Search

Intentional binding (IB) is the experience of temporal interval compression between voluntary actions and subsequent events when the latter are perceived to be caused on purpose by the agent's actions. It can be measured experimentally by comparing the judgments of temporal intervals between either a voluntary act or an external event, and a later sensory consequence. Evidence suggests this might be modulated by the emotional valence of the consequence. However, controversies have arisen over the consistency of the results and the methodology they were obtained with. Here, we aimed to measure this affective modulation using a two-interval forced-choice (2AFC) discrimination task and word stimuli. Three factors were employed: agency (agency and passive), emotional valence (neutral, positive, and negative words), and interval duration ratio determined based on individual values of just noticeable differences (JND). Participants had to judge which of two intervals presented in each trial was shorter. Generalized linear mixed model analysis indicated that there was an effect of IB, but no affective modulation. Dissociation of component mechanisms of SoA are discussed to better understand results and suggest further directions.

In this paper, we argue that action is involved in the creation and representation of perceptual objects. We introduce leading philosophical theories regarding the structure of perceptual objects in modality-independent and multisensory settings. These accounts omit action as a causal factor that can facilitate feature binding and serve as a structural component of perceptual objects. We argue that action does play this causal role due to the connections between the brain's motor system and perceptual processing as evidenced by neurophysiological and behavioral studies. These data include research on view-independent representations, peripersonal space, and event file coding. We conclude that to omit the influence of the motor system on the structure of perceptual objects is to have an incomplete account of object perception. Motor action is often required to drive the integration of sensory features into corresponding perceptual objects.

In this pre-registered study, we investigated whether emotional inner speech influences heart rate. Participants were asked to engage in 3-minute sessions of: positive inner speech, negative inner speech, or inner counting while their heart rate was monitored. Participants were lying on a bed and asked to remain still. Motion tracking was applied to control for body movement. Median heart rate across each inner speech session was analyzed and a significant difference was found between emotional inner speech and inner counting. No difference between positive and negative inner speech was observed. Post-hoc analyses investigated the relationship between movement and heart rate and found an effect with a peak lag of approximately 14 seconds. Removing these effects did not change the effect of emotional inner speech. Additional analyses showed that heart rate and respiration rate were linked. Including respiration rate as a covariate did not alter the effect of emotion.

It remains controversial whether the visual system encodes abstract relational roles such as Agent and Patient in visual events. The present experiment tested whether abstract role bindings induce priming effects across consecutive events. Each trial included a static target image preceded either by a brief silent video of a priming event or by an audio-visual presentation of an English sentence describing the same event. Example sentence: “The red goat on the left knocked down the blue goat on the right.” 64 videos counterbalanced 4 event types: launching, deforming, breaking, and a relationally ambiguous control. The set of static targets were the final frames of the same videos. The role bindings were either repeated, switched, or ambiguous across the target and prime. The dependent variable was the latency on a color-localization task (e.g., whether the red animal was on the left or on the right). Whereas the linguistic primes had no statistically significant effect on the latency of the visual task, the role bindings of the video primes did have an effect: The latency on unambiguous trials (which required role binding) was significantly greater than that on ambiguous trials (on which at least one component lacked clear relational roles). This suggests the visual system is sensitive to (the ambiguity of) the role bindings of abstract relations.

Several studies showed that humans are incredibly accurate at extracting simple statistical information from noisy datasets, such as judging the linear trends of scatterplots. Crucially, these intuitions might serve as one of the building blocks of both graphical and mathematical skills. However, we do not know if such abilities are specific to our species or if they can be found in other animals as well. We tested several guinea baboons on a trend judgment task in which they had to judge whether linear trends (both noisy and noiseless) were increasing or decreasing. We show that they can and that they behave strikingly similarly to humans: they seem to base their judgment on the t-value of the graph, which is the index that a statistician would calculate to measure the significance of the linear relationship in the dataset. These findings suggest that the ability to extract statistical information from visual noise is not available only to humans.

This study looks at the benefits and functions of bilingualism in Indian schoolchildren with low vision impairment. Bilingualism, particularly in a multilingual country like India, can have considerable cognitive, social, and educational benefits. The study focuses on a sample group of N=60 (monolingual and bilingual) school-aged children with varying degrees of low vision impairment and analyses how bilingual (L1-Telugu and L2-English and L1-Hindi and L2-English) education effects their learning and social integration. Using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), the study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess cognitive development, language competency, and social interaction abilities in a bilingual situation. The findings indicate that bilingualism improves not only verbal abilities, but also cognitive flexibility, problem-solving ability, and social empathy in early children. This study suggests that bilingual education should be an integral part of the curriculum for visually impaired pupils in India, encouraging their overall development and integration into society. The findings have significant implications for educational policies and practices affecting special-needs children in diverse environments.

Children know a lot about counting, even before they can count; for instance, even toddlers know that the counting routine involves establishing one-to-one correspondence between number words and items counted. Here we varied the size, numerosity, density, and layout of elements of sets, and asked children which set was easier to count in pair-wise comparisons across twelve trials. We also asked children themselves to count 5 to 15 items arranged in straight lines. Even children who could not count to 15 recognized that it was easier to count fewer than more dots and recognized that structured sets were easier than random arrays; however, they failed to recognize that some layouts made tracking easier than others. This suggests that children's meta-knowledge about counting precedes their ability to count for some but not all properties of sets.

There is a long line of research that has investigated how different kinds of visual information (e.g. optic flow) guide high-speed steering. Additionally, researchers have developed visual control models that capture the relationship between information and steering. Although models have been designed for a variety of steering maneuvers, they all assume that steering behavior remains consistent whether a driver has driven down a road once or numerous times. Thus, models do not address how behavior changes as drivers become familiar with the layout of the road. Our work investigates how drivers incorporate visual information and spatial knowledge to guide steering . We present a virtual driving experiment that examines how steering changes as humans become more familiar with a track, measuring metrics including speed, steering angle, and lane deviation. Results inform the development of a cognitive model that captures the relationship between visual information and spatial knowledge to guide steering behavior.

