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visual neuroscience

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 Visual Neuroscience

·December 4, 2024·4 min read

Sleep Apnea May Increase Risk of Wet Macular Degeneration

A new study has linked moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), characterized by low oxygen levels overnight, with an increased risk of developing wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The research suggests nocturnal hypoxia could affect the oxygen-sensitive retina, contributing to AMD progression.

This shows an ape looking at a computer monitor.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Visual Neuroscience

·November 26, 2024·3 min read

Great Apes’ Gaze Reveals Human-Like Event Perception

Great apes track events involving agents and patients, like humans, suggesting shared cognitive mechanisms. When watching video clips, apes alternated their gaze between agents (e.g., a cat) and patients (e.g., a mouse), similar to adult humans, though apes paid more attention to background details.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·November 25, 2024·6 min read

How Expectations Shape Our Gaze in a Changing World

Our expectations about potential changes in a scene influence how we move our eyes, even when viewing static images. Participants looked more at areas with a high "potential for change" (PfC)—such as objects likely to move—when they expected the scene to become dynamic, despite no motion occurring during the observation period.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·November 22, 2024·5 min read

Brainstem Neurons Guide Gaze, Maintain Short-Term Memory

Researchers used zebrafish larvae to uncover how brainstem neurons guide gaze and maintain short-term memory. By mapping neuronal circuits, they built a computational model that accurately predicted network activity. The findings shed light on visual-motor systems and offer insights for treating eye movement disorders.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·November 20, 2024·3 min read

Earpiece Tech Detects Early Alzheimer’s Through Eye Movement Signals

Researchers are exploring how earpiece microphones, or "hearables," could detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease by monitoring subtle eye movement changes. Alzheimer’s impacts motor and cognitive functions, with slowed or delayed eye movements (saccades) being an early indicator.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·November 18, 2024·5 min read

Dual-Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Hearing and Vision Loss

Researchers have developed a dual-gene therapy approach to treat Usher syndrome type 1F, a rare condition causing deafness and progressive blindness. By splitting the large PCDH15 gene into two halves, delivering them via adeno-associated viruses, and reassembling them in cells, the therapy restored hearing and balance in mice. Tests in human retinal organoids and primate retinas showed increased levels of protocadherin-15 in light-sensing cells, offering hope for vision preservation.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·November 7, 2024·4 min read

How Our Brain Stabilizes Vision Amid Constant Eye Movement

A new study reveals how the brain compensates for rapid eye movements, maintaining a stable visual perception despite dynamic visual input. Researchers found that this stability mechanism breaks down for non-rigid motion like rotating vortices, leading to visual instability.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·October 23, 2024·6 min read

Brain Processes Sentence Structures as Fast as Visual Scenes

The human brain can detect the structure of a short sentence in as little as 150 milliseconds, the speed of a blink. Using brain imaging, scientists found that the brain's language comprehension system processes sentences flashed on a screen similarly to how it perceives a visual scene.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·October 22, 2024·6 min read

How Visual Clutter Disrupts Information Flow in the Brain

A new study reveals that visual clutter alters how information flows between neurons in the brain’s primary visual cortex, but not the order in which it's processed. Researchers found that the efficiency of information transfer changes depending on the location of clutter in the visual field.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·October 10, 2024·4 min read

Neuroimaging Reveals How OPC Cells Shape Visual Processing

Researchers revealed the intricate role of OPC cells in shaping the brain's neural circuits. Previously known mainly for supporting neuron insulation, OPCs also prune unnecessary synaptic connections, refining the brain’s wiring as we accumulate experiences.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 9, 2024·6 min read

How Brain Cells Identify Smells and Related Images

A recent study reveals that specific brain cells respond not only to smells but also to images and written words related to those scents, providing deeper insight into human odor perception. Researchers found that neurons in the olfactory cortex and other brain regions, like the hippocampus and amygdala, distinguish between different smells and associate them with visual cues. This research, using data from epilepsy patients, bridges a gap between animal and human studies on olfactory processing.