-
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2024The contents of awareness can substantially change without any modification to the external world. Such effects are exemplified in binocular rivalry, where a different...
The contents of awareness can substantially change without any modification to the external world. Such effects are exemplified in binocular rivalry, where a different stimulus is presented to each eye causing instability in perception. This phenomenon has made binocular rivalry a quintessential method for studying consciousness and the necessary neural correlates for awareness. However, to conduct research on binocular rivalry usually requires self-reports of changes in percept, which can produce confounds and exclude states and contexts where self-reports are undesirable or unreliable. Here, we use a novel multivariate spatial filter dubbed 'Rhythmic Entrainment Source Separation' to extract steady state visual evoked potentials from electroencephalography data. We show that this method can be used to quantify the perceptual switch-rate of participants during binocular rivalry and therefore may be valuable in experimental contexts where self-reports are methodologically problematic or impossible, particularly as an adjunct. Our analyses also reveal that 'no-report' conditions may affect the deployment of attention and thereby neural correlates, another important consideration for consciousness research.
PubMed: 38912291
DOI: 10.1093/nc/niae028 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2024Most people, evidence suggests, have a hard time thinking straight. is a tool that can help remedy this problem. Unfortunately, it is highly abstract and uses symbols... (Review)
Review
Most people, evidence suggests, have a hard time thinking straight. is a tool that can help remedy this problem. Unfortunately, it is highly abstract and uses symbols whose meanings rely on unintuitive arbitrary conventions. Without sacrificing rigor, is more concrete and uses icons that resemble what they stand for and whose meanings are thus easier to picture, process, and remember. Here I review and critique iconic and -the former link iconic logic to iconic mathematics; the latter expand popular Euler or Venn diagrams and have, to some degree, been empirically investigated for user-friendliness. I lay out how expertise in perception, cognition, and genetics can inform and improve such empirical research to help make iconic logic more ergonomic. After all, logic is a tool, and tools should not only suit their use but also their user.
PubMed: 38911953
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1368989 -
Gynecology and Minimally Invasive... 2024The objectives of this study were to evaluate the visual analog scale (VAS) score in patients receiving port-site bupivacaine infiltration in gynecological laparoscopic...
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study were to evaluate the visual analog scale (VAS) score in patients receiving port-site bupivacaine infiltration in gynecological laparoscopic surgeries and to compare it with those receiving placebo and to evaluate the additional analgesic requirement in the first 24 h after surgery.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A prospective interventional study was conducted on 60 women scheduled for benign gynecological laparoscopic surgeries. Patients were randomized into two groups using an alternative sequential method of allocation. Approval from the Institute's Ethics Committee was sought. Informed written consent was taken from all the patients. All laparoscopic surgeries were performed under general anesthesia. Double-blinding was done. A VAS with a 10 cm vertical score ranging from "no pain" to "worst possible pain" was used to assess the postoperative pain when the patient awakened in the operating room (2 h after surgery), then after 6 and 24 h. The primary outcome measured was pain perception by the patient (as VAS scores), and the secondary outcome was the need for additional analgesia.
RESULTS
Comparison of both groups with the VAS score shows > 0.001, i.e., nonsignificant in all the groups. Additional analgesics were required in 56% of the patients in the intervention group and 60% of the patients in the control group; however, 44% and 40% of the patients from the intervention and control groups, respectively, do not require any additional analgesic in the postoperative period.
CONCLUSION
The local infiltration of bupivacaine does not significantly reduce the port-site postoperative pain in gynecological laparoscopic surgeries.
PubMed: 38911315
DOI: 10.4103/gmit.gmit_77_22 -
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2024People who regularly exercise and receive training perform better when actioning unconscious cognitive tasks. The information flow triggered by a single unconscious...
INTRODUCTION
People who regularly exercise and receive training perform better when actioning unconscious cognitive tasks. The information flow triggered by a single unconscious visual stimulus has been extensively investigated, but it remains unclear whether multiple unconscious visual stimuli interact. This study aimed to explore the relationship between three simultaneous subliminal arrow stimuli (pointing in same or different directions), focusing on how they interact with each other and the subsequent priming effect on the target arrow in active and sedentary groups.
METHODS
We used a priming paradigm combining flanker task to test the hypothesis. A total of 42 participants were recruited. Of these, 22 constituted the active group and 20 constituted the sedentary group.