Evolutionary accounts suggest that individuals readily categorize other individuals into an ingroup and an outgroup, and consequently display a strong preference for positive behaviors towards the members of the ingroup relative to the outgroup. In the current study, we tested whether the robust ingroup bias could be modulated at the perceptual level based upon differential contextual information about group characteristics and group relations. Across the four experiments, participants performed a social associative matching task within the minimal group framework. We found that while the ingroup bias is certainly robust, it gets attenuated if the outgroup is portrayed positively and also when the ingroup is depicted negatively. This may have consequences for researchers studying intergroup conflict and consequent policy-making.

How does the visual system adapt to reduced contrast? Participants read a row of white numbers against a static background that changed from black to white, from left to right. There was pervasive binocular disparity between the fixation points of the left and right eye as legibility decreased. Overall, the lines of sight crossed more frequently in front of the stimulus plane (“crossed fixation disparities”) than behind (“uncrossed fixation disparities”). The proportion of crossed fixation disparities increased systematically with reading difficulty. Absolute size of fixation disparity changed differentially in the two disparity types when contrast reduced, implicating different subsystems. We claim that hemisphericity provides the most insightful understanding of these behaviours. The viewer has flexible control of (a) advantaged contralateral projections from retina to cortex, (b) the size of the perceptual window, and (c) binocular fusion. Thus, an apparent failure of the eyes to fixate precisely conjointly is revealed as an adaptation of embodied cognition.

This study investigated the impact of illusory contour clarity and surface representations on visual search for Kanizsa figures. Experiment 1 manipulated illusory contour clarity through inducer size, while Experiment 2 manipulated clarity by varying the number of arcs in the inducer pacman. Both experiments compared Kanizsa figures with non-illusory figures under the same manipulation conditions. The findings from both experiments suggested that illusory contour clarity did not significantly influence Kanizsa figure search performance, but rather suggested a Kanizsa advantage over non-illusory figures, underscoring the importance of surface representations. Experiment 3 explored the effects of surface alterations on Kanizsa figures and smoothed counterparts, and confirmed that surface alterations had discernible effects on visual search for Kanizsa illusory contours. The results indicated that visual search for Kanizsa illusory contours remained robust, unaffected by variations in illusory contour clarity, thereby emphasizing the role of surface representations in guiding visual search processes.

It takes children considerable learning and development to accurately predict whether an object is safely balanced or will fall -- something that happens if its center of mass is not supported from below. In the meantime, children go through a characteristic set of mistaken beliefs. Here we use an adapted version of the classical balance task to evaluate whether different models go through the same stages. Preliminary results show that convolutional neural networks (CNNs) do learn the task but do not necessarily go through the same stages. We are also testing several simulation-based accounts. We anticipate completing this work in time for the conference. The findings will help clarify the space of possible accounts of children's acquisition of intuitions about gravity and balance.

This study investigates metacognitive awareness among students, focusing particularly on 'subjective confidence' as a predictor of potential conceptual change. In our study, 132 eighth graders completed a basic number knowledge test and evaluated their confidence level for each answer. Our analysis revealed that metacognitive accuracy—the alignment of confidence levels with actual performance—was significantly related to academic achievement scores in the 'Two-Numbers Comparison' task (e.g., choosing the correct inequality such as '1/2 > 1/3' or '1/2 < 1/3'), but not in the 'Number Approximations' task (e.g., choosing the closest result to '21/10 + 60/31' from options such as 2, 4, 41, or 81). Additionally, we observed distinct behavioral patterns in response times: the 'Two-Numbers Comparison' task elicited rapid responses, whereas the 'Number Approximations' task resulted in slower, more reflective responses. In conclusion, our results indicate that metacognitive processes are more actively engaged during intuitive thinking compared to reflective thinking.

Linguists propose the existence of linguistic trees and define the merge operation to construct complex sentences from simpler elements. Previous neuroimaging studies, primarily utilizing 3T scanners, have identified an extensive fronto-temporal network involved in forming linguistic structures and executing merge operations. Intracranial recordings in these areas reveal a more distributed picture, with adjacent regions undertaking diverse linguistic tasks.We designed a 7T fMRI visual task to investigate the neural coding of syntactic operations. In healthy French-speaking participants, we initially identified the language network using a localizer. Subsequently, we employed short 3-word stimuli, presented briefly (200ms), to explore the response profiles within the language network. These stimuli included control conditions, affirmative statements, and interrogative sentences, all matched for letter and character count.Preliminary results indicate that 200ms is sufficient to differentiate between sentences and non-sentences, and suggest a finely-tuned specialization for syntactic operations within language network subregions.

Peripersonal space (PPS) is the multisensory representation of the near-body space. Several factors modulate PPS size and the sharpness of the boundary separating PPS and the far extrapersonal space, suggesting that PPS may be involved in the subjective experience and in the self-other representation. Such representations seem to be shaped by mindfulness meditation (MM); however, evidence on the effects of MM on PPS is limited. To test the hypothesis that MM modulates both PPS size and the sharpness of PPS boundary, we enrolled 26 non-meditators, who performed an audio-tactile task before and after a 15-minute guided focused attention meditation (FAM). Despite no changes of PPS size, after FAM we found a significantly reduced sharpness of PPS boundary, as if it dissolved. We suggest that the reduced separation between the self and the environment, reported by meditators in some phenomenological studies, may relate to the altered PPS sharpness.

Humans are born with an intuitive representation of the physics world. How accurate is intuitive physics? Researchers from education focus on the failures, students' errors and misconceptions while cognitive psychologists argue humans anticipate and manipulate physical environments in ways betraying veridical knowledge of classical mechanics. One solution is to hypothesize there are distinct systems of “cognitive physics” with different limitations and deployment in the tasks favored by the two literatures. The goal of current study is to gather evidence from psychometric studies by estimating how many distinct factors explain performance on intuitive physics assessments. We build an augmented concept inventory including several previously-validated concept inventories, around 120 items. The pilot study indicated that participants recruited online from Prolific displayed expected accuracy on the tasks. We are now collecting around 1,000 participants and applying multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) analyzes to identify the latent structure.

