2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience

13-16 September 2019    Berlin, Germany

Technical Program

Paper Detail

Paper: PS-1B.45
Session: Poster Session 1B
Location: H Fläche 1.OG
Session Time: Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation Time:Saturday, September 14, 16:30 - 19:30
Presentation: Poster
Publication: 2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, 13-16 September 2019, Berlin, Germany
Paper Title: Electroencephalographic Correlates of Temporal Bayesian Belief Updating and Surprise
Manuscript:  Click here to view manuscript
License: Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2019.1103-0
Authors: Antonino Visalli, Mariagrazia Capizzi, Ettore Ambrosini, University of Padova, Italy; Bruno Kopp, Hannover Medical School, Germany; Antonino Vallesi, University of Padova, Italy
Abstract: The brain predicts the timing of forthcoming events to optimize responses to them. Such predictions are driven by both prior expectations on the likely timing of stimulus occurrence and the information conveyed by the passage of time (hazard function). Events that violate expectations cause surprise and often induce updating of prior beliefs. Here we combined a Bayesian computational approach with electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural dynamics associated with updating of temporal expectations in the human brain. Moreover, since belief updating is usually highly correlated with surprise, participants performed a temporal foreperiod task that was specifically designed for differentiating between these two processes. The results confirmed that updating and surprise can be functionally distinguished at the EEG level. We isolated two dissociable P3 subcomponents that specifically index the two processes, providing new insights on these event-related potential (ERP) components and their Bayesian interpretation. To the best of our knowledge, the present study delineates ERP correlates of belief updating and surprise about the timing of events for the first time.