Event Date and Time
-
Location
1103 Bioscience Research Building

 

Speaker: Dr. Ralf Haefner, University of Rochester

Title: Behavioral and neural signatures of approximate hierarchical inference

Host: Dr. Dan Butts

Abstract:

Since motion can only be defined relative to a reference frame, which reference frame guides perception? A century of psychophysical studies has produced conflicting evidence: retinotopic, egocentric, world-centric, or even object-centric. I will present our recent work on a hierarchical Bayesian model mapping retinal velocities to perceived velocities as well as the psychophysical data that support critical predictions of our model, and that allow us to infer the subjective set of reference frames used by individual observers. Our model provides a quantitative normative justification for key Gestalt principles providing inspiration for building better models of visual processing in general. If time permits, I will also present work on the neural basis of our model, both by linking it to divisive normalization, as well as by describing a general method for testing Bayesian models using neural data.

Below is a link to a paper by Dr. Haefner that will be relevant to his talk.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.18.567582v2

Dr. Ralf Haefner