The sense of agency (SoA) refers to the experience of controlling one's actions and their effects, while representational momentum (RM) denotes a bias in the perceived trajectory of a moving object induced by one's anticipation of movement. Research in cognitive science suggests that control over action modulates anticipative mechanisms. In the present study, we question the influence of SoA on RM. Participants viewed two dots, one of which moved horizontally on the screen. Its movement was either triggered by the computer or by participants. In the former case, participants either could freely choose or were commanded on which dot to trigger. Additionally, given the role of affordances in motor control and movement perception, we tested the effect of adding a tunnel through which the dot could pass. The results showed that agency and affordances influenced movement anticipation with no interaction between the two. Freedom of choice yielded no difference.

Serial dependence is a phenomenon in which perception of the current stimulus is influenced by that of past stimulus. Previous studies have shown that serial dependence does not occur between modalities, however, it has only been validated with limited types of tasks. We examined the cross-modal serial dependence in numerical estimation task. Participants were asked to estimate the number of flashes presented sequentially for visual stimuli and the number of white noises presented sequentially for auditory stimuli. We observed significant serial dependence from visual to auditory, but not in the reverse direction. The reason we observed serial dependence between modalities may be due to the high-order processing required to perform the numerical estimation task. We need to further investigate the nature of the visual stimuli (sequential or simultaneous) as well as their temporal properties to determine why only serial dependence from visual to auditory was observed in this experiment.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are quickly replacing internal combustion cars, which will soon become obsolete. Nonetheless, how drivers' perception and cognition deal with certain features of EVs remains largely unknown. In this study we focus on the role of in-car sound, specifically the artificial engine sounds, on drivers' speed perception and control. Previous studies indicate that removing or reducing engine sound leads drivers to underestimate speed and, consequently, to drive faster. Furthermore, evidence suggests that specific sound frequencies could play a role in this process, highlighting the importance of in-car sound features. We consider benefits and limitations of different research paradigms used in the field (mostly video based technique and driving simulation) and we propose an experimental protocol to systematically investigate the phenomenon. Finally, we suggest that the wider use of psychophysical methods on video recordings would benefit the research in the field and overcome some limitations of simulation studies.

Video game competition, called esports, is an intriguing subject for the investigation of psychological skill differences between players; such skills are more weighted toward achieving optimal performance than physical skills are. We looked for differences in psychological skills between advanced and intermediate players and the kind of psychological skill that is critical for defining a player's skill level. We measured the physiological states of players in esports matches and found that the temporal heart rate pattern during competitive matches was highly correlated among advanced players, rather than among intermediate players or players of different levels. Additionally, physiological synchrony among advanced players decreased under sparring situations in which no winner or loser was determined. These results suggest that the unique superior psychological skills of advanced players are motivation control, which is characterized by the ability to maintain and demonstrate a high motivation to win.

We analyze the visual perception task that home plate umpires (N = 121) perform calling balls and strikes (N = 3,001,019) in baseball games, focusing on the topics of perceptual learning and bias in decision-making. In the context of perceptual learning, our results show that monitoring, training, and feedback improve skill over time. In addition, we document two other aspects of umpires' improvement that are revealing with respect to the nature of their perceptual expertise. First, we show that biases in umpires' decision-making persist even as their overall accuracy improves. This suggests that bias and accuracy are orthogonal and that reduction of bias in decision-making requires interventions aimed specifically at this goal. Second, we measure a distinct difference in the rate of skill improvement between older and younger umpires. Younger umpires improve more quickly, suggesting that the decision task umpires engage in becomes routinized over time.

