Fig. 3: Target detection performance is consistent with the normative model predictions.

a Schematic of the behavioral setup and task outcomes. Tetrode drive images are adapted from ref. ⁸⁵. b Performance as a function of task exposure. Individual traces indicate performance of mice first trained to detect targets in low contrast (blue) or high contrast (red). Thick lines are a 7-day running average across mice in each training group. The dashed red trace near 0.5 was the performance of a mouse who failed to learn the task in high contrast and was excluded from further analysis. c Individual psychometric curves in low and high contrast (n = 12 mice), overlaid with psychometric fits to the average. Dashed vertical lines indicate detection thresholds. d Detection thresholds from the data plotted in c (n = 12 mice; two-way paired t-test: p = 0.0057). e Slopes of the psychometric functions plotted in c (n = 12 mice; two-way paired t-test: p = 0.023). Error bars indicate ±SEM over mice. f Detection performance of threshold level targets presented at different delays from the contrast switch (circles indicate mean ± SEM). Performance is overlaid with exponential fits in each contrast. Horizontal lines above the plot indicate significant sign-rank tests after false-discovery correction. g Adaptation time constants from exponential functions fit to individual mice (n = 21). Asterisks indicate the result of a two-way sign-rank test (p = 0.0060). Error bars indicate ±SEM over mice. h Comparison of average normative model predictions (red lines) to the data (gray distributions) for psychometric thresholds, slopes and adaptation time. The y-axis is the contrast modulation index (CMI, Methods) of the values in each plot. Data distributions were estimated using bootstrapping of the mean (threshold, slope) or median (\(\tau\)) CMI (10,000 samples with replacement). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.