superficial perceptual features: Topics by WorldWideScience.org

Sample records for superficial perceptual features

A visual perceptual descriptor with depth feature for image retrieval

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Wang, Tianyang; Qin, Zhengrui

2017-07-01

This paper proposes a visual perceptual descriptor (VPD) and a new approach to extract perceptual depth feature for 2D image retrieval. VPD mimics human visual system, which can easily distinguish regions that have different textures, whereas for regions which have similar textures, color features are needed for further differentiation. We apply VPD on the gradient direction map of an image, capture texture-similar regions to generate a VPD map. We then impose the VPD map on a quantized color map and extract color features only from the overlapped regions. To reflect the nature of perceptual distance in single 2D image, we propose and extract the perceptual depth feature by computing the nuclear norm of the sparse depth map of an image. Extracted color features and the perceptual depth feature are both incorporated to a feature vector, we utilize this vector to represent an image and measure similarity. We observe that the proposed VPD + depth method achieves a promising result, and extensive experiments prove that it outperforms other typical methods on 2D image retrieval.
Using listener-based perceptual features as intermediate representations in music information retrieval.

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Friberg, Anders; Schoonderwaldt, Erwin; Hedblad, Anton; Fabiani, Marco; Elowsson, Anders

2014-10-01

The notion of perceptual features is introduced for describing general music properties based on human perception. This is an attempt at rethinking the concept of features, aiming to approach the underlying human perception mechanisms. Instead of using concepts from music theory such as tones, pitches, and chords, a set of nine features describing overall properties of the music was selected. They were chosen from qualitative measures used in psychology studies and motivated from an ecological approach. The perceptual features were rated in two listening experiments using two different data sets. They were modeled both from symbolic and audio data using different sets of computational features. Ratings of emotional expression were predicted using the perceptual features. The results indicate that (1) at least some of the perceptual features are reliable estimates; (2) emotion ratings could be predicted by a small combination of perceptual features with an explained variance from 75% to 93% for the emotional dimensions activity and valence; (3) the perceptual features could only to a limited extent be modeled using existing audio features. Results clearly indicated that a small number of dedicated features were superior to a "brute force" model using a large number of general audio features.
Task-relevant perceptual features can define categories in visual memory too.

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Antonelli, Karla B; Williams, Carrick C

2017-11-01

Although Konkle, Brady, Alvarez, and Oliva (2010, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 139(3), 558) claim that visual long-term memory (VLTM) is organized on underlying conceptual, not perceptual, information, visual memory results from visual search tasks are not well explained by this theory. We hypothesized that when viewing an object, any task-relevant visual information is critical to the organizational structure of VLTM. In two experiments, we examined the organization of VLTM by measuring the amount of retroactive interference created by objects possessing different combinations of task-relevant features. Based on task instructions, only the conceptual category was task relevant or both the conceptual category and a perceptual object feature were task relevant. Findings indicated that when made task relevant, perceptual object feature information, along with conceptual category information, could affect memory organization for objects in VLTM. However, when perceptual object feature information was task irrelevant, it did not contribute to memory organization; instead, memory defaulted to being organized around conceptual category information. These findings support the theory that a task-defined organizational structure is created in VLTM based on the relevance of particular object features and information.
Mid-level perceptual features distinguish objects of different real-world sizes.

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Long, Bria; Konkle, Talia; Cohen, Michael A; Alvarez, George A

2016-01-01

Understanding how perceptual and conceptual representations are connected is a fundamental goal of cognitive science. Here, we focus on a broad conceptual distinction that constrains how we interact with objects--real-world size. Although there appear to be clear perceptual correlates for basic-level categories (apples look like other apples, oranges look like other oranges), the perceptual correlates of broader categorical distinctions are largely unexplored, i.e., do small objects look like other small objects? Because there are many kinds of small objects (e.g., cups, keys), there may be no reliable perceptual features that distinguish them from big objects (e.g., cars, tables). Contrary to this intuition, we demonstrated that big and small objects have reliable perceptual differences that can be extracted by early stages of visual processing. In a series of visual search studies, participants found target objects faster when the distractor objects differed in real-world size. These results held when we broadly sampled big and small objects, when we controlled for low-level features and image statistics, and when we reduced objects to texforms--unrecognizable textures that loosely preserve an object's form. However, this effect was absent when we used more basic textures. These results demonstrate that big and small objects have reliably different mid-level perceptual features, and suggest that early perceptual information about broad-category membership may influence downstream object perception, recognition, and categorization processes. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
The fate of task-irrelevant visual motion: perceptual load versus feature-based attention.

