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Vision Research Oct 2018
Topics: Color Vision; Humans; Psychophysics; Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells
PubMed: 30327094
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2018.09.001 -
Vision Research Aug 2019
Topics: Humans; Psychophysics; Reading; Visual Perception
PubMed: 31194983
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2019.06.002 -
Trends in Hearing 2022Most human auditory psychophysics research has historically been conducted in carefully controlled environments with calibrated audio equipment, and over potentially...
Most human auditory psychophysics research has historically been conducted in carefully controlled environments with calibrated audio equipment, and over potentially hours of repetitive testing with expert listeners. Here, we operationally define such conditions as having high 'auditory hygiene'. From this perspective, conducting auditory psychophysical paradigms online presents a serious challenge, in that results may hinge on absolute sound presentation level, reliably estimated perceptual thresholds, low and controlled background noise levels, and sustained motivation and attention. We introduce a set of procedures that address these challenges and facilitate auditory hygiene for online auditory psychophysics. First, we establish a simple means of setting sound presentation levels. Across a set of four level-setting conditions conducted in person, we demonstrate the stability and robustness of this level setting procedure in open air and controlled settings. Second, we test participants' tone-in-noise thresholds using widely adopted online experiment platforms and demonstrate that reliable threshold estimates can be derived online in approximately one minute of testing. Third, using these level and threshold setting procedures to establish participant-specific stimulus conditions, we show that an online implementation of the classic probe-signal paradigm can be used to demonstrate frequency-selective attention on an individual-participant basis, using a third of the trials used in recent in-lab experiments. Finally, we show how threshold and attentional measures relate to well-validated assays of online participants' in-task motivation, fatigue, and confidence. This demonstrates the promise of online auditory psychophysics for addressing new auditory perception and neuroscience questions quickly, efficiently, and with more diverse samples. Code for the tests is publicly available through Pavlovia and Gorilla.
Topics: Auditory Perception; Auditory Threshold; Humans; Noise; Psychophysics
PubMed: 36131515
DOI: 10.1177/23312165221118792 -
Neuron Oct 2019Scientific experimentation depends on the artificial control of natural phenomena. The inaccessibility of cognitive processes to direct manipulation can make such... (Review)
Review
Scientific experimentation depends on the artificial control of natural phenomena. The inaccessibility of cognitive processes to direct manipulation can make such control difficult to realize. Here, we discuss approaches for overcoming this challenge. We advocate the incorporation of experimental techniques from sensory psychophysics into the study of cognitive processes such as decision making and executive control. These techniques include the use of simple parameterized stimuli to precisely manipulate available information and computational models to jointly quantify behavior and neural responses. We illustrate the potential for such techniques to drive theoretical development, and we examine important practical details of how to conduct controlled experiments when using them. Finally, we highlight principles guiding the use of computational models in studying the neural basis of cognition.
Topics: Animals; Cognition; Cognitive Neuroscience; Computer Simulation; Decision Making; Decision Theory; Executive Function; Humans; Psychophysics; Research Design
PubMed: 31600507
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.09.016 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Apr 2016Psychophysical techniques typically assume straightforward relationships between manipulations of real-world events, their effects on the brain, and behavioral reports... (Review)
Review
Psychophysical techniques typically assume straightforward relationships between manipulations of real-world events, their effects on the brain, and behavioral reports of those effects. However, these relationships can be influenced by many complex, strategic factors that contribute to task performance. Here we discuss several of these factors that share two key features. First, they involve subjects making flexible use of time to process information. Second, this flexibility can reflect the rational regulation of information-processing trade-offs that can play prominent roles in particular temporal epochs: sensitivity to stability versus change for past information, speed versus accuracy for current information, and exploitation versus exploration for future goals. Understanding how subjects manage these trade-offs can be used to help design and interpret psychophysical studies.
