Perception News

December 2, 2024

Top Headlines

Nerve Cells of Blind Mice Retain Their Visual Function

Nov. 26, 2024 — Using microelectrodes, scientists could show that cells in the retina play different roles. The produce different signals, which is important for the processing of visual information. These differences are remarkably stable and still persist in the ...

Scientists Discover Shared Genetic Foundations Between Musical Rhythm and Human Language

Nov. 27, 2024 — A study has revealed that genetic variants associated with higher likelihood of rhythm impairments tended to be also associated with higher likelihood of dyslexia. The reverse was also the case: ...

Animal Characters Can Boost Young Children's Psychological Development

Nov. 22, 2024 — A study has shown that iconic characters such as Peter Rabbit -- or Toad and Ratty from The Wind in the Willows -- can also play an important role in the development of children's theory of mind skills, which include the ability to read and predict ...

Great Apes Visually Track Subject-Object Relationships Like Humans Do, Study Finds

Nov. 26, 2024 — Great apes track events with their eyes in the same way that humans do, according to a new ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:33pm EST

Potential New Biomarker for Psychosis Diagnosis

Nov. 25, 2024 — The current standard of care for psychosis is a diagnostic interview, but what if it could be diagnosed before the first symptom emerged? Researchers are pointing toward a potential biomarker in the ...

How Human Brain Functional Networks Emerge and Develop During the Birth Transition

Nov. 19, 2024 — Brain-imaging data collected from fetuses and infants has revealed a rapid surge in functional connectivity between brain regions on a global scale ...

New Insights Into Sleep Uncover Key Mechanisms Related to Cognitive Function

Nov. 22, 2024 — While it's well known that sleep enhances cognitive performance, the underlying neural mechanisms, particularly those related to nonrapid eye ...

New Model of Neuronal Circuit Provides Insight on Eye Movement

Nov. 22, 2024 — Working with week-old zebrafish larva, researchers decoded how the connections formed by a network of neurons in the brainstem guide the fishes' gaze. The study found that a simplified artificial ...

Researchers Use Artificial Intelligence to Diagnose Depression

Nov. 20, 2024 — Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses. As many as 280 million people worldwide are affected by this disease, which is why researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) ...

R Sounds Are Rough, and L Sounds Are Smooth, According to Cross-Cultural Study

Nov. 20, 2024 — People around the world associate a trilled R sound with a rough texture and a jagged shape, and an L sound with smooth texture and a flat shape, ...

AI Needs to Work on Its Conversation Game

Nov. 12, 2024 — Linguistics and computer science researchers have discovered some of the root causes of why AI large language models perform poorly in human-like ...

Brain-Based Visual Impairment in Children

Nov. 19, 2024 — Experts have identified five elements of a brain-based condition that has emerged as a leading cause of vision impairment starting in childhood in the United States and other industrialized nations. ...

The Chilling Sound of the Aztec Death Whistle

Nov. 19, 2024 — The Aztec skull whistle produces a shrill, screaming sound. A study shows that these whistles have a disturbing effect on the human brain. The Aztecs may have deliberately used this effect in ...

Confinement May Affect How We Smell and Feel About Food

Nov. 18, 2024 — New research found confined and isolating environments changed the way people smelled and responded emotionally to certain food aromas. The team in this study compared 44 people's emotional responses ...

Hear This! Transforming Health Care With Speech-to-Text Technology

Nov. 21, 2024 — Researchers study the importance of enunciation when using speech-to-text software in medical ...

New Study Sheds Light on Language Development in Children With Hearing Loss

Nov. 14, 2024 — Researchers find a link between early vocabulary composition and later language development in children with cochlear ...

NeuroMechFly V2: Simulating How Fruit Flies See, Smell, and Navigate

Nov. 14, 2024 — Scientists have advanced their NeuroMechFly model, simulating fruit fly movement in the real world. With integrated vision and smell, NeuroMechFly v2 helps us understand brain-body coordination, ...