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Taya, Shuichiro; Adams, Wendy J; Graf, Erich W; Lavie, Nilli

2009-11-18

We tested contrasting predictions derived from perceptual load theory and from recent feature-based selection accounts. Observers viewed moving, colored stimuli and performed low or high load tasks associated with one stimulus feature, either color or motion. The resultant motion aftereffect (MAE) was used to evaluate attentional allocation. We found that task-irrelevant visual features received less attention than co-localized task-relevant features of the same objects. Moreover, when color and motion features were co-localized yet perceived to belong to two distinct surfaces, feature-based selection was further increased at the expense of object-based co-selection. Load theory predicts that the MAE for task-irrelevant motion would be reduced with a higher load color task. However, this was not seen for co-localized features; perceptual load only modulated the MAE for task-irrelevant motion when this was spatially separated from the attended color location. Our results suggest that perceptual load effects are mediated by spatial selection and do not generalize to the feature domain. Feature-based selection operates to suppress processing of task-irrelevant, co-localized features, irrespective of perceptual load.
The Development of Explicit Memory for Basic Perceptual Features.

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Gulya, Michelle; Rossi-George, Alba; Hartshorn, Kristen; Vieira, Aurora; Rovee-Collier, Carolyn; Johnson, Marcia K.; Chalfonte, Barbara L.

2002-01-01

Three experiments with 164 individuals between 4 and 80 years old examined age-related changes in explicit memory for three perceptual features: item identity, color, and location. Findings indicated that performance on explicit memory tests was not a consistent inverted U-shaped function of age across various features, but depended on the…
The Effects of Goal Relevance and Perceptual Features on Emotional Items and Associative Memory.

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Mao, Wei B; An, Shu; Yang, Xiao F

2017-01-01

Showing an emotional item in a neutral background scene often leads to enhanced memory for the emotional item and impaired associative memory for background details. Meanwhile, both top-down goal relevance and bottom-up perceptual features played important roles in memory binding. We conducted two experiments and aimed to further examine the effects of goal relevance and perceptual features on emotional items and associative memory. By manipulating goal relevance (asking participants to categorize only each item image as living or non-living or to categorize each whole composite picture consisted of item image and background scene as natural scene or manufactured scene) and perceptual features (controlling visual contrast and visual familiarity) in two experiments, we found that both high goal relevance and salient perceptual features (high salience of items vs. high familiarity of items) could promote emotional item memory, but they had different effects on associative memory for emotional items and neutral backgrounds. Specifically, high goal relevance and high perceptual-salience of items could jointly impair the associative memory for emotional items and neutral backgrounds, while the effect of item familiarity on associative memory for emotional items would be modulated by goal relevance. High familiarity of items could increase associative memory for negative items and neutral backgrounds only in the low goal relevance condition. These findings suggest the effect of emotion on associative memory is not only related to attentional capture elicited by emotion, but also can be affected by goal relevance and perceptual features of stimulus.
The Effects of Goal Relevance and Perceptual Features on Emotional Items and Associative Memory

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Wei B. Mao

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Showing an emotional item in a neutral background scene often leads to enhanced memory for the emotional item and impaired associative memory for background details. Meanwhile, both top–down goal relevance and bottom–up perceptual features played important roles in memory binding. We conducted two experiments and aimed to further examine the effects of goal relevance and perceptual features on emotional items and associative memory. By manipulating goal relevance (asking participants to categorize only each item image as living or non-living or to categorize each whole composite picture consisted of item image and background scene as natural scene or manufactured scene and perceptual features (controlling visual contrast and visual familiarity in two experiments, we found that both high goal relevance and salient perceptual features (high salience of items vs. high familiarity of items could promote emotional item memory, but they had different effects on associative memory for emotional items and neutral backgrounds. Specifically, high goal relevance and high perceptual-salience of items could jointly impair the associative memory for emotional items and neutral backgrounds, while the effect of item familiarity on associative memory for emotional items would be modulated by goal relevance. High familiarity of items could increase associative memory for negative items and neutral backgrounds only in the low goal relevance condition. These findings suggest the effect of emotion on associative memory is not only related to attentional capture elicited by emotion, but also can be affected by goal relevance and perceptual features of stimulus.
Unexpected diagnosis of superficial neurofibroma in a lesion with imaging features of a vascular malformation

