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Nature Communications Jun 2024While human vision spans 220°, traditional functional MRI setups display images only up to central 10-15°. Thus, it remains unknown how the brain represents a scene...
While human vision spans 220°, traditional functional MRI setups display images only up to central 10-15°. Thus, it remains unknown how the brain represents a scene perceived across the full visual field. Here, we introduce a method for ultra-wide angle display and probe signatures of immersive scene representation. An unobstructed view of 175° is achieved by bouncing the projected image off angled-mirrors onto a custom-built curved screen. To avoid perceptual distortion, scenes are created with wide field-of-view from custom virtual environments. We find that immersive scene representation drives medial cortex with far-peripheral preferences, but shows minimal modulation in classic scene regions. Further, scene and face-selective regions maintain their content preferences even with extreme far-periphery stimulation, highlighting that not all far-peripheral information is automatically integrated into scene regions computations. This work provides clarifying evidence on content vs. peripheral preferences in scene representation and opens new avenues to research immersive vision.
Topics: Humans; Visual Cortex; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Adult; Female; Young Adult; Visual Perception; Photic Stimulation; Brain Mapping; Neuroimaging; Visual Fields; Pattern Recognition, Visual
PubMed: 38942766
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49669-0 -
Journal of Neuropsychology Jun 2024Knowledge of the body size is intricately tied to multisensory integration processes that rely on the dynamic interplay of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms. Recent...
Knowledge of the body size is intricately tied to multisensory integration processes that rely on the dynamic interplay of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms. Recent years have seen the development of passive sensory stimulation protocols aimed at investigating the modulation of various cognitive functions, primarily inducing perceptual learning and behaviour change without the need for extensive training. Given that reductions in sensory input have been associated with alterations in body size perception, it is reasonable to hypothesize that increasing sensory information through passive sensory stimulation could similarly influence the perception of the size of body parts. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the potential modulatory effects of passive sensory stimulation on the perception of hand and face size in a group of young adults. Passive sensory stimulation effectively modulated the size representation of the stimulated hand, supporting the notion that access to somatosensory and proprioceptive information is prioritised for the hands but may not extend to the face. Increased somatosensory input resulted in a reduction of distortion, providing evidence for bottom-up modulation of size representation. Passive sensory stimulation can induce subjective changes in body size perception without the need for extensive training. This paradigm holds promise as a potential alternative for modulating distorted size representation in individuals with body representational deficits.
PubMed: 38877675
DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12379 -
Journal of Voice : Official Journal of... Jun 2024Several surgical techniques have been reported for the treatment of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP). Although the fenestration approach has recently been applied...
OBJECTIVE
Several surgical techniques have been reported for the treatment of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP). Although the fenestration approach has recently been applied for arytenoid adduction (AA) in some cases, long-term large-cohort studies on its usefulness are lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the long-term voice outcomes of this technique in patients with UVFP.
STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective study.
METHODS
A total of 168 patients with UVFP underwent laryngoplasty comprising AA performed through fenestration of the thyroid ala combined with a type I thyroplasty (TPI). The maximum phonation time (MPT) and mean airflow rate (MFR) were measured before and after surgery, and voice analysis included an estimation of shimmer and jitter. Anterior and posterior surgical windows were created in the lower thyroid ala and were used for typical TPI and AA, respectively. The window locations were determined based on three-dimensional computed tomography data. AA was performed by pulling the muscular process of the arytenoid cartilage toward the lateral cricoarytenoid muscle through the posterior window without releasing the cricothyroid joint. All surgeries were performed under local anesthesia, and medialization was endoscopically confirmed.
RESULTS
Postoperative MPT >10 seconds was achieved in 156 of the 168 patients. Postoperatively, MFR improved to <250 mL/s in all but two patients, and MPT, MFR, jitter, and shimmer significantly improved in all patients. Furthermore, perceptual evaluation using the Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain scale revealed significant improvement in all patients.
CONCLUSIONS
The fenestration approach preserves the cricothyroid joint and does not open the cricoarytenoid joint; therefore, the laryngeal cartilage is stabilized, and no distortion of the laryngeal framework occurs. Our results showed that combined AA and TPI via the fenestration approach provided stable long-term postoperative voice improvement in patients with UVFP.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Level 3.
