 2008), however, have concluded that sensory integration is partial rather than complete. That is, the sum of the weights for the modalities to be integrated is less than one, and the information of each modality remains individually accessible when all are combined.…”

Section: Main Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Counting visual and tactile events: The effect of attention on multisensory integration

Werkhoven

Erp²,

Philippi

2009

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics

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Irrelevant events in one sensory modality can influence the number of events that are perceived in another modality. Previously, the underlying process of sensory integration was studied in conditions in which participants knew a priori which sensory modality was relevant and which was not. Consequently, (bottom-up) sensory interference and (top-down) selective attention were confounded. We disentangled these effects by measuring the influence of visual flashes on the number of tactile taps that were perceived, and vice versa, in two conditions. In the cue condition, participants were instructed on which modality to report before the bimodal stimulus was presented. In the no-cue condition, they were instructed after stimulus presentation. Participants reported the number of events that they perceived for bimodal combinations of one, two, or three flashes and one, two, or three taps. Our main findings were that (1) in no-cue conditions, the influence of vision on touch was stronger than was the influence of touch on vision; (2) in cue conditions, the integration effects were smaller than those in no-cue conditions; and (3) irrelevant taps were less easily ignored than were irrelevant flashes. This study disentangled previously confounded bottom-up and top-down effects: The bottom-up influence of vision on touch was stronger, but vision was also more easily suppressed by top-down selective attention. We have compared our results qualitatively and quantitatively with recently proposed sensory-integration models.

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Bayesian Inference Explains Perception of Unity and Ventriloquism Aftereffect: Identification of Common Sources of Audiovisual Stimuli

Cited by 156 publications

References 28 publications

Intersensory binding across space and time: A tutorial review

Intersensory binding across space and time: A tutorial review

Bayesian and “Anti-Bayesian” Biases in Sensory Integration for Action and Perception in the Size–Weight Illusion

Counting visual and tactile events: The effect of attention on multisensory integration

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