Introduction and purpose: The impact of electronic devices on our daily lives is becoming increasingly significant. The contemporary generation of young people is growing up in a world where smartphones, tablets, computers, and other electronic devices are widely available and utilized. Scientists are contemplating the challenges posed by excessive exploitation of electronics on the health of young individuals. The aim of the article is to present the harmful effects of using electronic devices before sleep in young people, considering medical aspects such as sleep disorders and their influence on overall psychophysical health. Summary: Electronic devices negatively affect the sleep of young people by reducing sleep time and delaying the sleep onset phase. The main problem is the use of electronic devices without time limits. In the era of technology, it is significantly important to raise awareness among young people about the importance of sleep hygiene and how blue light emitted by electronic devices affects its quality. Materials and Evidence: A literature review was conducted in the PubMed database using [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mini-review of the literature, supporting the view on the psychophysical origins of some user acceptance effects of cyber-physical systems (CPSs), is presented and discussed in this paper. Psychophysics implies the existence of a lawful functional dependence between some aspect/dimension of the stimulation from the environment, entering the senses of the human, and the psychological effect that is being produced by this stimulation, as reflected in the subjective responses. Several psychophysical models are discussed in this mini-review, aiming to support the view that the observed effects of reactance to a robot or the uncanny valley phenomenon are essentially the same subjective effects of different intensity. Justification is provided that human responses to technologically and socially ambiguous stimuli obey some regularity, which can be considered a lawful dependence in a psychophysical sense. The main conclusion is based on the evidence that psychophysics can provide useful and helpful, as well as parsimonious, design recommendations for scenarios with CPSs for social applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Methods Results Conclusions This study measured associations between ON and OFF functional indicators and structural optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) markers in diabetic retinal disease.Fifty‐four participants with type 1 or type 2 diabetes (mean age = 34.1 years; range 18–60) and 48 age‐matched controls (mean age = 35.4 years, range 18–59) underwent visual psychophysical testing, OCT and OCTA retinal imaging. Psychophysical tasks measuring (A) contrast increment and decrement sensitivity and (B) response times to increment and decrement targets were assessed as surrogate measures of ON and OFF retinal ganglion cell function.The group with diabetes had worse foveal contrast increment and decrement thresholds (p = 0.04) and were slower to search for increment and decrement targets relative to controls (p = 0.009). Individuals with diabetes had a less circular foveal avascular zone (FAZ) (p < 0.001) but did not differ from controls in foveal vessel density and FAZ area. Functional and structural outcome measures related to the peripheral retina were also comparable between those with and without diabetes. Functional responses to increments and decrements were not significantly correlated with FAZ circularity or vessel density in individuals with diabetes.Diabetic retinal disease results in impaired performance on measures of inferred ON and OFF pathway function in addition to vascular deficits measurable with OCTA. Future longitudinal studies may determine the temporal relationship between these deficits, and whether they predict future diabetic retinopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a well-established finding that more informative optic flow (e.g., faster, denser, or presented over a larger portion of the visual field) yields decreased variability in heading judgements. Current models of heading perception further predict faster processing under such circumstances, which has, however, not been supported empirically so far. In this study, we validate a novel continuous psychophysics paradigm by replicating the effect of the speed and density of optic flow on variability in performance, and we investigate how these manipulations affect the temporal dynamics. To this end, we tested 30 participants in a continuous psychophysics paradigm administered in Virtual Reality. We immersed them in a simple virtual environment where they experienced four 90-second blocks of optic flow where their linear heading direction (no simulated rotation) at any given moment was determined by a random walk. We asked them to continuously indicate with a joystick the direction in which they perceived themselves to be moving. In each of the four blocks they experienced a different combination of simulated self-motion speeds (SLOW and FAST) and density of optic flow (SPARSE and DENSE). Using a Cross-Correlogram Analysis, we determined that participants reacted faster and displayed lower variability in their performance in the FAST and DENSE conditions than in the SLOW and SPARSE conditions, respectively. Using a Kalman Filter-based analysis approach, we found a similar pattern, where the fitted perceptual noise parameters were higher for SLOW and SPARSE. While replicating previous results on variability, we show that more informative optic flow can speed up heading judgements, while at the same time validating a continuous psychophysics as an efficient method for studying heading perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Amidst the rise of frailty among a globally aging population, olfactory decline has emerged as a harbinger of frailty and mortality in population‐level studies. However, the relationships between frailty and the olfactory subdomains of identification (OI), discrimination (OD), and threshold (OT) remain unexplored. This study prospectively examined the association between olfactory subdomains and the physical frailty phenotype (PFP) to investigate olfactory evaluation as a means of frailty screening. Methods: A case‒control study of 45 frail and 45 non‐frail individuals matched by age and sex. OT, OD, OI (range 0‒16), and composite sum (threshold, discrimination, and identification scores [TDI], range 0‒48) were measured with Sniffin' Sticks. PFP was defined by presence of three or more criteria: physical inactivity, self‐reported exhaustion, muscle weakness, slow gait, and unintentional weight loss. Conditional logistic regression evaluated associations between olfactory subdomains and frailty. Results: Ninety individuals with mean age of 83.1 ± 4.9 years, 60% female (n = 54), and 87.8% white (n = 79) were included. Olfactory scores were significantly lower in the frail group for OI (9.2 vs. 12.1, p < 0.001), OD (8.1 vs. 11.6, p < 0.001), OT (4.4 vs. 8.5, p < 0.001), and TDI (21.7 vs. 32.2, p < 0.001) than in the non‐frail group. A single‐point decrease in olfactory score was associated with increased odds of frailty in OT (odds ratio [OR]: 2.21, 95% confidence interval: [1.22, 3.98]), OD (OR: 2.19, 95% CI: [1.32, 3.65]), OI (OR: 2.29, 95% CI: [1.19, 4.39]), and TDI (OR: 1.54, 95% CI: [1.14, 2.08]). Conclusion: The robust association between olfactory subdomain scores and frailty suggests that olfaction may be an accessible signifier of frailty. Future studies should investigate this relationship longitudinally to assess predictive relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PSYCHOACOUSTICS-WEB is an online tool written in JavaScript and PHP that enables the estimation of auditory sensory thresholds via adaptive threshold tracking. The toolbox implements the transformed up-down methods proposed by Levitt (Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 49, 467-477, (1971) for a set of classic psychoacoustical tasks: frequency, intensity, and duration discrimination of pure tones; duration discrimination and gap detection of noise; and amplitude modulation detection with noise carriers. The toolbox can be used through a common web browser; it works with both fixed and mobile devices, and requires no programming skills. PSYCHOACOUSTICS-WEB is suitable for laboratory, classroom, and online testing and is designed for two main types of users: an occasional user and, above all, an experimenter using the toolbox for their own research. This latter user can create a personal account, customise existing experiments, and share them in the form of direct links to further users (e.g., the participants of a hypothetical experiment). Finally, because data storage is centralised, the toolbox offers the potential for creating a database of auditory skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Child pedestrian injuries represent a significant public health challenge. Understanding the most complex cognitive skills required to cross streets helps us understand, improve, and protect children in traffic, as