Articles tagged with Sensory Perception
Researchers identified a brain circuit that enables comparison between current and previous sensory information to aid judgment. The pulvinar region in the thalamus provides advice on how much sensory information has changed, helping the brain make predictions about what's happening.
Researchers discovered that tobacco hawkmoth wings have specialized hair-like structures that can detect specific aromas. The wings contain sensory receptors that can pick out unpleasant amine odours, guiding the moths to their favorite plants for laying eggs.
A new review article synthesizes information on neural traveling waves, concluding they are a computational engine in the visual cortex. These waves allow the brain to build internal representations of the external world, enabling prediction and perception.
Researchers at Tokyo University of Science found that revealing visual elements sequentially and matching each element with the speaker's narration improves attention and learning. Participants in a cumulative presentation format showed higher test scores compared to whole-slide presentations.
A Dartmouth study reveals that people's gaze patterns in new environments contain unique personality preferences. The researchers used eye-tracking data to model individual gaze patterns and create machine-learning models that could distinguish between participants based on their conceptual themes.
Researchers found that smelling dark chocolate odors increased training volume and suppressed hunger, while milk chocolate had no effect. The study suggests that food scents can trigger changes in body and mind similar to actual consumption.
A University of Stirling-led review found that certain design elements, such as striped patterns and high-contrast colors, can contribute to visual discomfort. This can range from eyestrain to migraine, and is often more pronounced in individuals with sensory sensitivities like autism, ADHD, or dyslexia.
Researchers warn that AI faces are becoming increasingly trustworthy, with the latest diffusion model outperforming earlier models. This poses significant risks of online fraud and erosion of trust in society, as people become more susceptible to fake faces used for nefarious purposes.
A new color-changing tactile sensor, developed by Queen Mary University of London, allows robots to map contact, strain, and pressure in high resolution. This technology has the potential to improve robotic grippers for precision manufacturing and prosthetic limbs for better sensing capabilities.
Two studies found that mice take single sniffs to deliberately probe their environment, like humans. Humans process odors rapidly within a single sniff, mirroring rodent-like olfactory brain processing. These findings suggest fundamental biological rules behind smell processing have been preserved through evolution.
A virtual reality study with zebrafish shows that the environment experienced by young fish influences the shape and electrical activity of neurons in the eye. Fish growing up surrounded by horizontal stripes develop differently shaped neurons compared to those exposed to vertical stripes, which affects their behavior.
Researchers discovered that the brain uses both sharpening and refining strategies to process expected and unexpected events. Expected events lead to rapid responses but poor memory recall, while unexpected events receive sensory priority and are better remembered.
A new study reveals that smell loss can have a devastating impact on quality of life, comparable to conditions like Parkinson’s, stroke, and diabetes. Patients with smell disorders experience significant emotional, social, and psychological suffering, often rivaling those with chronic illnesses.
A POSTECH research team developed a haptic device that can operate inside MRI scanners, enabling the measurement of brain activity during VR experiences. The study found that adding tactile feedback increased brain activation in areas responsible for motor control, attention, and cognitive processing.
Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute have identified key properties that influence how neurons respond to visual stimuli, including distance from the soma and local clustering. These findings provide insight into how brain circuits process information and may shed light on neural disorders.
A new paper in Neuroscience & Biobehavioural Review proposes a comprehensive neurobiological model of affective tactile memory, suggesting that emotionally meaningful touch is stored in the brain in powerful and lasting ways. This research opens a new window into how early and everyday tactile experiences influence our emotional lives.
A new study removes bitter-tasting compounds from flaxseed oil, preserving its health-beneficial fatty acids and extending its shelf life. The approach uses bleaching earth to selectively reduce cyclolinopeptides, resulting in a flavor-stable oil that remains milder for longer.
A new genetic study found that Indigenous populations in Malaysia have well-preserved olfactory receptor genes, suggesting a strong evolutionary pressure to maintain them. The study suggests that the human sense of smell has played a bigger role in shaping evolution than previously thought, adapting alongside major cultural changes.
A new study reveals that mice can rapidly identify odors using temporal filtering, a process that enables transmission of only the first set of signals belonging to the identified smell. This finding challenges traditional views on mammalian sensory processing and may have implications for artificial intelligence tools.
