This perspective article challenges the traditional view that categorization is a final stage of perception occurring after feature detection and memory retrieval. Instead, the authors propose that categorization is an integral computational strategy implemented throughout all stages of neural signal processing. By utilizing predictive feedback signals to organize feedforward processing, the brain creates a neural context that enables continuous grouping of objects, actions, or events into equivalence clusters.
Key points include:
- Categorization occurs from the beginning of signal processing rather than as an end stage.
- The role of predictive feedback in creating a neural context for organization.
- Evidence drawn from neuroanatomy, electrophysiology, and cognitive science.
- Implications for understanding neuropsychiatric disorders and future research directions.
Key points include:
- Categorization occurs from the beginning of signal processing rather than as an end stage.
- The role of predictive feedback in creating a neural context for organization.
- Evidence drawn from neuroanatomy, electrophysiology, and cognitive science.
- Implications for understanding neuropsychiatric disorders and future research directions.
This study reveals a role for the superior colliculus in higher-order cognition, independent of its role in spatial orienting. Researchers found that the superior colliculus exhibits robust encoding of learned visual categories and its inactivation markedly impaired category decisions in rhesus macaques.