RESULTS
Behavioral data results revealed that the main effects of group and prime-target compatibility were significant. In the neurophysiological data, prime-target compatibility significantly influenced the latency of PP1. The amplitude of TP1 and TN2 mainly influenced the prime-flanker congruency. The prime-flanker congruency and groups interacted when the prime-target showed sufficient compatibility. The prime-flanker congruency, and the prime-target compatibility considerably influenced the TP3 amplitude in the anterior central frontal region (CZ electrode point).
CONCLUSION
Event-related potentials revealed the interactions between conscious processing and subliminal conflict in the early stages of perceptual and attention processing (target-related P1 potential component). These results suggest that exercise is helpful for coping with unconscious cognitive conflict.
PubMed: 38911228
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1400930 -
Scientific Reports Jun 2024Detecting emotions from facial images is difficult because facial expressions can vary significantly. Previous research on using deep learning models to classify...
Detecting emotions from facial images is difficult because facial expressions can vary significantly. Previous research on using deep learning models to classify emotions from facial images has been carried out on various datasets that contain a limited range of expressions. This study expands the use of deep learning for facial emotion recognition (FER) based on Emognition dataset that includes ten target emotions: amusement, awe, enthusiasm, liking, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, and neutral. A series of data preprocessing was carried out to convert video data into images and augment the data. This study proposes Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models built through two approaches, which are transfer learning (fine-tuned) with pre-trained models of Inception-V3 and MobileNet-V2 and building from scratch using the Taguchi method to find robust combination of hyperparameters setting. The proposed model demonstrated favorable performance over a series of experimental processes with an accuracy and an average F1-score of 96% and 0.95, respectively, on the test data.
Topics: Humans; Emotions; Neural Networks, Computer; Facial Expression; Deep Learning; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Facial Recognition; Female; Male
PubMed: 38910179
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-65276-x -
Acta Psychologica Jun 2024Although considerable research has been done on memory for temporal information, as well as on the relationship between context and cognition, not much is known about...
Although considerable research has been done on memory for temporal information, as well as on the relationship between context and cognition, not much is known about the influence of temporal context on memory formation and retention. In this study, given that our sample comes from a largely Roman Catholic population, we used religious practices that occur throughout the calendar year to operationalize temporal context into two religious seasons (Lent and Ordinary Time). In addition, we used religious art to assess experience and memory as a function of whether there was temporal congruity or incongruity. This allowed us to explore different levels of memory representation; namely, memory for perceptual details of the art, memory for more inferential understanding of the art, and autobiographical memory for the initial experience of the art. Participants viewed 22 representational and abstract artworks during either Lent or Ordinary Time. After viewing, memory was tested at immediate, 1-day, and 7-day delays. We expected that the congruent temporal context (i.e., Lent) would lead to more activated semantic knowledge, which would then aid memory encoding and retention. This was the case only for perceptual details of the art. In addition, during Lent, forgetting followed a more linear pattern. These results suggest that priming semantic knowledge through temporal context leads encoding to focus on low-level information, as opposed to the processing of more complex information. Overall, these findings suggest that temporal context can influence cognition, but to a limited extent.
PubMed: 38909397
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104349 -
Scientific Reports Jun 2024Individuals experience difficulty falling asleep in a new environment, termed the first night effect (FNE). However, the impact of the FNE on sleep-induced brain...
Individuals experience difficulty falling asleep in a new environment, termed the first night effect (FNE). However, the impact of the FNE on sleep-induced brain plasticity remains unclear. Here, using a within-subject design, we found that the FNE significantly reduces visual plasticity during sleep in young adults. Sleep-onset latency (SOL), an indicator of the FNE, was significantly longer during the first sleep session than the second session, confirming the FNE. We assessed performance gains in visual perceptual learning after sleep and increases in the excitatory-to-inhibitory neurotransmitter (E/I) ratio in early visual areas during sleep using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and polysomnography. These parameters were significantly smaller in sleep with the FNE than in sleep without the FNE; however, these parameters were not correlated with SOL. These results suggest that while the neural mechanisms of the FNE and brain plasticity are independent, sleep disturbances temporarily block the neurochemical process fundamental for brain plasticity.
Topics: Humans; Neuronal Plasticity; Male; Sleep; Female; Young Adult; Adult; Polysomnography; Visual Perception; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Learning; Brain
PubMed: 38909129
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-64091-8 -
Communications Biology Jun 2024That younger individuals perceive the world as moving slower than adults is a familiar phenomenon. Yet, it remains an open question why that is. Using event segmentation...
