http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/mind_brain/perception/ Delve into the complexities of perception research. Learn how infants recognize faces, how adults interpret conversational pauses, and how taste, smell and touch are processed in the brain. en-us Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:05:01 EST Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:05:01 EST 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/mind_brain/perception/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213154057.htm At an age when "ba-ba" and "da-da" may be their only utterances, infants nevertheless comprehend words for many common objects, according to a new study. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213154057.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209102007.htm When you see a picture of a hand, how do you know whether it's a right or left hand? This "hand laterality" problem may seem obscure, but it reveals a lot about how the brain sorts out confusing perceptions. Now, a new study challenges the long-held consensus about how we solve this problem. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209102007.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208180057.htm Ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New research may one day help you improve your memory. Neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in human patients by stimulating a critical junction in the brain. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208180057.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208152252.htm Gene therapy for congenital blindness took another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye. The patients were better able to see in dim light, with no adverse effects. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:22:22 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208152252.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208145955.htm Scientists have tapped onto the visual cortex of the congenitally blind by using sensory substitution devices (SSDs), enabling the blind in effect to "see" and even describe objects. SSDs are non-invasive sensory aids that provide visual information to the blind via their existing senses. For example, using a visual-to-auditory SSD in a clinical or everyday setting, users wear a miniature video camera connected to a small computer (or smart phone) and stereo headphones. The images are converted into "soundscapes," using a predictable algorithm, allowing the user to listen to and then interpret the visual information coming from the camera. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208145955.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120206143817.htm A new study may explain why people can hold visual information in great detail in their working memory. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:38:38 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120206143817.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120206102948.htm Cultural differences between the West and East are well documented, but a study shows that concrete differences also exist in how British and Chinese people recognize people and the world around them. Easterners really do look at the world differently to Westerners, according to new research. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:29:29 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120206102948.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203182623.htm New brain imaging research reveals that a region of the brain important for sensing texture through touch, the parietal operculum, is also activated when someone listens to a sentence with a textural metaphor. The same region is not activated when a similar sentence expressing the meaning of the metaphor is heard. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:26:26 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203182623.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203101153.htm Understanding the human mind is the key to social robotics, and researchers describe what we can expect from this field in the future. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203101153.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092031.htm When a patient afflicted with schizophrenia hears inner voices something is taking place inside the brain that prevents the individual from perceiving real voices. A simple electronic application may help the patient learn to shift focus. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092031.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201123937.htm Scientists have found that the capacity of the human brain to process and record information - and not economic constraints - may constitute the dominant limiting factor for the overall growth of globally stored information. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201123937.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201120736.htm There is definitely more than meets the eye where faces are concerned. Researchers are investigating the process of facial recognition, seeking to understand the complexity of what is actually taking place in the brain when one person looks at another. The studies target people who display an inability to recognize faces, a condition long known as prosopagnosia. The research is aimed at trying to understand the neural basis of the condition while also make inferences about what is going wrong in terms of information processing -- where in the stages that our brains go through to recognize a face is the system breaking down. A new paper details the most recent experimental results. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:07:07 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201120736.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201092918.htm Scientists have found that a rare dyslexia-linked genetic variant of the ROBO1 gene decreases normal crossing of auditory pathways in the human brain. The results link, for the first time, a dyslexia-susceptibility gene to a specific sensory function of the human brain. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:29:29 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201092918.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201092301.htm A new study finds new evidence that touch-sensing nerve cells may fuel tinnitus. Future treatments may target these cells. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:23:23 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201092301.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131175627.htm New research might help explain how a gene mutation found in some autistic individuals leads to difficulties in processing auditory cues and paying spatial attention to sound. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:56:56 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131175627.