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O' Keefe, Patrick; Reid, Janet; Morrison, Stuart [Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Department of Radiology, Cleveland, OH (United States); Vidimos, Allison [Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Department of Dermatology, Cleveland, OH (United States); DiFiore, John [Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Cleveland, OH (United States)

2005-12-01

Plexiform neurofibroma is a pathognomonic, often disabling feature of neurofibromatosis type I. Although the target-like appearance of deep plexiform neurofibroma on T2-weighted MRI has been well-described, a second superficial form of plexiform neurofibroma has differing imaging features. We report a 15-year-old boy who presented with multiple cutaneous lesions exhibiting clinical and imaging characteristics of a venolymphatic malformation. These lesions were histologically proved to represent superficial plexiform neurofibromas. We wish to emphasize the unique MR findings of superficial plexiform neurofibromas; these findings are different from the imaging characteristics of the deep form and can be confused with a low-flow vascular malformation. (orig.)
Perceptual grouping and attention in visual search for features and for objects.

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Treisman, A

1982-04-01

This article explores the effects of perceptual grouping on search for targets defined by separate features or by conjunction of features. Treisman and Gelade proposed a feature-integration theory of attention, which claims that in the absence of prior knowledge, the separable features of objects are correctly combined only when focused attention is directed to each item in turn. If items are preattentively grouped, however, attention may be directed to groups rather than to single items whenever no recombination of features within a group could generate an illusory target. This prediction is confirmed: In search for conjunctions, subjects appear to scan serially between groups rather than items. The scanning rate shows little effect of the spatial density of distractors, suggesting that it reflects serial fixations of attention rather than eye movements. Search for features, on the other hand, appears to independent of perceptual grouping, suggesting that features are detected preattentively. A conjunction target can be camouflaged at the preattentive level by placing it at the boundary between two adjacent groups, each of which shares one of its features. This suggests that preattentive grouping creates separate feature maps within each separable dimension rather than one global configuration.
A keyword spotting model using perceptually significant energy features

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Umakanthan, Padmalochini

The task of a keyword recognition system is to detect the presence of certain words in a conversation based on the linguistic information present in human speech. Such keyword spotting systems have applications in homeland security, telephone surveillance and human-computer interfacing. General procedure of a keyword spotting system involves feature generation and matching. In this work, new set of features that are based on the psycho-acoustic masking nature of human speech are proposed. After developing these features a time aligned pattern matching process was implemented to locate the words in a set of unknown words. A word boundary detection technique based on frame classification using the nonlinear characteristics of speech is also addressed in this work. Validation of this keyword spotting model was done using widely acclaimed Cepstral features. The experimental results indicate the viability of using these perceptually significant features as an augmented feature set in keyword spotting.
Influence of semantic consistency and perceptual features on visual attention during scene viewing in toddlers.

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Helo, Andrea; van Ommen, Sandrien; Pannasch, Sebastian; Danteny-Dordoigne, Lucile; Rämä, Pia

