Articles tagged with Visual Attention
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Research by Universidad Complutense de Madrid found that consuming 2.5g of pure cocoa powder enhances photopic visual acuity in healthy adults during daylight conditions. The flavanols and theobromine in cocoa stimulate the central nervous system, improving attention.
Scientists conducted an experiment to study the capability of the visual system to automatically categorize objects. They found that the brain reacts differently to standard and deviant stimuli, indicating automatic sensory discrimination. The study contradicts the assumption that the visual system only categorizes by simple features.
Researchers at the National Eye Institute discovered a brain region, superior temporal sulcus (fSTS), crucial for processing and making decisions about visual information. This finding could provide clues to treating visual conditions from stroke.
Researchers explored the impact of eye position on speech intelligibility within a cocktail party setting. They found that performance was best when eye fixation was on target and suffered when off target.
Researchers found that customers who were shown product images on a display before shopping walked significantly more miles in the store and made double the number of unplanned purchases. A simple tip is to avoid wandering glances with the support of a shopping list.
Researchers at Aalto University conducted the first empirical study on mobile app design, finding that larger and brighter elements don't catch users' eyes. Instead, text elements and specific locations like the top-left corner tend to draw attention.
Research reveals that long-term experience of gaming improves cognitive development, particularly in allocating brain resources to individual visual stimuli. Expert players outperform beginners in tasks requiring rapid processing and attentional control.
Researchers at NIH defined a critical window for visual event detection in mice, revealing the superior colliculus plays a crucial role. Inhibiting this region impaired event perception and made mice more susceptible to distracting visuals.
Researchers found that suppressing alpha waves in one hemisphere of the parietal cortex improves attention to objects on the opposite side of the visual field. Neurofeedback training increased contrast perception, suggesting a causal relationship between alpha wave control and attention enhancement.
A new study from the University of Sussex found that distracted individuals are less likely to notice new smells, a condition known as inattentional smell blindness. This phenomenon is similar to visual attentional blindness, where people miss visual cues when busy, and can lead to missed warnings like smoke or gas alerts.
Researchers found that the primate brain quickly and efficiently shifts attention with each eye movement in a well-synchronized manner. This synchronization allows for optimal processing of relevant stimuli across saccades. The study's findings have implications for understanding disorders like schizophrenia and visual neglect.
Researchers found that action games enhance visual and reading attention in players, potentially aiding those with dyslexia. The study suggests that specific components of action games can be used to create new software to combat the disorder.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University found that our brains experience momentary unconscious gaps in visual perception when shifting attention. The study, published in Cerebral Cortex, discovered a brain mechanism underlying the phenomenon of mind's eye blink.
A new study by Ohio State University finds that moderately farsighted preschoolers have poorer scores on attention-related tests. The research suggests that uncorrected vision problems in young children can lead to deficits in learning and literacy.
Researchers overturn widely-held idea that visual attention is guided by saliency, instead finding meaning plays a key role. A new map of meaning in images reveals areas with higher meaning attract more attention than those with high contrast or brightness.
A new study found that children with poor vision show vast improvement in their peripheral vision after eight hours of training via kid-friendly video games. The game trains players to pay attention to the entire visual field, not just where their vision is most impaired, resulting in up to 50% improvement in visual perception tasks.
Researchers at Tohoku University found that visual attention has multiple functions and stages, including early visual processing and selective extraction of information. The study proposes a model of spatial attention that can predict different attention effects for various visual processes, which is useful for complex tasks like driv...
Researchers at Aalto University have developed a new scrolling technique called Spotlights, which uses the spotlight metaphor of human visual attention. This technique significantly speeds up browsing of long texts by 60%, reduces time spent locating desired locations, and increases the probability of noticing points of interest.
A University of Rochester team has developed a system that outperforms other approaches to creating computer-generated image captions by considering the meaning and context of words, not just images. The winning approach combines top-down and bottom-up methods to create more accurate and coherent captions.
Research from the University of Maryland and Tilburg University suggests that simpler, upfront ads perform better than complex ads, regardless of exposure duration. The study found that viewers actively try to avoid online ads due to their complexity, but shorter exposures can have different effects on ad ratings.
