Implicit exploitation of regularities: Novel correlations in images quickly alter visual perception

Viewing a set of two thousand images in which the contrasts of a central and a surrounding pattern were highly correlated increased the suppressive influence of the surround on the perceived contrast of the central pattern. The apparent increase in inhibition supports the operation of an anti-Hebbian mechanism between the two groups of cells excited by the patterns (one group by the central pattern and the other by the surround). According to this mechanism, inhibitory connections between nearby cells increase in efficacy according to a simple function of the correlations between the cells’ activities.