underdeveloped cognitive skill likely impacts children's pedestrian safety. One complex component of street-crossing is the cognitive-perceptual task of judging time-to-arrival of oncoming traffic. We examined capacity of 7- and 8-year-olds to judge time-to-arrival for vehicles approaching from varying distances and speeds, as well as improvement in those judgments following intensive street-crossing training in a virtual reality (VR) pedestrian simulator. Methods: 500 seven- and eight-year-olds participated in a randomized trial evaluating use of a large kiosk VR versus smartphone-based VR headset to teach street-crossing skills. Prior to randomization into VR training condition and also prior to initiation of any training, children engaged in a video-based vehicle approach estimation task to assess ability to judge traffic time-to-arrival. They then engaged in multiple VR-based pedestrian safety training sessions in their randomly assigned condition until achieving adult functioning. Soon after training and again 6 months later, children repeated the vehicle estimation task. Results: Prior to randomization or training, children were more accurate judging time to arrival for closer versus farther traffic, and rapidly-moving versus slower-moving traffic, but those results were subsumed by a speed x distance interaction. The interaction suggested distance cues were used more prominently than speed cues, and speed had varying effects at different distances. Training group had minimal effect on learning and all children became significantly better at judging vehicle arrival times following training. Conclusions: Children tend to underestimate vehicle arrival times. Distance cues are more impactful on time-to-arrival judgments than speed cues, but children's estimations based both on manipulations of vehicle speed and manipulations of vehicle distance improved post-training. Improvements were retained six months later. This finding is consistent with psychophysics research suggesting vehicle approach judgments rely on optical size and looming, which are impacted both by vehicle speeds and distances. Implementation of VR-based training for child pedestrian safety is recommended, as it may improve children's judgment of vehicle time-to-arrival, but it must be conducted cautiously to avoid iatrogenic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Touch is one of the primary senses, and the receptors for touch sense are spread across the whole human body. Electrotactile displays provide tactile feedback to generate different sensations (such as tickling, tingling, itching, and pressure) in human-computer interfaces or man-machine interactions. These displays encode tactile properties, such as shape and texture, facilitating immersive experiences in virtual or remote environments. Their compact form factor and low maintenance requirements render them versatile for myriad applications. This paper is a comprehensive survey of the design and implementation of electrotactile displays, elucidating their taxonomy, cross-modal integration strategies, and psychophysical underpinnings. Emphasizing the crucial role of psychophysics, it delineates how human perception informs the design and utilization of electrotactile displays. Furthermore, this paper identifies prevalent challenges in electrotactile displays and outlines future directions to advance their development and deployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent is perception shaped by low-level statistical regularities of our visual environments and on what time scales? We characterized the chromatic 'visual diets' of people living in remote rainforest and urban environments, using calibrated head-mounted cameras worn by participants as they went about their daily lives. All environments had chromatic distributions with the most variance along a blue–yellow axis, but the extent of this bias differed across locations. If colour perception is calibrated to the visual environments in which participants are immersed, variation in the extent of the bias in scene statistics should have a corresponding impact on perceptual judgements. To test this, we measured colour discrimination and preferences for distributions of colour for people living in different environments. Group differences in the extent of blue–yellow bias in colour discrimination were consistent with perceptual learning in local environments. Preferences for colour distributions aligned with scene statistics, but not specifically to local environments, and one group preferred distributions along an unnatural colour axis orthogonal to that dominant in natural scenes. Our study shows the benefits of conducting psychophysics with people at remote locations for understanding the commonalities and diversity in human perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When studying the working memory (WM), the 'slot model' and the 'resource model' are two main theories used to describe how information retention occurs. The slot model shows that WM capacity consists of a certain number of predefined slots available for information storage. This theory explains that there is a binary condition during information recall in which information is either wholly maintained within a slot or forgotten. The resource model has a resolution-based approach, suggesting a continuous resource able to be distributed among a number of items in WM capacity. Recently hybrid models have been introduced, suggesting that WM may not strictly conform to only one model. Accordingly, to understand the relationship between two of the most widely used paradigms in WM evaluation, we implemented a correlational assessment in two different psychophysics tasks, an analog recall paradigm with sequential bar presentation and a delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task with checkerboard stimuli. Our study revealed significant correlations between WM performance in the DMS task and recall error, precision, and sources of errors in the sequential paradigm. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of considering both tasks in understanding WM processes, as they shed light on the debate between the slot and resource models by revealing overlapping elements in both theories and the tasks used to evaluate WM capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Gap detection tests are crucial clinical tools for identifying auditory processing disorders that result from abnormalities in the central auditory nervous system. These tests assess the ability to resolve temporal information in sounds, which aids in the diagnosis of auditory temporal processing issues. This study explores the directional effects of marker frequencies on gap detection tasks with respect to the conditions of long and short frequency disparity (separation). Methods: We measured the gap detection thresholds (GDTs) using four across-channel narrowband noise conditions (1–2, 2–1, 1–4, and 4–1 kHz). A within-subject study design involved 29 healthy individuals with normal hearing. Stimuli were presented monaurally using headphones routed via a calibrated audiometer. Results: The condition with long frequency disparity and a low leading frequency (1–4 kHz) exhibited higher GDTs compared to the other across-channel conditions. However, we did not observe this effect in the other condition with long frequency disparity and a high leading frequency (4–1 kHz), which did not show significant differences from the two conditions with short frequency disparity. Conclusion: The study findings suggest that the combined effects of the spectral characteristics of the gap markers, including frequency disparity and order of presentation, influence the temporal resolution ability of auditory gap detection. Clinicians evaluating a patient suspected to have central auditory disorders should recognize that the across-channel GDTs may not consistently increase as the frequency separation between the markers increases. Plain Language Summary: Gap detection tests are essential while performing hearing assessments that are aimed to tap central auditory processing abilities. Different varieties of gap detection tests are evaluated for their sensitivity, and across-channel gap detection is noted to have high potential to detect central auditory processing disorders. However, any variations in the stimulus frequencies would impact the results of gap detection thresholds. Present study would enlighten the reader with the impact of such variations in stimuli on the outcome gap detection measures. The result of the study indicates when the two marker frequencies are close in nature (one-octave difference), then the order of their presentation did not change the outcome measures significantly. But, when the two marker frequencies are wide in nature (two-octave difference), then the order of their presentation changed the outcome measures significantly. The measured gap detection thresholds are better if high-frequency segment presented initially followed by the low frequency. Further, the study also provides valuable discussions on the results obtained. The study would add necessary understanding and precautions