That younger individuals perceive the world as moving slower than adults is a familiar phenomenon. Yet, it remains an open question why that is. Using event segmentation theory, electroencephalogram (EEG) beamforming and nonlinear causal relationship estimation using artificial neural network methods, we studied neural activity while adolescent and adult participants segmented a movie. We show when participants were instructed to segment a movie into meaningful units, adolescents partitioned incoming information into fewer encapsulated segments or episodes of longer duration than adults. Importantly, directed communication between medial frontal and lower-level perceptual areas and between occipito-temporal regions in specific neural oscillation spectrums explained behavioral differences between groups. Overall, the study reveals that a different organization of directed communication between brain regions and inefficient transmission of information between brain regions are key to understand why younger people perceive the world as moving slow.
Topics: Humans; Adolescent; Electroencephalography; Male; Female; Adult; Young Adult; Brain; Motion Perception; Neural Networks, Computer
PubMed: 38909084
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06439-4 -
Current Biology : CB Jun 2024Collective synchronized behavior has powerful social-communicative functions observed across several animal taxa. Operationally, synchronized behavior can be explained...
Collective synchronized behavior has powerful social-communicative functions observed across several animal taxa. Operationally, synchronized behavior can be explained by individuals responding to shared external cues (e.g., light, sound, or food) as well as by inter-individual adaptation. We contrasted these accounts in the context of a universal human practice-collective dance-by recording full-body kinematics from dyads of laypersons freely dancing to music in a "silent disco" setting. We orthogonally manipulated musical input (whether participants were dancing to the same, synchronous music) and visual contact (whether participants could see their dancing partner). Using a data-driven method, we decomposed full-body kinematics of 70 participants into 15 principal movement patterns, reminiscent of common dance moves, explaining over 95% of kinematic variance. We find that both music and partners drive synchrony, but through distinct dance moves. This leads to distinct kinds of synchrony that occur in parallel by virtue of a geometric organization: anteroposterior movements such as head bobs synchronize through music, while hand gestures and full-body lateral movements synchronize through visual contact. One specific dance move-vertical bounce-emerged as a supramodal pacesetter of coordination, synchronizing through both music and visual contact, and at the pace of the musical beat. These findings reveal that synchrony in human dance is independently supported by shared musical input and inter-individual adaptation. The independence between these drivers of synchrony hinges on a geometric organization, enabling dancers to synchronize to music and partners simultaneously by allocating distinct synchronies to distinct spatial axes and body parts.
PubMed: 38908371
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.055 -
BMC Ophthalmology Jun 2024This study aims to investigate relative peripheral refractive (RPR) characteristics in children with non-amblyopic myopic anisometropia and explore potential...
BACKGROUND
This study aims to investigate relative peripheral refractive (RPR) characteristics in children with non-amblyopic myopic anisometropia and explore potential associations between relative peripheral refractive errors (RPRE) and myopia.
METHODS
Relative peripheral refractive errors were assessed in 64 children diagnosed with non-amblyopic myopic anisometropia utilizing multispectral refraction topography (MRT). Two eyes of each patient were divided into into the more myopia eyes group (ME) and the fellow eyes group (FE). Evaluated parameters encompassed total defocus values (TRDV), defocus values at eccentricities spanning 0 to 15 degrees (RDV-15), 0 to 30 degrees (RDV-30), 0 to 45 degrees (RDV-45), as well as superior (RDV-S), inferior (RDV-I), temporal (RDV-T), and nasal (RDV-N) positions.
RESULTS
The study revealed a noteworthy contrast in TRDV values between Group ME (0.52 ± 0.36) and Group FE (0.17 ± 0.41), with a substantial significance (P < 0.0001). While no significant RDV-15 difference emerged between Group ME (0.01 ± 0.05) and Group FE (-0.01 ± 0.07) (P > 0.05), a meaningful RDV-30 difference existed between Group ME (0.11 ± 0.14) and Group FE (0.03 ± 0.19) (P = 0.0017). A significant discrepancy in RDV-45 was also observed between Group ME (0.39 ± 0.29) and Group FE (0.13 ± 0.34) (P < 0.001). Notably, RDV-I and RDV-T positions demonstrated marked differences between Group ME and Group FE (P < 0.0001), whereas no significant disparity was noted in RDV-S and RDV-N positions (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION
Eyes exhibiting greater myopia manifested more hyperopic peripheral defocus in the context of anisometropia. MRT as a novel ophthalmic evaluation technique, holds promising potential for broader clinical applications in the future.
Topics: Humans; Anisometropia; Male; Female; Myopia; Child; Refraction, Ocular; Visual Acuity; Corneal Topography; Adolescent; Child, Preschool
PubMed: 38907184
DOI: 10.1186/s12886-024-03527-1