A new study found that nearly half of young survivors of the October 7 attacks developed atypical sensory patterns, causing everyday stimuli to be perceived as overwhelming threats. This altered sensory processing is directly tied to emotional distress and anxiety in children.
The 48th AChemS Annual Meeting will present cutting-edge research on chemosensory perception, including its implications for human health, behavior, and quality of life. The conference highlights new findings on the role of smell in eating behavior, disease diagnosis, and obesity treatments.
Researchers confirmed core predictions of Hubel and Wiesel's model by analyzing signal transmission at individual synapses between the thalamus and visual cortex. They found that orientation selectivity emerges through cortical circuits, resolving a long-standing controversy in neuroscience.
A research team led by LEE Doyun and KIM Yee-Joon found that the primary visual cortex encodes motion summaries and variability before higher brain regions transform them into category signals. This process, known as ensemble perception, allows the brain to capture the overall structure of a scene at a glance.
A new brain pathway has been identified that enables humans to quickly detect and respond to 'scary' sounds, leading to increased self-reported fearfulness. This pathway is associated with better hearing ability in noisy environments.
A recent study found that adults with total or near-total vision loss who also experience hearing loss report lower confidence in their sound localization abilities, despite receiving specialized training. The researchers suggest that clinicians should account for hearing status during vision rehabilitation training to address individu...
Researchers identified new neurons that respond to different spatial frequencies, allowing for more precise object recognition, and used digital twins to confirm the findings in mouse brains.
Researchers assessed whether people can distinguish between AI-generated and human speech, discovering that short training minimally improves this ability. However, neural responses became more distinct for human versus AI speech, suggesting training can help in the future.
Researchers found that people's expectations about sugar content alter their enjoyment of beverages containing artificial sweeteners. By manipulating participants' expectations, the study shows how the brain's reward system responds to sweet flavors, with increased activation in the dopaminergic midbrain.
A study published in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology found that exposure to oleamide, a chemical additive in plastics, caused immediate changes in octopus prey choice and interactions with predators. The effects persisted for at least three days, suggesting a lasting impact on marine behavior and ecosystem dynamics.
A blind patient partially recovered natural vision through electrical stimulation of the visual cortex, independent of the implant. The recovery was sustained over time and remained even after the device was removed, suggesting individual factors may have contributed to this outcome.
Research shows that bitter taste receptors can be activated by steroid hormones, influencing physiological processes. The study found that certain hormone types, like progesterone and testosterone, activate these receptors, which may play a role in pregnancy-related taste changes or stress-induced physiological responses.
Researchers compared brains of stroke patients with healthy controls to reveal differences in language processing mechanisms. People with verbal speech processing issues from stroke have weaker processing of speech sounds than healthy participants.
Researchers found that the skin relies on TRPM8 sensor for cold detection, while internal organs primarily use TRPA1 sensor. This difference explains variations in external and internal cold perception, and has implications for understanding thermal homeostasis and pathologies related to cold sensitivity.
A new device from Stanford University aims to improve mindfulness by amplifying and channeling sounds of hand interactions, drawing users into the present moment. The auditory approach fosters greater awareness and clarity, encouraging users to perceive their environment with renewed curiosity.
A new review emphasizes the importance of smell health, highlighting its role in nutrition, cognitive function, and psychological resilience. Researchers call for a global campaign to promote smell health through education, awareness, and targeted public health policies.
Biologists have discovered that shiny colours serve as signals for pollinators and mates, but compromise colour perception at close range. This study found that dynamic, shiny colours are more conspicuous from afar, but harder to discern in detail.
Researchers analyzed clips from Hollywood films to identify brain structures linking visual and tactile experiences. They discovered eight remarkably similar maps in the visual cortex, mirroring the body's organization in the somatosensory cortex.
A new study found that the brain encodes molecular features of odors early on to support odor discrimination, while representing subjective attributes like pleasantness later. This distinction can be used to assess olfactory disorders or enhance function.
A study from the University of Victoria suggests that humans can smell testosterone and associate it with dominance. The research found that participants rated men with higher testosterone levels as more dominant than those with lower levels, indicating a link between body odour and perceptions of social status.