about the stimulus while using gap detection measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We frequently interact with textured surfaces with both our feet and hands. Like texture's importance for grasping, texture perception via the foot sole might provide important signals about the stability of a surface, aiding in maintaining balance. However, how textures are perceived by the foot, and especially under the high forces experienced during walking, is unknown. The current study builds on extensive research investigating texture perception at the hand by presenting everyday textures to the foot while stepping onto them, exploring them with the foot while sitting, and exploring them with the hand. Participants rated each texture along three perceptual dimensions: roughness, hardness, and stickiness. Participants also rated how stable their posture felt when standing upon each texture. Results show that perceptual ratings of each textural dimension were highly correlated across conditions. Hardness exhibited the greatest consistency and stickiness the weakest. Moreover, correlations between stepping and exploration with the foot were lower than those between exploration with the foot and exploration with the hand, suggesting that mode of interaction (high vs. low force) impacts perception more than body region used (foot vs. hand). On an individual level, correlations between conditions were higher than those between participants, suggesting that differences are greater between individuals than between mode of interaction or body region. When investigating the relationship to perceived stability, only hardness contributed significantly, with harder surfaces rated as more stable. Overall, tactile perception appears consistent across body regions and interaction modes, although differences in perception are greater during walking. NEW & NOTEWORTHY: We frequently interact with textured surfaces using our feet, but little is known about how textures on the foot sole are perceived as compared with the hand. Here, we show that roughness, hardness, and stickiness ratings are broadly consistent when stepping on textures, exploring them with the foot sole, or with the hand. Hardness also contributes to perceived stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I analyse how the emerging scientific framework of radical embodied neuroscience is different from contemporary mainstream cognitive neuroscience. To do so, I propose the notion of motif to enrich the philosophical toolkit of cognitive neuroscience. This notion can be used to characterize the guiding ideas of any given scientific framework in psychology and neuroscience. Motifs are highly unconstrained, open‐ended concepts that support equally open‐ended families of explanations. Different scientific frameworks—e.g., psychophysics or cognitive neuroscience—provide these motifs to answer the overarching themes of these disciplines, such as the relationship between stimuli and sensations or the proper methods of the sciences of the mind. Some motifs of mainstream cognitive neuroscience are the motif of encoding, the motif of input–output systems, and the motif of algorithms. The two first ones answer the question about the relationship between stimuli, sensations and experience (e.g., stimuli are input and are encoded by brain structures). The latter one answers the question regarding the mechanism of cognition and experience. The three of them are equally unconstrained and open‐ended, and they serve as an umbrella for different kinds of explanation—i.e., different positions regarding what counts as a code or as an input. Along with the articulation of the notion of motif, the main aim of this article is to present three motifs for radical embodied neuroscience: the motif of complex stimulation, the motif of organic behaviour and the motif of resonance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rodents and human studies indicate that the hippocampus, a brain region necessary for memory processing, responds to noxious stimuli. However, the hippocampus has yet to be considered a key brain region directly involved in the human pain experience. One approach to answer this question is to perform quantitative sensory testing on patients with hippocampal damage--ie, medial temporal lobe epilepsy. Some case studies and case series have performed such tests in a handful of patients with various types of epilepsy and have reported mixed results. Here, we aimed to determine whether mechanical pain sensitivity was altered in patients diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. We first investigated whether mechanical pain sensitivity in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy differs from that of healthy individuals. Next, in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, we evaluated whether the degree of pain sensitivity is associated with the degree of hippocampal integrity. Structural integrity was based on hippocampal volume, and functional integrity was based on verbal and visuospatial memory scores. Our findings show that patients with temporal lobe epilepsy have lower mechanical pain sensitivity than healthy individuals. Only left hippocampal volume was positively associated with mechanical pain sensitivity--the greater the hippocampal damage, the lower the sensitivity to mechanical pain. Hippocampal measures of functional integrity were not significantly associated with mechanical pain sensitivity, suggesting that the mechanisms of hippocampal pain processing may be different than its memory functions. Future studies are necessary to determine the mechanisms of pain processing in the hippocampus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic analysis of images is increasingly being used to generate color insights and this has led to various methods for generating palettes. Several studies have recently been published that explore methods to predict the visual similarity between pairs of palettes and these methods are often used to evaluate different generative methods. This work is concerned with being able to predict visual similarity between color palettes. Three data sets (two of which were previously published) are used to evaluate two methods for predicting visual similarity between palettes. A novel palette‐difference metric (based on the Hungarian algorithm) is compared to the previously published minimum color difference model (MICD) and was found to agree better with the visual data for two of the three data sets. Agreement between models and visual data was also better for CIEDE2000 (1, 2) than for CIELAB metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flanker task (Eriksen & Eriksen, Perception & Psychophysics, 16(1), 143-149, 1974) has been highly influential and widely used in studies of visual attention. Its simplicity has made it popular to include it in experimental software packages and online platforms. The spacing flanker task (SFT), in which the distance between the target and flankers varies, is useful for studying the distribution of attention across space as well as inhibitory control. Use of the SFT requires that the viewing environment (e.g., stimulus size and viewing distance) be controlled, which is a challenge for online delivery. We implement and evaluate an online version of the SFT that includes two calibration pretests to provide the necessary control. Test–retest and split-half reliability of the online version was compared with a laboratory version on measures of inhibitory control and measures of the distribution of attention across space. Analyses show that the online SFT is comparable to laboratory testing on all measures. Results also identify two measures with good test–retest reliability that hold promise for studying performance in the SFT: the mean flanker effect (ICC = 0.745) and RTs on incongruent trials across distances (ICC = 0.65–0.71). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The flicker stimulus is a visual stimulus of intermittent illumination. A flicker stimulus can appear flickering or steady to a human subject, depending on the physical parameters associated with the stimulus. When the flickering light appears steady, flicker fusion is said to have occurred. This work aims to bridge the gap between the psychophysics of flicker fusion and the electrophysiology associated with flicker stimulus through a Deep Learning based computational model of flicker perception. Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks (CRNNs) were trained with psychophysics data of flicker stimulus obtained from a human subject. We claim that many of the reported features of electrophysiology of the flicker stimulus, including the presence of fundamentals and harmonics of the stimulus, can be explained as the result of a temporal convolution operation on the flicker stimulus. We further show that the convolution layer output of a CRNN trained with psychophysics data is more responsive to specific frequencies as in human EEG response to flicker, and the convolution layer of a trained CRNN can give a nearly sinusoidal output for 10 hertz flicker stimulus as reported for some human subjects.

