A9
Prof. Dr. Daniel Kaiser
Spatiotemporal prediction in the cortical processing of natural visual information
Predictive processing theories view cortical feedback mechanisms as essential for vision in natural environments. Although recent research shows that feedback is coded in specific brain rhythms, we do not know enough about how such oscillatory feedback orchestrates key computations in perception.
In this project, we employ a combination of spatially, temporally, and spectrally resolved neural recordings and computational modelling to resolve how predictive feedback supports two critical computations in real-world environments:
(1) the integration of information across visual space, and
(2) the interpolation of information that is momentarily unavailable
new project-related publications
Chen L, Cichy RM*, Kaiser D* (2023). Alpha-frequency feedback to early visual cortex orchestrates coherent naturalistic vision. Sci Adv 9: eadi2321. *equal contribution
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Chen L, Cichy RM*, Kaiser D* (2024). Coherent categorical information triggers integration-related alpha dynamics. Journal of Neurophysiology, 131 (4), 619-625.
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Chen, L., Cichy, R. M., & Kaiser, D. (2025). Representational shifts from feedforward to feedback rhythms index phenomenological integration in naturalistic vision. Communications Biology, 8(1), 576.
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Kaiser, D. (2024). Spectral brain signatures of aesthetic natural perception in the α and β frequency bands. Journal of Neurophysiology, 128(6), 1501-1505.
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Kaiser, D., Stecher, R., & Doerschner, K. (2023). EEG decoding reveals neural predictions for naturalistic material behaviors. Journal of Neuroscience, 43(29), 5406-5413. find paper
Klink H, Kaiser D, Stecher R, Ambrus GG*, Kovács G* (2024). Your place or mine? The neural dynamics of personally familiar scene recognition suggests category independent familiarity encoding. Cereb Cortex. *equal contribution find paper 
Küçük, E., Foxwell, M., Kaiser, D., & Pitcher, D. (2024). Moving and Static Faces, Bodies, Objects, and Scenes Are Differentially Represented across the Three Visual Pathways.. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 36(12), 2639-2651. find paper 
Lu, Z., Doerig, A., Bosch, V., Krahmer, B., Kaiser, D., Cichy, R. M., & Kietzmann, T. C. (2025). End-to-end topographic networks as models of cortical map formation and human visual behaviour. Nature Human Behaviour, 1-17.
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Nara, S., & Kaiser, D. (2024). Integrative processing in artificial and biological vision predicts the perceived beauty of natural images. Science Advances, 10(9), eadi9294.
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Pitcher, D., Sliwinska, M. W., & Kaiser, D. (2023). TMS disruption of the lateral prefrontal cortex increases neural activity in the default mode network when naming facial expressions. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 18(1), nsad072. find paper
Stecher, R., & Kaiser, D. (2024). Representations of imaginary scenes and their properties in cortical alpha activity. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 12796.
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Stecher, R., Cichy, R. M., & Kaiser, D. (2025). Decoding the rhythmic representation and communication of visual contents. Trends in Neurosciences, 48(3), 178-188.
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Wang, G., Foxwell, M. J., Cichy, R. M., Pitcher, D., & Kaiser, D. (2024). Individual differences in internal models explain idiosyncrasies in scene perception. Cognition, 245, 105723. find paper
Xie, S., Singer, J., Yilmaz, B., Kaiser, D., & Cichy, R. M. (2025). Recurrence affects the geometry of visual representations across the ventral visual stream in the human brain. PLoS Biology, 23(8), e3003354.
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Yeh, L. C., Bardelang, M., & Kaiser, D. (2025). Cortical alpha rhythms interpolate occluded motion from natural scene context.Journal of Neurophysiology, 133(5), 1497-1502.
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