Disruption of Visual Stability

Nov. 7, 2024 — A research team has been investigating the question of how we perceive a stable environment despite constant eye movements. The result: rapid and smooth eye movements are based on different ...

New Study Sheds Light on the Role of Sound and Music in Gendered Toy Marketing

Nov. 6, 2024 — New research reveals that the music and soundscapes used in toy commercials are reinforcing rigid gender norms, shaping the way children perceive masculinity and femininity. The study uncovers how ...

What Happens in Your Brain While You Watch a Movie

Nov. 6, 2024 — By scanning the brains of people while they watched movie clips, neuroscientists have created the most detailed functional map of the brain to date. The fMRI analysis shows how different brain ...

New Haptic Patch Transmits Complexity of Touch to the Skin

Nov. 6, 2024 — Thin, flexible device could help people with visual impairments 'feel' surroundings. Device comprises a hexagonal array of 19 actuators encapsulated in soft silicone. Device only uses ...

Bach, Mozart or Jazz

Nov. 5, 2024 — Physicists have investigated to which extent a piece of music can evoke expectations about its progression. They were able to determine differences in how far compositions of different composers can ...

Meta-Learning of Motor Skills in the Dorsal Premotor Cortex of the Brain

Oct. 31, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that the dorsal premotor cortex serves a 'meta-learning' function, overseeing and regulating physical movements. Once believed to be limited to movement ...

Your Brain Is Ahead, Predicting the World

Oct. 30, 2024 — Your brain not only processes what you see but continuously makes predictions based on your experiences. This process may be less fine-tuned in people with autism, research ...

Smell Loss Linked to 100-Plus Diseases

Oct. 29, 2024 — Researchers reveal a link between olfactory loss and inflammation in 139 medical conditions. The researchers say loss of smell is an early sign of numerous neurological and bodily ...

Subtle Eye Movements Optimize Vision

Oct. 29, 2024 — Our ability to see starts with the light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in our eyes. A specific region of the retina, termed fovea, is responsible for sharp vision. Here, the color-sensitive cone ...

Depression: Dysfunction of Neurons in the Amygdala May Be Behind Negative Perceptions of the Environment

Oct. 25, 2024 — One of the characteristics of depression is a tendency to perceive sensory stimuli and everyday situations in an excessively negative way. But the mechanisms underpinning this 'negativity ...

Scanning, Scrolling, and Swiping: New Research Uncovers Why Our Brains Are Effective at Quickly Processing Short Messages

Oct. 23, 2024 — A team of linguistics and psychology researchers has discovered that when a brief sentence is flashed, our brains detect its basic linguistic structure extremely quickly -- in roughly 150 ...

'Visual Clutter' Alters Information Flow in the Brain

Oct. 22, 2024 — Whether we're staring at our phones, the page of a book, or the person across the table, the objects of our focus never stand in isolation; there are always other objects or people in our field ...

Showing AI Users Diversity in Training Data Boosts Perceived Fairness and Trust

Oct. 22, 2024 — While artificial intelligence (AI) systems, such as home assistants, search engines or large language models like ChatGPT, may seem nearly omniscient, their outputs are only as good as the data on ...

How Do You Remember How to Ride a Bike? Thank Your Cerebellum

Oct. 15, 2024 — Researchers have shown that, just like declarative memories, short-term and long-term memories for motor skills form in different regions of the brain, with the cerebellum being critical for the ...

How Do We Recognize Other People's Emotions?

Oct. 11, 2024 — For recognizing people's emotions, facial expressions do play an important role. However, they are not the only crucial ...

Adding Vagus Nerve Stimulation to Training Sessions May Boost How Well Sounds Are Perceived

Oct. 9, 2024 — Just as a musician can train to more sharply distinguish subtle differences in pitch, mammals can improve their ability to interpret hearing, vision, and other senses with practice. This process, ...

Another Step Towards Decoding Smell

Oct. 9, 2024 — We often only realize how important our sense of smell is when it is no longer there: food is not as tasty as it once was, or we no longer react to dangers such as the smell of smoke. Researchers ...