The ability to make accurate and timely decisions, such as judging when it is safe to cross the road, is the foundation of adaptive behavior. While the computational and neural processes supporting simple decisions on isolated stimuli have been well characterized, decision-making in the real world often requires integration of discrete sensory events over time and space. Most previous experimental work on perceptual decision-making has focused on tasks that involve only a single, task-relevant source of sensory input. It remains unclear, therefore, how such integrative decisions are regulated computationally. Here we used psychophysics, electroencephalography, and computational modeling to understand how the human brain combines visual motion signals across space in the service of a single, integrated decision. To that purpose, we presented two random-dot kinematograms in the left and the right visual hemifields. Coherent motion signals were shown briefly and concurrently in each location, and healthy adult human participants of both sexes reported the average of the two motion signals. We directly tested competing predictions arising from influential serial and parallel accounts of visual processing. Using a biologically plausible model of motion filtering, we found evidence in favor of parallel integration as the fundamental computational mechanism regulating integrated perceptual decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure survival, the visual system must rapidly extract the most important elements from a large stream of information. This necessity clashes with the computational limitations of the human brain, so a strong early data reduction is required to efficiently process information in fast vision. A theoretical early vision model, recently developed to preserve maximum information using minimal computational resources, allows efficient image data reduction by extracting simplified sketches containing only optimally informative, salient features. Here, we investigate the neural substrates of this mechanism for optimal encoding of information, possibly located in early visual structures. We adopted a flicker adaptation paradigm, which has been demonstrated to specifically impair the contrast sensitivity of the magnocellular pathway. We compared flicker-induced contrast threshold changes in three different tasks. The results indicate that, after adapting to a uniform flickering field, thresholds for image discrimination using briefly presented sketches increase. Similar threshold elevations occur for motion discrimination, a task typically targeting the magnocellular system. Instead, contrast thresholds for orientation discrimination, a task typically targeting the parvocellular system, do not change with flicker adaptation. The computation performed by this early data reduction mechanism seems thus consistent with magnocellular processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowding, a fundamental limit in object recognition, is believed to result from excessive integration of nearby items in peripheral vision. To understand its pooling mechanisms, we measured subjects' internal response distributions in an orientation crowding task. Contrary to the prediction of an averaging model, we observed a pattern suggesting that the perceptual judgement is made based on choosing the largest response across the noise-perturbed items. A model featuring first-stage averaging and second-stage signed-max operation predicts the diverse errors made by human observers under various signal strength levels. These findings suggest that different rules operate to resolve the bottleneck at early and high-level stages of visual processing, implementing a combination of linear and nonlinear pooling strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyday actions like moving the head, walking around, and grasping objects are typically self-controlled. This presents a problem when studying the signals encoding such actions because active self-movement is difficult to control experimentally. Available techniques demand repeatable trials, but each action is unique, making it difficult to measure fundamental properties like psychophysical thresholds. We present a novel paradigm that recovers both precision and bias of self-movement signals with minimal constraint on the participant. The paradigm relies on linking image motion to previous self-movement, and two experimental phases to extract the signal encoding the latter. The paradigm takes care of a hidden source of external noise not previously accounted for in techniques that link display motion to self-movement in real time (e.g., virtual reality). We use head rotations as an example of self-movement, and show that the precision of the signals encoding head movement depends on whether they are being used to judge visual motion or auditory motion. We find that perceived motion is slowed during head movement in both cases. The "nonimage" signals encoding active head rotation (motor commands, proprioception, and vestibular cues) are therefore biased toward lower speeds and/or displacements. In a second experiment, we trained participants to rotate their heads at different rates and found that the imprecision of the head rotation signal rises proportionally with head speed (Weber's law). We discuss the findings in terms of the different motion cues used by vision and hearing, and the implications they have for Bayesian models of motion perception. NEW & NOTEWORTHY: We present a psychophysical technique for measuring the precision of signals encoding active self-movements. Using head movements, we show that 1) precision is greater when active head rotation is performed using visual comparison stimuli versus auditory; 2) precision decreases with head speed (Weber's law); 3) perceived speed is lower during head rotation. The findings may reflect the steps needed to convert different cues into common units, and challenge standard Bayesian models of motion perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Chronic neck pain (CNP) is a global public health problem, with high prevalence and absenteeism rates. Central sensitization (CS) as a basis for chronic pain may play an essential role in its development and progression. It is often comorbid with low conditioned pain modulation (CPM) effects, cognitions, and psychological problems. Objectives: The purposes of this study were to (1) explore the relationship between pain-related cognitions and psychological factors, CPM effects, and the central sensitization inventory (CSI) scores; and (2) determine whether cognitions and psychological factors can predict CSI scores and CPM effects in individuals with CNP. Methods: Fifty-four individuals with CNP were recruited for this cross-sectional study. The following outcome measures were evaluated: The CSI (screening tool) was compared with the cold pressor test (CPT), which was the psychophysical test used to assess the CPM; neck pain intensity using the visual analogue scale (VAS), as well as pain-related cognitions (including kinesiophobia and pain catastrophization) and psychological states (including anxiety and depression) using self-report questionnaires. Results: CSI score was not associated with the CPM effect (r = 0.257, p > 0.05), and no cognitions or psychological factors were associated with CPM (p > 0.05), but CSI score was moderately positively correlated with kinesiophobia (r = 0.554, p < 0.01), lowly positively correlated with pain catastrophization (r = 0.332, p = 0.017) and anxiety (r = 0.492, p < 0.01), but not depression (r = 0.207, p = 0.132). