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Visual Neuroscience

Visual Neuroscience news articles cover science research into visual cortex, vision, visual disorders, blindness, brain processing of visual cues, facial recognition and research related to how eyes and brains function.

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 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.

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.