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Emotions from touch

Researchers created a database of 21 textures associated with different emotions, revealing soft surfaces tend to evoke pleasant feelings while rough ones elicit unpleasant sensations. The study also found people with high alexithymia levels experience more intense negative emotions when interacting with certain textures.

SourceNational Research University Higher School of Economics·JournalConsciousness and Cognition·DateJun 3, 2019

New AI sees like a human, filling in the blanks

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin developed an AI agent that can gather visual information and reconstruct a full 360-degree image of its surroundings. The agent uses deep learning to choose the most informative shots, similar to how humans would take pictures in different directions based on prior experience.

SourceUniversity of Texas at Austin·JournalScience Robotics·DateMay 15, 2019

Interpreting emotions: A matter of confidence

A recent study by UNIGE and HUG researchers found that people's confidence in interpreting others' emotions is often skewed by their personal experiences. The study used functional MRI to examine brain activity during emotional recognition, revealing that areas of the brain linked to autobiographical memory play a key role in determini...

SourceUniversité de Genève·JournalSocial Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience·DateDec 21, 2018

Implicit perception of gaze

A study involving over 800 participants found that unconscious assumptions about extramission theory led to different force estimates when a person gazed at an object. The results suggest the brain constructs a social model with an invisible energy beam from others' eyes, influencing perception.

SourceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·DateDec 17, 2018

Scientists discover hidden structure of enigmatic 'backwards' neural connections

Researchers at Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown uncover exquisitely organized map of visual space in feedback connections, providing insights into visual perception. The study reveals that these connections encode information from further locations in visual space, giving lower structures contextual 'whole picture' information.

SourceChampalimaud Centre for the Unknown·JournalNature Neuroscience·DateApr 16, 2018

Sexual objectification influences visual perception

Researchers found that symmetrical stimuli are less likely to trigger an inversion effect when targets are sexualized, suggesting a cognitive mechanism behind human sexual objectification. Visual exploration strategies may play a role in this phenomenon, with lower fixations on the face region of sexualized targets.

SourceUniversity of Vienna·JournalPLOS ONE·DateApr 12, 2018

Optimized perception in the twilight zone

Research at Goethe University Frankfurt reveals that the human brain prepares for dawn and dusk by reducing resting activity in the visual cortex, allowing it to process weak visual stimuli more effectively during these times. This mechanism may have provided an evolutionary advantage in the pre-industrial era.

SourceGoethe University Frankfurt·JournalNature Communications·DateApr 10, 2018

Study reveals vision's role in vowel perception

Researchers found that people closely watch lip movement and shape when perceiving speech, with subtle distinctions between vowel sounds suffering without these cues. The study's findings have implications for designing more intelligible avatars and improving communication devices for the hearing impaired.

Genes contribute to biological motion perception and its covariation with autistic traits

A study has linked individual variation in biological motion perception to genetic factors, revealing a common genetic basis for heritable aspects of BM perception and autistic traits. Genetic influences account for up to 50% of individual variation in local kinematics processing, while environmental factors shape global configuration ...

SourceChinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters·JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences·DateJan 22, 2018

Brains are more plastic than we thought

Researchers at McGill University have shown that practice can alter the way the brain uses sensory information, including visual perception. By temporarily deactivating a critical brain region, subjects who practiced with moving lines were able to perceive motion despite the region's inactivation.

SourceMcGill University·JournalNeuron·DateJul 19, 2017

How the brain recognizes what the eye sees

Researchers analyzed how neurons in V2 respond to natural scenes, discovering three principles: combining edges, cross-orientation suppression, and repeating patterns. This work provides insight into the brain's ability to recognize faces, cars, and other objects.

SourceSalk Institute·JournalNature Communications·DateJun 8, 2017

You don't see what I see?

A recent study found that cultural differences in visual processing affect the ability to discern simple differences between geometric figures. North Americans took longer to identify a straight line among tilted ones compared to Japanese volunteers.

SourceKyoto University·JournalCognitive Science·DateMay 23, 2017

Algorithms can exploit human perception in graph design

Researchers have developed an algorithm to automatically improve the design of scatterplots by exploiting models and measures of human perception. The optimized designs effectively communicate relationships between two data variables, reducing unintended miscommunication.

SourceAalto University·JournalIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics·DateApr 5, 2017

Zebrafish reveal the ups and downs of vision

Researchers have discovered specific cell types and mechanisms responsible for orientation selectivity in the retina of zebrafish, shedding light on how we perceive and recognize visual stimuli. The study reveals that mutating a key protein called Teneurin-3 leads to a loss of orientation selectivity in neurons.

SourceKing's College London·JournalCurrent Biology·DateJun 30, 2016

How the brain merges the senses

Scientists propose a computational model explaining multisensory integration in humans, utilizing a Multisensory Correlation Detector. The brain detects similarity across visual and auditory signals to integrate stimuli, opening new clinical perspectives for neurological syndromes like Autism Spectrum Disorder and Dyslexia.

SourceBielefeld University·JournalNature Communications·DateJun 6, 2016

Scientists work their magic on 'shrunken finger illusion'

Researchers at KU Leuven found that the human brain completes missing parts of objects using visual cues, leading to the 'shrunken finger illusion'. This counterintuitive phenomenon suggests our brains rely on visual system, not imagination, to fill in gaps. The study's findings provide new insights into perception and cognition.

SourceKU Leuven·JournalCurrent Biology·DateMar 31, 2016

The invisible world of human perception

A study published in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics reveals that people can intentionally exclude objects from their mental model of their environment. Test observers were faster at finding a target when the objects matched the color of the rectangle, but not when they did not, indicating top-down control over attention.

What you know can affect how you see

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that expertise influences how people process visual information, with novices faster to identify letter pairs but less accurate. The study used the Arabic alphabet and showed participants 2,000 pairs of letters, revealing biases in expert perception that went beyond visual features.

SourceJohns Hopkins University·JournalJournal of Experimental Psychology·DateMar 1, 2016