article published yes Ann Hermundstad author John Briguglio author Mary Conte author Jonathan Victor author Vijay Balasubramanian author Gasper Tkacik author 3D494DCA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A870000-0002-6699-1455 GaTk department Sensitivity to higher-order statistics in natural scenes project Information processing in the sensory periphery is shaped by natural stimulus statistics. In the periphery, a transmission bottleneck constrains performance; thus efficient coding implies that natural signal components with a predictably wider range should be compressed. In a different regime—when sampling limitations constrain performance—efficient coding implies that more resources should be allocated to informative features that are more variable. We propose that this regime is relevant for sensory cortex when it extracts complex features from limited numbers of sensory samples. To test this prediction, we use central visual processing as a model: we show that visual sensitivity for local multi-point spatial correlations, described by dozens of independently-measured parameters, can be quantitatively predicted from the structure of natural images. This suggests that efficient coding applies centrally, where it extends to higher-order sensory features and operates in a regime in which sensitivity increases with feature variability. https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/download/1886/4922/IST-2016-420-v1+1_e03722.full.pdf application/pdfno eLife Sciences Publications2014 eng 00020968530000110.7554/eLife.03722 November A. Hermundstad, J. Briguglio, M. Conte, J. Victor, V. Balasubramanian, and G. Tkačik, “Variance predicts salience in central sensory processing,” <i>eLife</i>, no. November. eLife Sciences Publications, 2014. Hermundstad A, Briguglio J, Conte M, Victor J, Balasubramanian V, Tkačik G. 2014. Variance predicts salience in central sensory processing. eLife. (November), e03722. Hermundstad A, Briguglio J, Conte M, Victor J, Balasubramanian V, Tkačik G. Variance predicts salience in central sensory processing. <i>eLife</i>. 2014;(November). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03722">10.7554/eLife.03722</a> A. Hermundstad, J. Briguglio, M. Conte, J. Victor, V. Balasubramanian, G. Tkačik, ELife (2014). Hermundstad, Ann, John Briguglio, Mary Conte, Jonathan Victor, Vijay Balasubramanian, and Gašper Tkačik. “Variance Predicts Salience in Central Sensory Processing.” <i>ELife</i>. eLife Sciences Publications, 2014. <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03722">https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03722</a>. Hermundstad, Ann, et al. “Variance Predicts Salience in Central Sensory Processing.” <i>ELife</i>, no. November, e03722, eLife Sciences Publications, 2014, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03722">10.7554/eLife.03722</a>. Hermundstad, A., Briguglio, J., Conte, M., Victor, J., Balasubramanian, V., &#38; Tkačik, G. (2014). Variance predicts salience in central sensory processing. <i>ELife</i>. eLife Sciences Publications. <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03722">https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03722</a> 18862018-12-11T11:54:32Z2025-09-29T13:08:33Z