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131175158.htm Neuroscientists and surgeons have recorded electrical activity in the temporal lobe -- the seat of the auditory system -- to discover how the brain encodes sound. Their model allows them to predict what a person heard based solely on temporal lobe activity. If, as studies suggest, internal "imagined" conversations activate similar areas of the temporal lobe, it may be possible to hear the internal verbalizations of people who cannot talk because of paralysis or stroke. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:51:51 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131175158.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131121421.htm Holding information within one's memory for a short while is a seemingly simple and everyday task. We use our short-term memory when remembering a new telephone number if there is nothing to write at hand, or to find the beautiful dress inside the store that we were just admiring in the shopping window. Yet, despite the apparent simplicity of these actions, short-term memory is a complex cognitive act that entails the participation of multiple brain regions. However, whether and how different brain regions cooperate during memory has remained elusive. Researchers in Germany have now come closer to answering this question. They discovered that oscillations between different brain regions are crucial in visually remembering things over a short period of time. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:14:14 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131121421.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130172402.htm Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training, according to the first study to provide biological evidence that lifelong musical experience impacts the aging process. Measuring automatic brain responses of younger and older musicians and non-musicians to speech sounds, researchers found older musicians not only outperformed older non-musicians, they also encoded sound stimuli as quickly and accurately as younger non-musicians. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130172402.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130171905.htm Scientists have long believed that human speech is processed towards the back of the brain's cerebral cortex, behind auditory cortex where all sounds are received -- a place famously known as Wernicke's area. But, now, research that analyzed more than 100 imaging studies concludes that Wernicke's area is in the wrong location. The site newly identified is miles away in terms of brain architecture and function. Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:19:19 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130171905.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120129151046.htm Do baby-faced opponents have a better chance of gaining your trust? By subtly altering fictional politicians' faces, researchers examined whether minor changes in appearance can affect people's judgment about "enemy" politicians and their offer to make peace. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the research showed that peace offers from baby-faced politicians had a better chance of winning over the opposing population than the exact same offer coming from more mature-looking leaders. Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:10:10 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120129151046.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127162800.htm The eyes are the window into the soul -- or at least the mind, according to a new article. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:28:28 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127162800.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126134001.htm A key feature of human and animal brains is that they are adaptive; they are able to change their structure and function based on input from the environment and on the potential associations, or consequences, of that input. To learn more about such neural adaptability, researchers have explored the brains of insects and identified a mechanism by which the connections in their brain change to form new and specific memories of smells. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126134001.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125132810.htm If you were a blind, cannibalistic sea slug, living among others just like you, nearly every encounter with another creature would require a simple cost/benefit calculation: Should I eat that -- or flee? In a new study, researchers report that these responses are linked to a simple circuit in the brain of the sea slug Pleurobranchaea. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:28:28 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125132810.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125091153.htm A significant obstacle to progress in understanding psychiatric disorders is the difficulty in obtaining living brain tissue for study so that disease processes can be studied directly. Recent advances in basic cellular neuroscience now suggest that, for some purposes, cultured neural stem cells may be studied in order to research psychiatric disease mechanisms. But where can one obtain these cells outside of the brain? Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125091153.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124200103.htm Teaching children with autism to "talk things through in their head" may help them to solve complex day-to-day tasks, which could increase the chances of independent, flexible living later in life, according to new research. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:01:01 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124200103.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124113047.htm A young researcher had long been drawn to conflict -- not as a participant, but an observer. In 1994, while doing volunteer work in South Africa, he witnessed firsthand the turmoil surrounding the fall of apartheid; during a 2001 trip to visit friends in Sri Lanka, he found himself in the midst of the violent conflict between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military. He is now exploring how longstanding conflict influences empathy for others. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:30:30 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124113047.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123152510.htm Children at risk for dyslexia show differences in brain activity on MRI scans even before they begin learning to read, finds a new study. Since developmental dyslexia responds to early intervention, diagnosing children at risk before or during kindergarten could head off difficulties and frustration in school, the researchers say. Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:25:25 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123152510.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120122104803.htm Scientists have uncovered mechanisms that help our brain to focus by efficiently routing only relevant information to perceptual brain regions. Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:48:48 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120122104803.