2017-11-01

Conceptual representations of everyday scenes are built in interaction with visual environment and these representations guide our visual attention. Perceptual features and object-scene semantic consistency have been found to attract our attention during scene exploration. The present study examined how visual attention in 24-month-old toddlers is attracted by semantic violations and how perceptual features (i. e. saliency, centre distance, clutter and object size) and linguistic properties (i. e. object label frequency and label length) affect gaze distribution. We compared eye movements of 24-month-old toddlers and adults while exploring everyday scenes which either contained an inconsistent (e.g., soap on a breakfast table) or consistent (e.g., soap in a bathroom) object. Perceptual features such as saliency, centre distance and clutter of the scene affected looking times in the toddler group during the whole viewing time whereas looking times in adults were affected only by centre distance during the early viewing time. Adults looked longer to inconsistent than consistent objects either if the objects had a high or a low saliency. In contrast, toddlers presented semantic consistency effect only when objects were highly salient. Additionally, toddlers with lower vocabulary skills looked longer to inconsistent objects while toddlers with higher vocabulary skills look equally long to both consistent and inconsistent objects. Our results indicate that 24-month-old children use scene context to guide visual attention when exploring the visual environment. However, perceptual features have a stronger influence in eye movement guidance in toddlers than in adults. Our results also indicate that language skills influence cognitive but not perceptual guidance of eye movements during scene perception in toddlers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Interaction features for prediction of perceptual segmentation

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Hartmann, Martin; Lartillot, Olivier; Toiviainen, Petri

2017-01-01

As music unfolds in time, structure is recognised and understood by listeners, regardless of their level of musical expertise. A number of studies have found spectral and tonal changes to quite successfully model boundaries between structural sections. However, the effects of musical expertise...... and experimental task on computational modelling of structure are not yet well understood. These issues need to be addressed to better understand how listeners perceive the structure of music and to improve automatic segmentation algorithms. In this study, computational prediction of segmentation by listeners...... was investigated for six musical stimuli via a real-time task and an annotation (non real-time) task. The proposed approach involved computation of novelty curve interaction features and a prediction model of perceptual segmentation boundary density. We found that, compared to non-musicians’, musicians...
MRI of superficial soft tissue masses: analysis of features useful in distinguishing between benign and malignant lesions

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Calleja, Michele; Dimigen, Marion; Saifuddin, Asif [Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore (United Kingdom)

2012-12-15

To identify the MRI features of superficial soft tissue masses, that may allow differentiation between malignant and non-malignant lesions. A total of 136 consecutive patients referred to a supra-regional musculoskeletal oncology center over a 10-year period with the diagnosis of a superficial soft tissue mass were included in this retrospective study. Features analyzed included patient demographics, lesion size, MRI signal characteristics, margins, lobulation, hemorrhage, necrosis, fascial edema, relationship to the fascia, as well as involvement of the skin. Comparison was then made with the final histological diagnosis. Of the patients reviewed, 58 were male and 78 were female, and the mean age was 49.9 years. The mean age for malignant lesions was 57.9 years, and that for non-neoplastic and benign conditions 41.9 years (p < 0.001). A significant relationship was identified between malignancy and lobulation (p < 0.01), hemorrhage (p < 0.001), fascial edema (p < 0.001), hemorrhage (p < 0.0001) and necrosis (p < 0.001). The relationship between skin thickening and skin contact and malignancy was also found to be significant. However, size was not found to be an important determining factor for malignancy, with a significant proportion of malignant superficial sarcomas measuring less than 5 cm in maximal diameter. This study has shown that a significant proportion of malignant superficial sarcomas measured less than 5 cm in maximal diameter. Fascial edema, skin thickening, skin contact, hemorrhage, and necrosis were found to be highly significant factors indicative of malignancy. Lobulation and peritumoral edema were also significant MRI features. (orig.)
Perceptual learning of basic visual features remains task specific with Training-Plus-Exposure (TPE) training.

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Cong, Lin-Juan; Wang, Ru-Jie; Yu, Cong; Zhang, Jun-Yun

2016-01-01

Visual perceptual learning is known to be specific to the trained retinal location, feature, and task. However, location and feature specificity can be eliminated by double-training or TPE training protocols, in which observers receive additional exposure to the transfer location or feature dimension via an irrelevant task besides the primary learning task Here we tested whether these new training protocols could even make learning transfer across different tasks involving discrimination of basic visual features (e.g., orientation and contrast). Observers practiced a near-threshold orientation (or contrast) discrimination task. Following a TPE training protocol, they also received exposure to the transfer task via performing suprathreshold contrast (or orientation) discrimination in alternating blocks of trials in the same sessions. The results showed no evidence for significant learning transfer to the untrained near-threshold contrast (or orientation) discrimination task after discounting the pretest effects and the suprathreshold practice effects. These results thus do not support a hypothetical task-independent component in perceptual learning of basic visual features. They also set the boundary of the new training protocols in their capability to enable learning transfer.
Emergent features and perceptual objects: re-examining fundamental principles in analogical display design.