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that kinesiophobia (B = 1.308, p < 0.01) and anxiety (B = 1.806, p = 0.02) were significant positive predictors of CSI score. Conclusions: The findings confirm some of our hypotheses. Accordingly, the findings inferred that the CSI does not seem to respond to CPM effect in patients with CNP effectively. In addition, CSI score was associated with cognitions and psychological factors, of which kinesiophobia and anxiety were effective predictors. In clinical practice, pain-related cognitions and psychological factors should be fully considered to manage neck pain efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial orientation is a complex ability that emerges from the interaction of several systems in a way that is still unclear. One of the reasons limiting the research on the topic is the lack of methodologies aimed at studying multimodal psychophysics in an ecological manner and with affordable settings. Virtual reality can provide a workaround to this impasse by using virtual stimuli rather than real ones. However, the available virtual reality development platforms are not meant for psychophysical testing; therefore, using them as such can be very difficult for newcomers, especially the ones new to coding. For this reason, we developed SALLO, the Suite for the Assessment of Low-Level cues on Orientation, which is a suite of utilities that simplifies assessing the psychophysics of multimodal spatial orientation in virtual reality. The tools in it cover all the fundamental steps to design a psychophysical experiment. Plus, dedicated tracks guide the users in extending the suite components to simplify developing new experiments. An experimental use-case used SALLO and virtual reality to show that the head posture affects both the egocentric and the allocentric mental representations of spatial orientation. Such a use-case demonstrated how SALLO and virtual reality can be used to accelerate hypothesis testing concerning the psychophysics of spatial orientation and, more broadly, how the community of researchers in the field may benefit from such a tool to carry out their investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual system continuously adapts to the statistical properties of the environment. Existing evidence shows a close resemblance between deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and primate visual stream in neural selectivity to naturalistic textures above the primary visual processing stage. This study delves into the mechanisms of perceptual learning in CNNs, focusing on how they assimilate the high-order statistics of natural textures. Our results show that a CNN model achieves a similar performance improvement as humans, as manifested in the learning pattern across different types of high-order image statistics. While L2 was the first stage exhibiting texture selectivity, we found that stages beyond L2 were critically involved in learning. The significant contribution of L4 to learning was manifested both in the modulations of texture-selective responses and in the consequences of training with frozen connection weights. Our findings highlight learning-dependent plasticity in the mid-to-high-level areas of the visual hierarchy. This research introduces an AI-inspired approach for studying learning-induced cortical plasticity, utilizing DCNNs as an experimental framework to formulate testable predictions for empirical brain studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When we enter a dark place, such as a tunnel, from a bright exterior, our visual sensitivities take some time to adapt to lower light levels. However, there have been few reports on how quickly luminance and chromaticity discrimination sensitivities recover in this situation. This study aims to quantify the time course of discrimination sensitivity for luminance and chromaticity directions after an abrupt decrease in background luminance. In each trial, the background luminance was decreased from 100 to 1 cd/m2. Subsequently, one target and three reference stimuli of different colors were presented under four stimulus‐onset asynchrony (SOA) conditions. The participants discriminated the target stimulus from reference stimuli. The results showed that discrimination sensitivity was the lowest right after the background luminance changed and gradually improved with SOAs. The sensitivity decreases differed across color directions, with the greatest decrease in luminance, a moderate decrease in S−(L + M), and a negligible change in L−M. However, statistically significant differences were observed only between luminance and L−M, suggesting that the sensitivity decrease after the abrupt decrease in background luminance did not significantly differ between the chromaticity directions. We speculate that these results stem from the interaction between chromatic perception and luminance adaptation, and possibly from rod intrusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Detecting cognitive impairment in clinical practice is challenging as most instruments do not perform well in diverse samples of older adults. These same instruments are often used for eligibility into clinical trials making it difficult to recruit minoritized adults into Alzheimer's disease (AD) studies. Cognivue Clarity® is an FDA-cleared computerized 10-minute cognitive screening platform using adaptive psychophysics to detect cognitive impairment. Objective: Test the ability of Cognivue Clarity to measure cognitive performance in a diverse community sample compared with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Methods: This study enrolled 452 participants across 6 US study sites and completed both Cognivue Clarity device and RBANS. Psychometric properties and exploratory factor analysis of Cognivue Clarity were explored and comparisons against RBANS across different age, sex, education, and ethnoracial groups were conducted. Results: Participants had a mean age of 47.9±16.1 years (range: 18–85), 63.6% were female, 45.9% had ≤12 years of education, 31.2% were African American and 9.2% were Hispanic. Cognivue Clarity had strong internal consistency, test-retest reliability and minimal practice effects. A 4-factor structure (Memory, Attention, Visuomotor, and Discrimination) had excellent goodness-of-fit. Normalizing age effects improved performance. Race and education effects were similar to those seen with RBANS. Cognivue Clarity had strong correlations with RBANS. Conclusions: Our study supports the use of Cognivue Clarity as an easy-to-use, brief, and valid cognitive assessment that measures cognitive performance. In the correct clinical setting, Cognivue Clarity may identify individuals with likely cognitive impairment who could be candidates for AD research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flicker stimulus is a visual stimulus of intermittent illumination. A flicker stimulus can appear flickering or steady to a human subject, depending on the physical parameters associated with the stimulus. When the flickering light appears steady, flicker fusion is said to have occurred. This work aims to bridge the gap between the psychophysics of flicker fusion and the electrophysiology associated with flicker stimulus through a Deep Learning based computational model of flicker perception. Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks (CRNNs) were trained with psychophysics data of flicker stimulus obtained from a human subject. We claim that many of the reported features of electrophysiology of the flicker stimulus, including the presence of fundamentals and harmonics of the stimulus, can be explained as the result of a temporal convolution operation on the flicker stimulus. We further show that the convolution layer output of a CRNN trained with psychophysics data is more responsive to specific frequencies as in human EEG response to flicker, and the convolution layer of a trained CRNN can give a nearly sinusoidal output for 10 hertz flicker stimulus as reported for some human subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sensorimotor system can recalibrate itself without our conscious awareness, a type of procedural learning whose computational mechanism remains undefined. Recent findings on implicit motor adaptation, such as over-learning from small perturbations and fast saturation for increasing perturbation size, challenge existing theories based on sensory errors. We argue that perceptual error, arising from the optimal combination of movement-related cues, is the primary driver of implicit adaptation. Central to our theory is the increasing sensory uncertainty of visual cues with increasing perturbations, which was validated through perceptual psychophysics (Experiment 1). Our theory predicts the learning dynamics of implicit adaptation across a spectrum of perturbation sizes on a trial-by-trial basis (Experiment 2). It explains proprioception changes and their relation to visual perturbation (Experiment 3). By modulating visual uncertainty in perturbation, we induced unique adaptation responses in line with our model predictions (Experiment 4). Overall, our perceptual error framework outperforms existing models based on sensory errors, suggesting that perceptual error in locating one’s effector, supported by Bayesian cue integration, underpins the sensorimotor system’s implicit adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]