PubMed: 38839466
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2024.04.028 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review May 2024The fact that memories can be distorted by post-event misinformation has cast considerable doubt over the dependability of eyewitness evidence in legal contexts.... (Review)
Review
The fact that memories can be distorted by post-event misinformation has cast considerable doubt over the dependability of eyewitness evidence in legal contexts. However, despite its adverse practical implications, the misinformation effect is likely an unavoidable distortion stemming from the reconstructive nature of episodic memory. Certain cognitive abilities have been reported to offer protection against misinformation, suggesting that mechanisms aside from episodic memory may also be underpinning this type of memory distortion. The purpose of this review was to collate findings of associations between eyewitness misinformation susceptibility and individual differences in cognitive ability in adults aged 18 and over. Nine studies met the eligibility criteria for this review, including 23 distinct associations. Using a narrative synthesis, three categories of cognitive ability were identified as influencing susceptibility to misinformation: general intelligence and reasoning, perceptual abilities, and memory abilities. Across almost all categories, higher levels of ability were associated with reduced susceptibility to misinformation. While there is no indication that any one trait provides total immunity to the misinformation effect, there is a reasonable amount of evidence to suggest that several cognitive abilities create variance in individual levels of susceptibility. Future research should investigate not only if but how these cognitive abilities protect against misinformation distortions, for example, by contributing to more detailed encoding of the memory, enhancing discrepancy detection in the face of post-event misinformation, or improving source-monitoring during an eyewitness memory test.
PubMed: 38696106
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02512-5 -
Behavior Therapy May 2024Given that mobile digital imaging analyses (DIA) are equipped to automate body composition and subsequently alter one's appearance at a given objective body fat percent...
Given that mobile digital imaging analyses (DIA) are equipped to automate body composition and subsequently alter one's appearance at a given objective body fat percent (BF%), the purpose of this study was to validate the use of this tool for assessments of body image. Participants (f = 134, m = 89) from two separate centers underwent body composition scans using a mobile DIA and completed the Multidimensional Body Self-Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Scale (MBSRQ-AS). Using a DIA-generated avatar, participants altered their figure so that it represented their perceived body, ideal body, and what a partner would find attractive. Distortion was calculated as perceived minus actual BF% and dissatisfaction was calculated as either ideal or partner minus perceived BF%. The total sample and females (p < 0.050), but not males, had significantly lower perceived BF% compared to their actual. Ideal and partner BF% was significantly lower than the perceived BF% for all groups (all p < 0.050). Ideal and partner BF% mean differences (MD) from perceived were positively associated with appearance evaluation (AE) and body area satisfaction (BAS) and negatively associated with overweight preoccupation and self-classified weight for the total sample (all p < 0.050). Perceived demonstrated negative associations with AE and BAS (p < 0.050), but only for females when separated by sex. Perceptual body image measured by DIA is significantly associated with attitudinal body image and may allow practitioners to better quantify this growing issue.
Topics: Humans; Female; Body Image; Male; Cross-Sectional Studies; Adult; Middle Aged; Body Composition; Surveys and Questionnaires; Personal Satisfaction; Young Adult; Self Concept; Aged
PubMed: 38670668
DOI: 10.1016/j.beth.2023.08.009 -
Journal of Vision Apr 2024This paper reviews projection models and their perception in realistic pictures, and proposes hypotheses for three-dimensional (3D) shape and space perception in... (Review)
Review
This paper reviews projection models and their perception in realistic pictures, and proposes hypotheses for three-dimensional (3D) shape and space perception in pictures. In these hypotheses, eye fixations, and foveal vision play a central role. Many past theories and experimental studies focus solely on linear perspective. Yet, these theories fail to explain many important perceptual phenomena, including the effectiveness of nonlinear projections. Indeed, few classical paintings strictly obey linear perspective, nor do the best distortion-avoidance techniques for wide-angle computational photography. The hypotheses here employ a two-stage model for 3D human vision. When viewing a picture, the first stage perceives 3D shape for the current gaze. Each fixation has its own perspective projection, but, owing to the nature of foveal and peripheral vision, shape information is obtained primarily for a small region of the picture around the fixation. As a viewer moves their eyes, the second stage continually integrates some of the per-gaze information into an overall interpretation of a picture. The interpretation need not be geometrically stable or consistent over time. It is argued that this framework could explain many disparate pictorial phenomena, including different projection styles throughout art history and computational photography, while being consistent with the constraints of human 3D vision. The paper reviews open questions and suggests new studies to explore these hypotheses.
Topics: Humans; Fixation, Ocular; Form Perception; Depth Perception; Space Perception; Eye Movements; Fovea Centralis
PubMed: 38662346
DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.4.23 -
IEEE Transactions on Image Processing :... 2024In this paper, we propose a graph-represented image distribution similarity (GRIDS) index for full-reference (FR) image quality assessment (IQA), which can measure the...
