The Brains blog is excited about the next Neural Mechanisms webinar this Friday. It is free. Find information about how and when to join the webinar here: https://www.neuralmechanisms.org/blog/webinar-julia-haas-8-february-2019 (and below).
Revisiting Binocular Rivalry
Julia Haas (Australian National University)
February 8, 2019 Webinar
h 8-10 –
(Convert to your local time here)
Abstract. Hohwy et al.’s (2008) ‘epistemological’ explanation of binocular rivalry is taken as a classic illustration of predictive coding’s ubiquity and explanatory power. I revisit the account and show that it cannot explain a core feature of binocular rivalry, namely, perceptual dominance in rewarded conditions. A more recent version of Bayesian model averaging, known as Variational Bayes, can account for the role of reward in rivalry by recasting it as a form of optimism bias. However, I argue that if we accept this modified account, we must revise our understanding of perception as a neutral, informational or ‘theoretical’ process in the mind.
Join the session (up to 10 minutes before it begins) | Ask for the paper
