Introspective inference counteracts perceptual distortion

Abstract

AbstractIntrospective agents can recognize the extent to which their internal perceptual experiences deviate from the actual states of the external world. This ability, also known as insight, is critically required for reality testing and is impaired in psychosis, yet very little is known about its cognitive underpinnings. We developed a Bayesian modeling framework and a novel psychophysics paradigm to quantitatively characterize this type of insight while participants experienced a motion after-effect illusion. Participants could compensate for the illusion when judging the actual direction of a motion stimulus. Furthermore, confidence, reaction-time, and pupil-dilation data all showed signatures consistent with inferential adjustments in the Bayesian insight model. Our results suggest that people can question the veracity of what they see and make insightful inferences that incorporate introspective knowledge about internal distortions.