Hierarchies of spatiotemporal anticipation in the human brain

Summary

This project aims to uncover the neural mechanisms underlying hierarchical anticipatory signals in the human brain's visual system, investigating how the brain simultaneously anticipates events across multiple timescales.

What they want

The research will determine how hierarchical anticipatory signals form, what they represent, how they are updated, and how they guide future-oriented behavior. This will be accomplished using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neuropsychological studies, naturalistic stimuli, computational models, and advanced analytic approaches. Aim 1 will establish the formation and representation of these signals, hypothesizing dependence on memory systems, schema, and flexibility. Aim 2 will explore how top-down goals affect these signals and their relation to future-oriented visual behavior, hypothesizing differential updating and linking of episodic memories. Aim 3 will test theories of anticipatory representation structure, proposing influence from temporal and semantic relationships and developing a computational model.

Deliverables

Elucidation of mechanisms by which the visual system forms and flexibly updates anticipatory representations at multiple timescales
Understanding of how anticipatory representations relate to anticipatory behavior in naturalistic conditions
Empirical tests of the structure and development of anticipatory signals across the visual hierarchy
A computational model for predicting anticipatory event representations

Technical requirements

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Neuropsychological studies
Naturalistic stimuli
Computational models
Sophisticated analytic approaches for characterizing the dynamics of brain activity