In this paper, we propose a graph-represented image distribution similarity (GRIDS) index for full-reference (FR) image quality assessment (IQA), which can measure the perceptual distance between distorted and reference images by assessing the disparities between their distribution patterns under a graph-based representation. First, we transform the input image into a graph-based representation, which is proven to be a versatile and effective choice for capturing visual perception features. This is achieved through the automatic generation of a vision graph from the given image content, leading to holistic perceptual associations for irregular image regions. Second, to reflect the perceived image distribution, we decompose the undirected graph into cliques and then calculate the product of the potential functions for the cliques to obtain the joint probability distribution of the undirected graph. Finally, we compare the distances between the graph feature distributions of the distorted and reference images at different stages; thus, we combine the distortion distribution measurements derived from different graph model depths to determine the perceived quality of the distorted images. The empirical results obtained from an extensive array of experiments underscore the competitive nature of our proposed method, which achieves performance on par with that of the state-of-the-art methods, demonstrating its exceptional predictive accuracy and ability to maintain consistent and monotonic behaviour in image quality prediction tasks. The source code is publicly available at the following website https://github.com/Land5cape/GRIDS.
PubMed: 38656839
DOI: 10.1109/TIP.2024.3390565 -
Vision Research Jul 2024When a novel stimulus (oddball) appears after repeated presentation of an identical stimulus, the oddball is perceived to last longer than the repeated stimuli, a...
When a novel stimulus (oddball) appears after repeated presentation of an identical stimulus, the oddball is perceived to last longer than the repeated stimuli, a phenomenon known as the oddball effect. We investigated whether the perceptual or physical differences between the repeated and oddball stimuli are more important for the oddball effect. To manipulate the perceptual difference while keeping their physical visual features constant, we used the Thatcher illusion, in which an inversion of a face hinders recognition of distortion in its facial features. We found that the Thatcherized face presented after repeated presentation of an intact face induced a stronger oddball effect when the faces were upright than when they were inverted (Experiment 1). However, the difference in the oddball effect between face orientations was not observed when the intact face was presented as the oddball after repeated presentation of a Thatcherized face (Experiment 2). These results were replicated when participants performed both the intact-repeated and Thatcherized-repeated conditions in a single experiment (Experiment 3). Two control experiments confirmed that the repeated presentation of the preceding stimuli is necessary for the difference in duration distortion to occur (Experiments 4 and 5). The results suggest the considerable role of perceptual processing in the oddball effect. We discuss the discrepancy in the results between the intact-repeated and Thatcherized-repeated conditions in terms of predictive coding.
Topics: Humans; Female; Male; Young Adult; Adult; Photic Stimulation; Facial Recognition; Illusions; Analysis of Variance; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Visual Perception
PubMed: 38603924
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2024.108399 -
Neural Networks : the Official Journal... Jul 2024Due to distribution shift, deep learning based methods for image dehazing suffer from performance degradation when applied to real-world hazy images. In this paper, this...
Due to distribution shift, deep learning based methods for image dehazing suffer from performance degradation when applied to real-world hazy images. In this paper, this study considers a dehazing framework based on conditional diffusion models for improved generalization to real haze. First, our work finds that optimizing the training objective of diffusion models, i.e., Gaussian noise vectors, is non-trivial. The spectral bias of deep networks hinders the higher frequency modes in Gaussian vectors from being learned and hence impairs the reconstruction of image details. To tackle this issue, this study designs a network unit, named Frequency Compensation block (FCB), with a bank of filters that jointly emphasize the mid-to-high frequencies of an input signal. Our work demonstrates that diffusion models with FCB achieve significant gains in both perceptual and distortion metrics. Second, to further boost the generalization performance, this study proposed a novel data synthesis pipeline, HazeAug, to augment haze in terms of degree and diversity. Within the framework, a solid baseline for blind dehazing is set up where models are trained on synthetic hazy-clean pairs, and directly generalize to real data. Extensive evaluations on real dehazing datasets demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed dehazing diffusion model in distortion metrics. Compared to recent methods pre-trained on large-scale, high-quality image datasets, our model achieves a significant PSNR improvement of over 1 dB on challenging databases such as Dense-Haze and Nh-Haze.
Topics: Neural Networks, Computer; Deep Learning; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Humans; Algorithms; Normal Distribution
PubMed: 38579573
DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2024.106281 -
Optics Express Mar 2024Viewers of digital displays often experience motion artifacts (e.g., flicker, judder, edge banding, motion blur, color breakup, depth distortion) when presented with...
Viewers of digital displays often experience motion artifacts (e.g., flicker, judder, edge banding, motion blur, color breakup, depth distortion) when presented with dynamic scenes. We developed an interactive software tool for display designers that predicts how a viewer perceives motion artifacts for a variety of stimulus, display, and viewing parameters: the Binocular Perceived Motion Artifact Predictor (BiPMAP). The tool enables the user to specify numerous stimulus, display, and viewing parameters. It implements a model of human spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity in order to determine which artifacts will be seen by a viewer and which will not. The tool visualizes the perceptual effects of discrete space-time sampling on the display by presenting side by side the expected perception when the stimulus is continuous compared to when the same stimulus is presented with the spatial and temporal parameters of a prototype display.
PubMed: 38571049
DOI: 10.1364/OE.510985