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perception

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·May 29, 2025·4 min read

How Personality and Family Shape Athletic Self-Perception

A new study of Japanese undergraduates finds that students' perceptions of their own athletic ability are shaped by a mix of personality traits, childhood environment, and social feedback. Those who rated themselves as more athletic also tended to display grit, resilience, and a growth mindset. Factors like early walking age, athletic parents, frequent sports participation, and being called athletic by others were also linked to higher self-ratings.

Featured Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos Visual Neuroscience

·May 12, 2025·5 min read

How Your Brain Splits Space to Double Its Perception Power

Despite popular myths about left- and right-brain thinking, research shows the hemispheres truly do divide up certain tasks—especially visual spatial perception. A new review reveals how each hemisphere processes the opposite side of your field of vision, not only early on but even in higher-level cognition like attention and memory.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 2, 2025·5 min read

Study Challenges Leading Theories On Consciousness Origins

A landmark study tested two leading theories of consciousness — Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) — but found neither definitively explained conscious experience. While IIT emphasizes deep integration of brain regions and GNWT highlights widespread broadcasting of information, data from 256 human subjects did not fully support either.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 10, 2025·5 min read

Lip Size Shapes Beauty Perception, Preferences Differ by Gender

New research reveals that lip size significantly influences how people perceive facial attractiveness, and these perceptions vary based on gender and exposure. Female participants preferred plumper lips on female faces, while males preferred natural lip size, suggesting gendered beauty standards.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 7, 2025·4 min read

Babies Can Sense Their Own Heartbeat as Early as 3 Months Old

A new study reveals that infants as young as three months can perceive their own heartbeat, and their awareness of breathing develops during the second year of life. This early body awareness is closely linked to emotional development, identity, and interactions with caregivers.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 3, 2025·6 min read

Key Brain Gateway to Conscious Perception Identified

A new study using intracranial recordings in humans reveals that the thalamus, particularly its higher-order regions, plays a central role in triggering conscious perception. By monitoring brain activity during a visual task, researchers found that the intralaminar and medial thalamic nuclei activated before the prefrontal cortex, suggesting the thalamus initiates conscious awareness.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 16, 2025·4 min read

How Our Brains Perceive Body Weight Differs From Objects

Research reveals that how we perceive the size and weight of body parts, such as hands, differs from our perception of objects. For objects, smaller items feel heavier than larger ones with the same weight—a phenomenon known as the size-weight illusion.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·December 6, 2024·4 min read

How the Brain Sorts Noise from Signal to Maintain Stable Perception

New research reveals how the brain separates internally generated noise from sensory signals, ensuring stable perception. The study shows that in lower visual areas, spontaneous brain activity and stimulus-evoked responses are similar, but in higher cortical areas, they become increasingly independent, a process known as orthogonalization.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 7, 2024·5 min read

Child Signals: Vocal Cues Shape Adult Perceptions

Human children depend on caregivers for extended periods, employing complex vocal and cognitive cues to elicit adult attention and care. Recent research shows that adults prioritize vocal cues when assessing children's emotions and perceived helplessness, while cognitive cues weigh more in evaluating intelligence.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 17, 2024·4 min read

Gut Bacteria Influence Fairness Perception

A new study finds that manipulating gut bacteria through probiotic and prebiotic supplements can increase altruistic punishment behavior in humans. Participants receiving supplements were more likely to reject unfair offers in a money-sharing game, suggesting a link between gut microbiota composition and social decision-making.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 13, 2024·4 min read

Exercise Warps Time Perception

People perceive time as moving slower when they are exercising compared to resting or post-exercise. The research involved participants undergoing a time perception task during different cycling conditions, including solo and competitive scenarios.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 10, 2024·7 min read

Brain Flexibility: Neurons Multitask to Shape Perception and Action

A new study explains how the brain balances flexibility with focus through "mixed selectivity" in neurons. This mechanism allows neurons to participate in multiple computational tasks simultaneously, thus enhancing cognitive flexibility.