Lionel Naccache, Tal Seidel Malkinson, Cecile Eymond, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle Epinière = Brain and Spine Institute (ICM), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Neuropsychologie et neuroimagerie fonctionnelle [Paris] (PICNIC), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP), Institut de neurosciences translationnelles de Paris (NeurATRIS - IHU-A-ICM), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP), This research received funding from the FRM Grant agreement no. DEQ20150331737 to L. N., from Academy of Sciences (Neurology Lamonica Prize 2016) to L.N., and from Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship nos. 702577 and ANR-16-CE37-0005 to T.S.M., ANR-16-CE37-0005,BRANDY,Étude intracérébrale et MEG de la dynamique des réseaux cérébraux de l'attention chez des sujets sains et chez des patients cérébro-lésés(2016), Institut du Cerveau = Paris Brain Institute (ICM), Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-CHU Pitié-Salpêtrière [AP-HP], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Sorbonne Université (SU), Bodescot, Myriam, and Étude intracérébrale et MEG de la dynamique des réseaux cérébraux de l'attention chez des sujets sains et chez des patients cérébro-lésés - - BRANDY2016 - ANR-16-CE37-0005 - AAPG2016 - VALID
Our conscious visual perception relies on predictive signals, notably in the periphery where sensory uncertainty is high. We investigated how such signals could support perceptual stability of objects’ size across the visual field. When attended carefully, the same object appears slightly smaller in the periphery compared to the fovea. Could this perceptual difference be encoded as a strong prior to predict the peripheral perceived size relative to the fovea? Recent studies emphasized the role of foveal information in defining peripheral size percepts. However, they could not disentangle bottom-up from top-down mechanisms. Here, we revealed a pure top-down contribution to the perceptual size difference between periphery and fovea. First, we discovered a novel Ebbinghaus illusion effect, inducing a typical reduction of foveal perceived size, but a reversed increase effect in the periphery. The resulting illusory size percept was similar at both locations, deviating from the classic perceptual difference. Then through an updating process of successive peripheral-foveal viewing, the unusual peripheral perceived size decreased. The classic perceptual eccentricity difference was restored and the peripheral illusion effect changed into a fovea-like reduction. Therefore, we report the existence of a prior that actively shapes peripheral size perception and stabilizes it relative to the fovea.