A new UCL study found that concentrating attention on a visual task significantly reduces brain response to sound and increases failures to detect audible sounds. This phenomenon, known as inattentional deafness, has serious implications for everyday life and tasks requiring focus, such as operating theatres or driving.
A University of Toronto study found that augmented-reality displays on windshields can reduce driving accuracy and increase the risk of accidents. Drivers must divide their attention between road conditions and digital warnings, leading to slower reaction times and missed warnings.
Researchers discovered a specialized mechanism for spatial self-awareness that combines visual cues with body motion, triggering reactions before the conscious brain processes them. This 'visuomotor binding' mechanism is less prone to distractions and may be linked to schizophrenia symptoms and difficulties with prosthetic limbs.
Researchers found that vision restoration training can strengthen partially surviving neurons and promote visual recovery 'hot spots'. The study analyzed data from 32 stroke patients with hemianopia and found that average absolute improvement was 6%.
A study by Professor Ian Spence found that drivers are distracted even when using voice-operated devices, increasing the risk of accidents. The researcher's study suggests that safety should be a top concern for internet access in vehicles.
Researchers at the Smithsonian found that e-readers can improve reading speed and comprehension for individuals with dyslexia by displaying short lines of text. This is particularly beneficial for those with visual attention deficits, who struggle to focus on letters within words or words within lines of text.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis have made a groundbreaking discovery on how visual attention affects brain activity. By measuring signaling through single nerve connections in monkeys, they found that attention increases efficiency and boosts signal strength.
Dyslexic children who played action video games for nine sessions showed significant improvements in reading speed and accuracy compared to non-action gamers. The study's findings suggest that visual attention deficits are at the root of dyslexia and that action video games can enhance visual attention, leading to better reading skills.
A study found that consumers are more likely to buy a product they previously focused on, while ignoring a product decreases its purchasing chances. Companies can exploit this by drawing attention through advertising or packaging to gain long-term advantages.
A study by Concordia University researchers found that consumers' gazes naturally draw towards centrally placed products. This subconscious visual focus influences purchasing decisions. By understanding these unconscious habits, shoppers can make more informed choices and train themselves to thoroughly scan product displays.
Researchers found that people perform worse when trying to do two visual tasks at once, yet rate their performance higher. Eye-tracking technology showed that people's gaze moved around more and spent less time fixated on any one task. The study suggests teaching media literacy to young people before they start driving.
Researchers at the University of Toronto found that playing action videogames for 10 hours improves visual attention and changes brain activity. The study used EEG recordings to detect differences in brain waves before and after gameplay.
Researchers found a causal connection between early problems with visual attention and later dyslexia diagnoses. Visual attention deficits were more predictive of reading disorders than language abilities at the prereading stage.
A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University has identified the neural mechanisms behind selecting what to visually attend to. They found that different regions in the brain communicate through white matter connections, allowing individuals to filter out irrelevant information.
A new study published in Neuron found that the brain can split attention into multiple 'spotlights' when focusing on two or more objects. This challenges traditional views on multitasking and suggests a more efficient way of processing information.
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London found that an optical illusion captures attention more strongly than other visual tests due to reflexive brain processing. The study suggests that the brain rapidly processes visual clues to guide where eyes look, influencing what we see.
A recent study using functional magnetic resonance imaging has found that attention, rather than awareness, modulates the activity in the primary visual cortex. This suggests that these two mental processes may be dissociated and affect nerve cells differently. The findings have implications for philosophy and psychology.
A team of researchers demonstrated that the brain predicts consequences of rapid eye movements, improving accuracy in identifying objects. This process, which precedes eye movements, speeds up subsequent actions towards targets.
A new study found that angry individuals pay more attention to rewarding images than threatening ones. This suggests that anger is associated with a motivation to approach rewards, rather than avoid threats. The research highlights the importance of understanding how emotions influence visual attention and behavior.
A study found that intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention, leading to better task performance over time. The benefits persisted even after five months, particularly for those who continued to meditate daily.
