2. Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder The Relativity of Visual Experience Andrew Duggins Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney andrew.duggins@sydney.edu.au

3. Is Experience Relative? Do the transformations of Einstein’s special relativity apply to subjective spacetime? Just as… – gravity is the curvature of objective spacetime by mass – attention is the curvature of subjective spacetime by information

4. Plan Subjective spacetime Special relativity – Time dilation – Limiting speed c Information theory – Efficient encoding General Relativity – Oddball effects – Artist’s perspective – Equivalence principle – Visual inattention – Sketch of a unifying theory

5. XII VI IX III IIX IV III XI

6. XII VI IX III

8. 1 1 t x

9. 1 1 t x

10. 1 1 t x

11. 1 1 t x

12. 1 1 t x

13. 1 1 t x

14. 1 1 t x

15. 1 1 t x

16. 1 1 t x

17. 1 1 t x t

18. 1 1 t x t Speed of light, c = 1

19. 1 1 t x t c ≠ 1

20. 1 1 t x t

21. 1 1 t x t x 1 1

22. t x 1 1 t x 1 1 t 2 – x 2 = 1

23. 1 1 t x t 1

24. t x 1 1 t x 1 1 t 2 – x 2 = t 2 = 1 t2t2 – x 2 = 1 τ = 1 Proper time, τ = √ (t 2 – x 2 )

25. XII VI IX III IIX IV III XI

26. XII VI IX III IIX IV III XI

27. t x 1 1 t x 1 1 t x 1 1

28. speed, v 1 rapidity, φ Speed of light, c = 1 0.68 0.825 0.5 0.55 v = tanh φ

29. Vestibulo-ocular reflex

102. Vestibular nystagmus

283. Pulaski et al, Brain Research, 1981

284. c = 500 deg/sec v eye /500 = tanh (v head /500) Pulaski et al, Brain Research, 1981

285. Is Experience Relative? Do the transformations of Einstein’s special relativity apply to subjective spacetime? …..Perhaps!

286.  00  01  10  11 To encode the sequence: 2 binary digits per trial

287. ¼ ½ 1 2 1 0 -2 -3 -4 Probability (P) Information (I) = -log 2 (P) I 1 bit 2 bits 3 bits P½¼1/81/8P½¼1/81/8

289.  0  10  110  111 To encode the sequence: 1.75 binary digits per trial 1.75 bits = = ‘Entropy’ 1.75 bits/trial = the most efficient possible code P = ½ P = ¼ P = 1 / 8

290. Choice Reaction Time Task

291. Choice Reaction Time Hick, 1952 – k items – Reaction time  log 2 (k) Hyman, 1953 – Skewed distributions – Reaction time  Entropy – ~ 129ms/bit Our Hypothesis Quicker reactions for more probable alternatives Minimum reaction time on average

293. ‘Efficient Coding’ Hypothesis Survival depends on the minimum average reaction time Reaction time to stimulus x depends on the length of the ‘neural codeword’ Codeword length, and visual processing activity should vary with self-information, - log 2 P(x)

295. Strange et al (2005)

296. Comments Attention – Coextensive with visual attention network – ‘Oddball’ responses reflect efficient coding Repetition suppression – Updated probabilities increase with repetition – Self-information incrementally decays The Neural Codeword

297. Subjective Duration 1 Pariyadath, Eagleman (2007) 2 nd object: P = 1/2 P = 1/6 1 bit 2.58 bits Random 2 nd object perceived to last 60ms > Repeated = an extra 38ms/bit

298. Subjective Duration 2 Pariyadath, Eagleman (2007) Random/Sequential 2 nd object: ‐log 2 (1/3) = 1.58 bits Scrambled 2 nd object: ‐log 2 (1/9) = 3.17 bits Relative delay 75ms=an extra 47ms/bit

299. Coding Hypothesis Stimulus information expands: – Subjective duration – Reaction latency …to a similar extent

300. Am I a blue circle? Zombie celebrity heads

301. Conclusions Information prolongs experience Information delays reaction – Efficient coding – Minimum expected reaction time Experience first, react later: Information quantifies the difficulty inherent in the ‘Hard’ problem

302. Duration Dilation by Information Objective time 320ms 1 Bit 360ms Subjective time 2 Bits Subjective time 400ms 0 Bits 40ms / bit

304. Hypothesis Gravity is the curvature of objective spacetime by mass Attention is the curvature of subjective spacetime by information Time Space

310. r 2 =x2x2 + y 2

311. θ dr 2 + r 2 dθ 2 dσ 2 ≠ Length dilation at distance: dσ/dr = 1/√(1 + r 2 ) << 1

313. Equivalence Principle

315. Left Visual Inattention

316. Left Vestibular Stimulation

317. Left Angular Acceleration

318. Visual Inattention 0 π/6 π/3 π/2 2π/3 5π/6 π x = θ 1 metre

321. 0π/6π/3π/22π/35π/6π x σ dσ/dx > 1

322. 0π/6π/3π/22π/35π/6π x σ dσ/dx ≈ 1 Length contraction as x → 0

323. 0π/6π/3π/22π/35π/6π x σ dτ/dt < 1 Basso et al, Neuroreport, 1996

324. 0π/6π/3π/22π/35π/6π x s dτ/dt ≈ 1 Time dilation as x → 0

325. dτ 2 = (1 – 2MG/x) dt 2 – 1/(1 – 2MG/x) dx 2 -MG/x = ‘gravitational potential’ dτ 2 = (1 – 2IA/x) dt 2 – 1/(1 – 2IA/x) dx 2 -IA/x = ‘attentional potential’ I = ‘reduction in uncertainty’A = ‘attentional constant’