Rat sensitivity to multipoint statistics is predicted by efficient coding of natural scenes

Abstract

Efficient processing of sensory data requires adapting the neuronal encoding strategy to the statistics of natural stimuli. Previously, in Hermundstad et al. 2014, we showed that local multipoint correlation patterns that are most variable in natural images are also the most perceptually salient for human observers, in a way that is compatible with the efficient coding principle. Understanding the neuronal mechanisms underlying such adaptation to image statistics will require performing invasive experiments that are impossible in humans. Therefore, it is important to understand whether a similar phenomenon can be detected in animal species that allow for powerful experimental manipulations, such as rodents. Here we selected four image statistics (from single- to four-point correlations) and trained four groups of rats to discriminate between white noise patterns and binary textures containing variable intensity levels of one of such statistics. We interpreted the resulting psychometric data with an ideal observer model, finding a sharp decrease in sensitivity from 2- to 4-point correlations and a further decrease from 4- to 3-point. This ranking fully reproduces the trend we previously observed in humans, thus extending a direct demonstration of efficient coding to a species where neuronal and developmental processes can be interrogated and causally manipulated.