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Holt, Jerred; Bennett, Kevin B; Flach, John M

2015-01-01

Two sets of design principles for analogical visual displays, based on the concepts of emergent features and perceptual objects, are described. An interpretation of previous empirical findings for three displays (bar graph, polar graphic, alphanumeric) is provided from both perspectives. A fourth display (configural coordinate) was designed using principles of ecological interface design (i.e. direct perception). An experiment was conducted to evaluate performance (accuracy and latency of state identification) with these four displays. Numerous significant effects were obtained and a clear rank ordering of performance emerged (from best to worst): configural coordinate, bar graph, alphanumeric and polar graphic. These findings are consistent with principles of design based on emergent features; they are inconsistent with principles based on perceptual objects. Some limitations of the configural coordinate display are discussed and a redesign is provided. Practitioner Summary: Principles of ecological interface design, which emphasise the quality of very specific mappings between domain, display and observer constraints, are described; these principles are applicable to the design of all analogical graphical displays.
Remembering perceptual features unequally bound in object and episodic tokens: Neural mechanisms and their electrophysiological correlates.

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Zimmer, Hubert D; Ecker, Ullrich K H

2010-06-01

We present a neurocognitive model of long-term object memory. We propose that perceptual priming and episodic recognition are phenomena based on three distinct kinds of representations. We label these representations types and tokens. Types are prototypical representations needed for object identification. The network of non-arbitrary features necessary for object categorization is sharpened in the course of repeated identification, an effect that we call type trace and which causes perceptual priming. Tokens, on the other hand, support episodic recognition. Perirhinal structures are proposed to bind intrinsic within-object features into an object token that can be thought of as a consolidated perceptual object file. Hippocampal structures integrate object- with contextual information in an episodic token. The reinstatement of an object token is assumed to generate a feeling of familiarity, whereas recollection occurs when the reinstatement of an episodic token occurs. Retrieval mode and retrieval orientation dynamically modulate access to these representations. In this review, we apply the model to recent empirical research (behavioral, fMRI, and ERP data) including a series of studies from our own lab. We put specific emphasis on the effects that sensory features and their study-test match have on familiarity. The type-token approach fits the data and additionally provides a framework for the analysis of concepts like unitization and associative reinstatement. Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Natural texture retrieval based on perceptual similarity measurement

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Gao, Ying; Dong, Junyu; Lou, Jianwen; Qi, Lin; Liu, Jun

2018-04-01

A typical texture retrieval system performs feature comparison and might not be able to make human-like judgments of image similarity. Meanwhile, it is commonly known that perceptual texture similarity is difficult to be described by traditional image features. In this paper, we propose a new texture retrieval scheme based on texture perceptual similarity. The key of the proposed scheme is that prediction of perceptual similarity is performed by learning a non-linear mapping from image features space to perceptual texture space by using Random Forest. We test the method on natural texture dataset and apply it on a new wallpapers dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed texture retrieval scheme with perceptual similarity improves the retrieval performance over traditional image features.
Perceptual Discrimination of Basic Object Features Is Not Facilitated When Priming Stimuli Are Prevented From Reaching Awareness by Means of Visual Masking.

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Peel, Hayden J; Sperandio, Irene; Laycock, Robin; Chouinard, Philippe A

2018-01-01

Our understanding of how form, orientation and size are processed within and outside of awareness is limited and requires further investigation. Therefore, we investigated whether or not the visual discrimination of basic object features can be influenced by subliminal processing of stimuli presented beforehand. Visual masking was used to render stimuli perceptually invisible. Three experiments examined if visible and invisible primes could facilitate the subsequent feature discrimination of visible targets. The experiments differed in the kind of perceptual discrimination that participants had to make. Namely, participants were asked to discriminate visual stimuli on the basis of their form, orientation, or size. In all three experiments, we demonstrated reliable priming effects when the primes were visible but not when the primes were made invisible. Our findings underscore the importance of conscious awareness in facilitating the perceptual discrimination of basic object features.
Perceptual Discrimination of Basic Object Features Is Not Facilitated When Priming Stimuli Are Prevented From Reaching Awareness by Means of Visual Masking

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Peel, Hayden J.; Sperandio, Irene; Laycock, Robin; Chouinard, Philippe A.