Robert H. Wurtz's groundbreaking research on visual information processing and eye movements has led to a deeper understanding of how the brain controls behavior. His discoveries have inspired hundreds of scientists to study cognitive processes, including attention and perception.
Researchers at the University of Washington found that memory for visual scenes is not determined by attention level or scene content, but rather by when the scene is presented. This suggests a brain mechanism that automatically encodes certain visual features into memory at behaviorally relevant points in time.
A new study published in Child Development found that children who spend more time in institutional care perform worse on tests of visual memory and attention, but make significant cognitive advances once adopted. Early deprivation can have lasting impacts on brain development.
Frequent video game players show reduced brain activity and behavioral disruption in proactive attention, a mechanism for preparing to act. In contrast, reactive attention is similar across gamers and non-gamers, suggesting other benefits of action games on visual processing.
Studies at the Salk Institute found that attention reduces background activity, increasing neural signal fidelity by a factor of up to four times. This reduction in noise accounts for approximately 80% of the improvement in perceptual discrimination when focusing on sensory stimuli.
Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston conducted a visual learning study that found viewers can learn about objects in their field of vision without paying attention. This challenges the common belief that attention is necessary for learning from visual stimuli. The study's findings suggest that ignorin...
Researchers at Salk Institute uncover how the brain uses attention to bring salient details into focus and filter out background clutter. By exploiting the center-surround organization of receptive fields, the brain separates task-relevant information from irrelevant clutter.
Research by University of Warwick reveals that hands-free cell phone conversations impair drivers' visual attention, increasing braking distances and errors. The study found that even passive listening to a conversation has a significant negative impact on driving performance.
Researchers using robotic lizards in Puerto Rico's forests showed that animals can use visual displays to grab their neighbors' attention before initiating more information-rich performances. Pushups and rapid dewlap extensions prompted neighboring lizards to orient themselves more quickly, confirming a nearly 30-year-old hypothesis.
The study found that recall of spoken digits was best when they came from the same loudspeaker, but degraded when switching attention to a new location. Sustaining attention to one continuous auditory stream led to refinements in selective attention over time.
Researchers have shown that our visual working memory can be shared out across the whole image, with more memory allocated for objects of interest and less for background detail. This means that we don't just remember every detail, but focus on the broad gist and specific details.
Researchers found that acetylcholine enhances visual processing by selectively enhancing information in the brain's visual cortex. This enhancement allows neurons to detect and signal stimuli below detection threshold, a process similar to how attention strengthens signals.
Researchers distinguish between two classes of brain cells with distinct roles in visual attention and highlight mechanisms by which they mediate attention. They found that neurons respond more strongly when attention is directed to the stimulus in their receptive fields, with narrow-spiking cells firing more frequently under attention.
Researchers found that sleep-deprived individuals can only process a small number of objects at a time, leading to memory decline. The brain's visual areas are also impaired, making it difficult to focus attention.
Neuroscientists at Duke University mapped neural activations for focused attention, shedding light on brain regions and timing involved. The study may aid clinicians addressing attention-related problems in conditions like schizophrenia and ADHD.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota discovered that erotic images can trigger unconscious brain responses in individuals based on their gender and sexual orientation. The study found that even when subjects were unaware of the images, they shifted their visual attention accordingly. The results suggest that the brain processes v...
Research by Vanderbilt University psychologist David Zald found that emotional images can lead to a phenomenon known as 'emotion-induced blindness,' where individuals fail to detect subsequent visual images. This effect is linked to personality traits, with those scoring high on harm avoidance being more affected.
A study by Johns Hopkins University suggests that cell phones and driving don't mix because directing attention to listening effectively 'turns down the volume' on visual input. Brain activity recordings show that attention is strictly limited, affecting both auditory and visual tasks.
A study by Washington University postdoctoral fellow Alan Castel found that expert video game players exhibit a 20% reduction in response times compared to non-players. This suggests that expertise is acquired through practice rather than being an innate ability.
The study found that when subjects focus on one feature, they also attend to similar features elsewhere in the visual field. The researchers developed an experimental technique to measure this phenomenon and its implications for understanding how our brain processes visual information.