The study reveals how chemical sensors discriminate among various odorant molecules using explainable AI, enabling the selection of receptor materials for high-performance sensors. This breakthrough advances understanding of human olfaction and paves the way for practical application of artificial olfaction technology.
A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals that early sound exposure significantly affects brain activity and emotional preferences in mice. Male mice develop strong behavioral changes when exposed to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 or silence, while female mice show varied preferences.
A study led by Dr. Yasuyuki Fujii found that flavanols activate the brain's sensory nerves, inducing physiological responses similar to those induced by exercise, improving attention, arousal, and memory. Flavanol intake also boosted neurotransmitter activity, strengthened the noradrenergic system, and enhanced stress response regulation.
Researchers at Northwestern University captured a detailed look at TRPM3, a core temperature sensor, revealing how it turns on when temperatures rise. The finding uncovers a new way that cells sense temperature, helping explain how the nervous system distinguishes harmless warmth from dangerous heat.
A new MIT study found that a theta-frequency brain wave scans the mental image and a region of the cortex maps visual information. The researchers observed that performance depends on the phase of this wave when the changed square appears, and the vertical location on the screen of that target square.
Researchers found that brain activity corresponds to perceived beat when listening to music via sound but not through touch. This ability is crucial for human social interactions through music and may be strengthened by long-term practice.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University created 'visual anagrams' using AI to study how people mentally process visual information. The findings reveal classic real-world size effects, even when objects are rotated versions of the same image.
Researchers found that people process sounds differently when walking compared to standing or walking in place. The brain responds more strongly to sounds while walking, and this response changes depending on the direction of the walk.
The brain divides vision between its two hemispheres to enable seamless perception. Researchers at the Picower Institute found that different frequencies of brain waves are encoded and transferred information from one hemisphere to the other before an object crosses the middle of the field of view.
Researchers used precise neural activity measurements from epilepsy patients to study how brain processes speech. The findings suggest the auditory cortex operates on a fixed, internal timescale independent of speech structures, providing a consistently timed stream of information.
A study of individuals taking Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro found that 21.3% reported food tasting sweeter, while 22.6% said it tasted saltier than before. These changes were linked to reduced appetite and weight loss in all groups, with participants who experienced increased sweetness being twice as likely to report increased satiety.
Researchers identified IC-encoder neurons that drive pattern completion and recurrent neural activity in the brain. The findings have implications for understanding neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia.
A new study reveals that the brain integrates signals from taste and smell earlier than thought, activating the same parts of the brain's taste cortex. This overlap suggests a shared neural code for flavour experiences, which may influence our eating habits and preferences.
Researchers found that distinct neural representations of color are conserved across people's brains, enabling scientists to predict the color and brightness of observed stimuli using brain activity comparisons. This study provides new insights into the universal aspects of human color perception.
Researchers have established apple snails as a system to study eye regeneration, which may hold the key for restoring vision due to damage and disease. The team discovered that the snail eye is anatomically similar to humans and can regrow itself, with genes such as pax6 playing a crucial role in development.
A new study reveals that the brain has distinct regions for processing 'things', such as rigid objects, versus 'stuff', like liquids or sand. These findings may help the brain plan interactions with different materials, similar to artificial physics engines used in video games.
A study found that evaluators' musical experience influences the sight-over-sound effect, reducing its impact for those with auditory expertise. The study used Japanese high school brass band competitions and found no significant evidence of the effect in musicians, but a stronger presence in non-musicians.
A study published in Nature Communications reveals that neurons in mice brain rewire and refine their connections to integrate visual signals from both eyes over a 10-day period. The researchers found that only 40% of the initial synapses survived, with 24% added and 27% removed, indicating an extensive process of synaptic turnover.
New research suggests that blurry, color-limited vision in early childhood can contribute to the development of key brain pathways. The study proposes that such limited vision allows the brain to specialize in certain processing units, which later develop into distinct pathways for color and fine spatial detail.
Researchers propose using chemical sensors to diagnose bacterial infections by detecting volatile organic compounds in bodily fluids, providing a rapid and affordable diagnostic test. The technology has the potential to improve treatment plans and combat antibiotic resistance.
A study in mice reveals that only 40% of synapses survive during critical development, with active spines more likely to endure. Clustering of spines also emerges, allowing them to combine activity and enhance visual processing.