Topics: Decision Making; Humans; Psychophysics; Time Factors
PubMed: 26921829
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2016.01.015 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Jun 2023We define forward entrainment as that part of behavioral or neural entrainment that outlasts the entraining stimulus. In this review, we examine conditions under which... (Review)
Review
We define forward entrainment as that part of behavioral or neural entrainment that outlasts the entraining stimulus. In this review, we examine conditions under which one may optimally observe forward entrainment. In Part 1, we review and evaluate studies that have observed forward entrainment using a variety of psychophysical methods (detection, discrimination, and reaction times), different target stimuli (tones, noise, and gaps), different entraining sequences (sinusoidal, rectangular, or sawtooth waveforms), a variety of physiological measures (MEG, EEG, ECoG, CSD), in different modalities (auditory and visual), across modalities (audiovisual and auditory-motor), and in different species. In Part 2, we describe those experimental conditions that place constraints on the magnitude of forward entrainment, including an evaluation of the effects of signal uncertainty and attention, temporal envelope complexity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), rhythmic rate, prior experience, and intersubject variability. In Part 3 we theorize on potential mechanisms and propose that forward entrainment may instantiate a dynamic auditory afterimage that lasts a fraction of a second to minimize prediction error in signal processing.
Topics: Humans; Acoustic Stimulation; Attention; Reaction Time; Noise; Psychophysics; Auditory Perception
PubMed: 36460893
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02220-y -
Neuron Feb 2018Using a novel visual-tactile paradigm in rats, Nikbakht et al. (2018) describe multisensory behavior that outperformed predictions of optimal cue combination...
Using a novel visual-tactile paradigm in rats, Nikbakht et al. (2018) describe multisensory behavior that outperformed predictions of optimal cue combination (indicating cross-modal synergy) and exposed encoding in PPC neurons (of stimulus and choice signals) that was independent of stimulus modality.
Topics: Animals; Neurons; Photic Stimulation; Psychophysics; Rats; Touch
PubMed: 29420930
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.01.041 -
Translational Psychiatry Aug 2022It has been widely demonstrated that time processing is altered in patients with schizophrenia. This perspective review delves into such temporal deficit and highlights... (Review)
Review
It has been widely demonstrated that time processing is altered in patients with schizophrenia. This perspective review delves into such temporal deficit and highlights its link to low-level sensory alterations, which are often overlooked in rehabilitation protocols for psychosis. However, if temporal impairment at the sensory level is inherent to the disease, new interventions should focus on this dimension. Beyond more traditional types of intervention, here we review the most recent digital technologies for rehabilitation and the most promising ones for sensory training. The overall aim is to synthesise existing literature on time in schizophrenia linking psychopathology, psychophysics, and technology to help future developments.
Topics: Humans; Psychopathology; Psychophysics; Psychotic Disorders; Schizophrenia; Technology
PubMed: 35961974
DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02101-x -
Annual Review of Psychology Jan 2017As a highly social species, humans are equipped with a powerful tool for social communication-the face. Although seemingly simple, the human face can elicit multiple... (Review)
Review
As a highly social species, humans are equipped with a powerful tool for social communication-the face. Although seemingly simple, the human face can elicit multiple social perceptions due to the rich variations of its movements, morphology, and complexion. Consequently, identifying precisely what face information elicits different social perceptions is a complex empirical challenge that has largely remained beyond the reach of traditional methods. In the past decade, the emerging field of social psychophysics has developed new methods to address this challenge, with the potential to transfer psychophysical laws of social perception to the digital economy via avatars and social robots. At this exciting juncture, it is timely to review these new methodological developments. In this article, we introduce and review the foundational methodological developments of social psychophysics, present work done in the past decade that has advanced understanding of the face as a tool for social communication, and discuss the major challenges that lie ahead.
Topics: Facial Expression; Humans; Nonverbal Communication; Psychophysics; Social Perception
PubMed: 28051933
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044242 -
Nature Communications Nov 2023Introspective agents can recognize the extent to which their internal perceptual experiences deviate from the actual states of the external world. This ability, also...
Introspective agents can recognize the extent to which their internal perceptual experiences deviate from the actual states of the external world. This ability, also known as insight, is critically required for reality testing and is impaired in psychosis, yet little is known about its cognitive underpinnings. We develop a Bayesian modeling framework and a psychophysics paradigm to quantitatively characterize this type of insight while people experience a motion after-effect illusion. People can incorporate knowledge about the illusion into their decisions when judging the actual direction of a motion stimulus, compensating for the illusion (and often overcompensating). Furthermore, confidence, reaction-time, and pupil-dilation data all show signatures consistent with inferential adjustments in the Bayesian insight model. Our results suggest that people can question the veracity of what they see by making insightful inferences that incorporate introspective knowledge about internal distortions.
Topics: Humans; Perceptual Distortion; Illusions; Bayes Theorem; Psychophysics; Psychotic Disorders; Motion Perception
PubMed: 38030601
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42813-2