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visual neuroscience

·January 28, 2025·5 min read

Study Links Schizophrenia to Visual Contrast Sensitivity Deficits

People with schizophrenia experience impaired contrast perception, affecting their ability to differentiate light intensity and recognize shapes and textures. This deficit may stem from disruptions in glutamate neurotransmission, a key neural mechanism in the disease.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 27, 2025·5 min read

How the Brain Processes Space and Time

New research highlights a functional hierarchy in the brain's processing of space and time. In posterior areas, like the occipital cortex, space and time are tightly linked and processed by the same neurons. In anterior regions, such as the frontal cortex, space and time are processed independently, with distinct neural populations forming "time maps" for specific durations.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 16, 2025·8 min read

Multifocal Lenses Reduce Myopia Risks

New research demonstrates that high-add multifocal contact lenses significantly slow myopia progression in children, with benefits that persist even after discontinuation. The lenses, designed to slow eye growth and reduce long-term myopia-related risks, showed no rebound effect after treatment stopped.

This shows the outline of a head and a brain.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 14, 2025·4 min read

Brain Merges Sight and Sound to Understand Speech in Noisy Settings

Researchers are investigating how the brain combines visual and auditory cues to improve speech comprehension in noisy environments. The study focuses on how visual information, like lip movements, enhances the brain's ability to differentiate similar sounds, such as "F" and "S."

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 5, 2025·6 min read

Pupil Dynamics During Sleep Reveal Brain’s Memory-Saving Secrets

Researchers have discovered that pupil size during non-REM sleep correlates with memory consolidation. When pupils contract, the brain focuses on consolidating new memories; when dilated, it processes older ones.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 2, 2025·6 min read

Ancient Brain Reflex Develops Without Sensory Input

Researchers uncovered that the vestibulo-ocular reflex, a vital brain circuit stabilizing gaze during body tilts, matures independently of sensory input in newborns. This reflex, essential for perceiving a stable environment, enables the eyes to counter-rotate with body movements.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·December 18, 2024·4 min read

Genes Behind Dyslexia Linked to Brain Changes in Motor, Vision, and Language

A large-scale study revealed that genetic variants linked to dyslexia are associated with differences in brain areas controlling motor coordination, vision, and language. Using data from over a million individuals, researchers calculated genetic "polygenic scores" for dyslexia and analyzed their relationship to brain structures. Higher genetic risk for dyslexia was tied to lower volumes in brain regions related to speech processing and movement, and increased volumes in the visual cortex.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology Visual Neuroscience

·December 18, 2024·5 min read

Study Ties Visual Errors to Paranoid Beliefs

A new study suggests complex beliefs like paranoia may have roots in visual misperception. Participants prone to paranoia or teleological thinking were more likely to wrongly identify one moving dot as chasing another in a visual task.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·December 17, 2024·5 min read

Targeted or Broadcast? How the Brain Processes Visual Information

Researchers have uncovered how visual information is processed across the brain’s complex and flexible networks. One study showed visual signals are selectively targeted or broadly broadcast, challenging the idea of a simple, linear flow of visual input.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology Visual Neuroscience

·December 17, 2024·4 min read

Being Watched Changes How Your Brain Processes Faces

A new study shows that knowing you're under surveillance triggers a faster, automatic brain response to detect faces and gaze direction. Researchers found that participants monitored via CCTV became hyper-aware of facial stimuli nearly a second faster than those not being watched, even without realizing it.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·December 15, 2024·6 min read

Visual Silence: Exploring Aphantasia

A new study reveals that aphantasics, people unable to visualize, are more resistant to involuntary visual thoughts, such as imagining a pink elephant. While vivid visual imaginations often lead to intrusive imagery, aphantasics seem to redirect their thoughts to other mental processes, like abstract ideas or auditory daydreaming.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·December 9, 2024·6 min read

Why Autistic Children View Faces Differently

Children with autism exhibit distinct eye movement patterns when viewing faces, particularly in the initial stages of visual processing. A new study found that autistic children are more likely to use an exploratory eye movement pattern, focusing on broader areas rather than immediately fixating on facial features. This behavior may be linked to reduced visual sensitivity to social cues and is associated with autism-related challenges in social communication.