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120121120109.htm Researchers examined how perceptions of a person’s sexual orientation are influenced by facial symmetry and proportions. Self-identified heterosexuals had facial features that were slightly more symmetrical than homosexuals. And the more likely raters perceived someone as heterosexual, the more symmetrical that person’s features were. Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:01:01 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120121120109.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120182914.htm Do you get a headache from the perfume of the lady next to you at the table? Do cleaning solutions at work make your nose itch? If you have symptoms prompted by everyday smells, it does not necessarily mean you are allergic but rather that you suffer from chemical intolerance. This hypersensitivity can be the result of an inability to get used to smells. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:29:29 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120182914.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120010449.htm Fruit flies don't have noses, but a huge part of their brains is dedicated to processing smells. Flies probably rely on the sense of smell more than any other sense for essential activities such as finding mates and avoiding danger. Researchers have discovered that a gene called distal-less is critical to the fly's ability to receive, process and respond to smells. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:04:04 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120010449.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118165137.htm A nurse's tender loving care really does ease the pain of a medical procedure, and grandma's cookies really do taste better, if we perceive them to be made with love -- suggests newly published research. The findings have many real-world applications, including in medicine, relationships, parenting and business. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:51:51 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118165137.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118101333.htm Researchers have identified a brain area in rhesus monkeys responsible for three-dimensional perception. By electrically stimulating brain cells, researchers were able to influence the monkeys' perception of objects. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:13:13 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118101333.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113205448.htm Are you someone who easily recognizes everyone you’ve ever met? Or maybe you struggle, even with familiar faces? It is already known that we are better at recognizing faces from our own race but researchers have only recently questioned how we assimilate the information we use to recognize people. Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:54:54 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113205448.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112142243.htm Deaf people who use sign language are quicker at recognizing and interpreting body language than hearing non-signers, according to new research. Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:22:22 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112142243.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112134336.htm Why do we like fatty foods so much? We can blame our taste buds. In the first study to identify a human receptor that can taste fat, researchers report that our tongues recognize and have an affinity for fat and that variations in a gene can make people more or less sensitive to the taste of fat in foods. Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:43:43 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112134336.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111223744.htm Why are the faces of primates so dramatically different from one another? Biologists serving as "evolutionary detectives" studied the faces of 129 adult male primates from Central and South America, and offer answers. These faces evolved over at least 24 million years. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:37:37 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111223744.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111153632.htm Dermatology expert offers ideas for younger-looking eyes. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:36:36 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111153632.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133954.htm It's easy to pick up on the movements that other people make -- scratching your head, crossing your legs. But a new study finds that people only feel the urge to mimic each other when they have the same goal. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:39:39 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133954.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133514.htm The ability of our brain to create a 3D representation from an object's 2D projection on the retina is not well understood and is likely to be highly complex. Now, new research provides the first direct evidence that specific brain areas underlie perception of different 3D structures and sheds light the way that the primate brain reconstructs real-world objects. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:35:35 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111133514.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110173457.htm Researchers found that a significant number of women evaluated at six-month intervals did not recognize recent gains in weight. Self-perception of weight gain appears to be significantly influenced by race, ethnicity and contraceptive methods. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:34:34 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110173457.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109155948.htm Researchers have discovered that children under the age of two control speech using a different strategy than previously thought. Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109155948.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109132705.htm Objects that resemble faces are everywhere. Whether it’s New Hampshire’s erstwhile granite “Old Man of the Mountain,” or Jesus’ face on a tortilla, our brains are adept at locating images that look like faces. However, the normal human brain is almost never fooled into thinking such objects actually are human faces. New research by neuroscientists helps explain how the brain recognizes faces. Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:27:27 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109132705.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106164917.htm Neuroscientists have identified face-recognition areas based on what parts of the brain they link to. Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:49:49 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106164917.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106135848.htm Pioneering vision study in mice will help revolutionize the study of brain function and mental disease. Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:58:58 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106135848.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106110214.htm Measuring the level of internal brain communication allows single-subject discrimination between vegetative state patients and patients who recover a minimal level of consciousness, study suggests. Crucially, this can be obtained at the bedside and does not rely on the integrity of sensory and motor pathways nor on the subject’s ability to comprehend or carry out instructions. Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:02:02 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106110214.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105161750.htm Distraction is an effective pain reliever, and a new study concludes that listening to music can be effective for reducing pain in high-anxiety persons who can easily become absorbed in cognitive activities. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:17:17 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105161750.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105131637.htm In the future, patients in need of perfectly matched neural stem cells may not need to look any further than their own eyes. Researchers have identified adult stem cells of the central nervous system in a single layer of cells at the back of the eye. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:16:16 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105131637.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105112050.htm Parents of picky eaters can encourage their children to eat more nutritionally diverse diets by introducing more color to their meals, according to new research. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120105112050.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103135504.htm Imagine listening to music while carrying on a conversation with friends. This type of multi-tasking is fairly easy to do, right? That's because our brains efficiently and effectively separate the auditory signals -- music to the right side; Conversation to the left. But what researchers have not been able to do in humans or animals is to see a parsing of duties at the single neuron level -- until now. Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:55:55 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103135504.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103135327.htm Bingo, a popular activity in nursing homes, senior centers and assisted-living facilities, has benefits that extend well beyond socializing. Researchers found high-contrast, large bingo cards boost thinking and playing skills for people with cognitive difficulties and visual perception problems produced by Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:53:53 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103135327.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111228134852.htm Today's ubiquitous MP3 players permit users to listen to crystal-clear tunes at high volume for hours on end -- a marked improvement on the days of the Walkman. But according to new research, these advances have also turned personal listening devices into a serious health hazard, with teenagers as the most at-risk group. Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:48:48 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111228134852.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111227142541.htm Medical researchers have established a direct correlation between sensory processing and ritualistic behaviors in children. A new study suggests that when children experience heightened levels of sensitivity, they develop ritualistic behaviors to better cope with their environment -- one potential pathway to OCD. Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:25:25 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111227142541.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111222133326.htm When grown-ups and kids speak, they listen to the sound of their voice and make corrections based on that auditory feedback. But new evidence shows that toddlers don't respond to their own voice in quite the same way. Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:33:33 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111222133326.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140340.htm Although disrupted processing of speech sounds has been implicated in the underlying pathology of dyslexia, the basis of this disruption and how it interferes with reading comprehension has not been fully explained. Now, new research finds that a specific abnormality in the processing of auditory signals accounts for the main symptoms of dyslexia. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:03:03 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140340.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111220204000.htm Hyper-excitability' in regions of the brain may underlie synesthesia, an unusual condition where some people experience a 'blending of the senses', new researchers suggest. Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:40:40 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111220204000.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214162054.htm Imagine waking up and being unable to see or recognize anything on the left side of your body. This condition, called hemispatial neglect, is common after a stroke that occurs on the right side of the brain. The current treatment of attention and concentration training using computer and pencil-and-paper tasks is inadequate. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214162054.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214151144.htm A new study suggests that two influential early studies of cellphone use and crash risk may have overestimated the relative risk of conversation on cellphones while driving. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214151144.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214101818.htm High-tech medical imaging techniques were recently used to access internal structures of fossil human skulls. Researchers used sophisticated 3-D methods to quantify the shape of the basal brain as reflected in the morphology of the skeletal cranial base. Their findings reveal that the human temporal lobes, involved in language, memory and social functions as well as the olfactory bulbs are relatively larger in Homo sapiens than in Neanderthals. Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:18:18 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111214101818.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213190035.htm Contrary to what many psychological scientists think, people do not all have the same set of biologically "basic" emotions, and those emotions are not automatically expressed on the faces of those around us, according to the author of a new article. This means a recent move to train security workers to recognize "basic" emotions from expressions might be misguided. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213190035.htm