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Arousal Reshapes Perceptual Representations

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Nickolas Paternoster¹ (), Khena Swallow²; ¹Cornell University

The locus coeruleus (LC) releases norepinephrine in a phasic burst during arousing events, a pattern that often enhances behavioral outcomes by improving both accuracy and response time. Prevailing theories attribute these benefits to the sharpening of neural responses; however, such models merely amplify or suppress existing signals, leaving the structure of information unchanged. We propose instead that arousal serves to modulate spatial interactions through lateral inhibition, thereby inducing representational shifts and facilitating perceptual distinctiveness. To test this account, we formalized existing LC-based arousal theories within a CNN–drift diffusion pipeline and validated the outputs using human behavioral data from a novel ultra-rapid categorization study. The introduction of lateral inhibition significantly improved human–model alignment, whereas traditional signal-based models not only failed to replicate behavior but also significantly reduced accuracy. Analysis of network dynamics revealed that alterations in representational space were significantly correlated with increases in human alignment and enhanced the informativeness of individual units. These findings imply that the effects of arousal depend critically on local interactions, operating through representational changes rather than signal amplification alone.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Vision