Testing sensory evidence against mnemonic templates

摘要: Most perceptual decisions require comparisons between current input and an internal template. Classic studies propose that templates are encoded in sustained activity of sensory neurons. However, stimulus encoding is itself dynamic, tracing a complex trajectory through space. Which part this pre-activated to reflect the template? Here we recorded magneto- electroencephalography during visual target-detection task, used pattern analyses decode template, stimulus, decision-variable representation. Our findings ran counter dominant model pre-activation. Instead, template information emerged transiently around onset quickly subsided. Cross-generalization coding, indicating shared neural representation, occurred only briefly. results compatible with proposal representation relies on matched filter, transforming into task-appropriate output. This was consistent signed difference response at decision stage, which can be explained by simple model.