bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.06.02.657314
Expectation effects based on newly learnt object-scene associations are modulated by spatial frequency
Abstract
Objects typically appear within rich visual scenes. Some models of visual system function propose that scene information is extracted from low-spatial frequency components and rapidly propagates through the visual processing hierarchy. This contextual information may help bias perceptual inferences toward objects that are likely to appear within a scene, enacted via top-down feedback carrying predictions. We tested this hypothesised influence of low spatial frequency information through newly learnt predictive object-scene associations. We recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) data from 40 participants who viewed high-spatial frequency objects embedded in either low- or high-spatial frequency scenes. Object-scene pairings were probabilistically manipulated such that certain objects more frequently appeared in certain scenes. We trained classifiers on EEG data from object-only trials and tested them on object plus scene trials. We did not observe differences in classification accuracy across expected and unexpected objects for both low- and high-spatial frequency scenes, nor any interaction between spatial frequency and expectation. However, we observed expectation effects on event-related potentials. These effects arose at similar latencies for both low- and high-spatial frequency scenes. Together, we report evidence that expectations induced by object-scene pairings influence visually evoked responses but do not modulate object representations.
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Kikkawa, M., Feuerriegel, D. C., Garrido, M. I.. 2025-06-04. Expectation effects based on newly learnt object-scene associations are modulated by spatial frequency. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.02.657314
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