Perhaps the coolest result was that these surprise signals were *shared across attributes*. That is, classifiers trained to decode surprise for shape could reliably do so for colour (and vice versa), after accounting for latency shifts.

Interestingly, we were still able to decode multivariate whole-scalpe representations of surprise (neutral vs. violation) separately for each attribute. Moreover, these signals were reliable from ~250 ms, suggesting that surprise is predominantly signalled after the initial feedforward sweep.

We first looked at the evoked responses and found classic effects of adaptation via the constant vs. change sequence comparisons.

This said, we found no evidence for visual surprise after controlling for cortical adaptation (i.e., when comparing surprising changes to neutral changes).

Here, we recorded EEG from participants who viewed sequences of a bound object that changed in either colour or shape over four steps. Crucially, the contexts of these changes were designed to appear random (and unsurprising) or violate the established trajectory (and cause surprise).

Perhaps the coolest result was that surprise signals were *shared across attributes*. That is, classifiers trained to decode surprise for shape could reliably do so for colour (and vice versa), after accounting for latency shifts.

Interestingly, we were still able to decode whole-scalp multivariate representations of surprise (neutral vs. violation) separately for each attribute. Moreover, these signals were reliable from ~250 ms, suggesting that surprise is predominantly signalled after the initial feedforward sweep.

We first looked at the evoked responses and found classic effects of adaptation via the constant vs. change sequence comparisons.

This said, we found no evidence for visual surprise after controlling for cortical adaptation (i.e., when comparing surprising changes to neutral changes).

Here, we recorded EEG from participants who viewed sequences of a bound object that changed in either colour or shape over four steps. Crucially, the contexts of these changes were designed to appear random (and unsurprising) or violate the established trajectory (and cause surprise).

And it was an absolute treat to run! Thanks everyone who attended :)
#ACNS2025

Road trippin’ to ACNS 2025, Melbourne!

@matthewod.bsky.social
@tvcottier.bsky.social
(Plus Ella and Seri)
@acnsau.bsky.social