2018-01-01

Our understanding of how form, orientation and size are processed within and outside of awareness is limited and requires further investigation. Therefore, we investigated whether or not the visual discrimination of basic object features can be influenced by subliminal processing of stimuli presented beforehand. Visual masking was used to render stimuli perceptually invisible. Three experiments examined if visible and invisible primes could facilitate the subsequent feature discrimination of visible targets. The experiments differed in the kind of perceptual discrimination that participants had to make. Namely, participants were asked to discriminate visual stimuli on the basis of their form, orientation, or size. In all three experiments, we demonstrated reliable priming effects when the primes were visible but not when the primes were made invisible. Our findings underscore the importance of conscious awareness in facilitating the perceptual discrimination of basic object features. PMID:29725292

Perceptual dimensions differentiate emotions.

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Cavanaugh, Lisa A; MacInnis, Deborah J; Weiss, Allen M

2015-08-26

Individuals often describe objects in their world in terms of perceptual dimensions that span a variety of modalities; the visual (e.g., brightness: dark-bright), the auditory (e.g., loudness: quiet-loud), the gustatory (e.g., taste: sour-sweet), the tactile (e.g., hardness: soft vs. hard) and the kinaesthetic (e.g., speed: slow-fast). We ask whether individuals use perceptual dimensions to differentiate emotions from one another. Participants in two studies (one where respondents reported on abstract emotion concepts and a second where they reported on specific emotion episodes) rated the extent to which features anchoring 29 perceptual dimensions (e.g., temperature, texture and taste) are associated with 8 emotions (anger, fear, sadness, guilt, contentment, gratitude, pride and excitement). Results revealed that in both studies perceptual dimensions differentiate positive from negative emotions and high arousal from low arousal emotions. They also differentiate among emotions that are similar in arousal and valence (e.g., high arousal negative emotions such as anger and fear). Specific features that anchor particular perceptual dimensions (e.g., hot vs. cold) are also differentially associated with emotions.
Face detection on distorted images using perceptual quality-aware features

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Gunasekar, Suriya; Ghosh, Joydeep; Bovik, Alan C.

2014-02-01

We quantify the degradation in performance of a popular and effective face detector when human-perceived image quality is degraded by distortions due to additive white gaussian noise, gaussian blur or JPEG compression. It is observed that, within a certain range of perceived image quality, a modest increase in image quality can drastically improve face detection performance. These results can be used to guide resource or bandwidth allocation in a communication/delivery system that is associated with face detection tasks. A new face detector based on QualHOG features is also proposed that augments face-indicative HOG features with perceptual quality-aware spatial Natural Scene Statistics (NSS) features, yielding improved tolerance against image distortions. The new detector provides statistically significant improvements over a strong baseline on a large database of face images representing a wide range of distortions. To facilitate this study, we created a new Distorted Face Database, containing face and non-face patches from images impaired by a variety of common distortion types and levels. This new dataset is available for download and further experimentation at www.ideal.ece.utexas.edu/˜suriya/DFD/.
Infant Memory for Primitive Perceptual Features.

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Adler, Scott A.

Textons are elongated blobs of specific color, angular orientation, ends of lines, and crossings of line segments that are proposed to be the perceptual building blocks of the visual system. A study was conducted to explore the relative memorability of different types and arrangements of textons, exploring the time course for the discrimination…
Evaluation of Superficial and Dimensional Quality Features in Metallic Micro-Channels Manufactured by Micro-End-Milling

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Claudio Giardini

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Miniaturization encourages the development of new manufacturing processes capable of fabricating features, like micro-channels, in order to use them for different applications, such as in fuel cells, heat exchangers, microfluidic devices and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS. Many studies have been conducted on heat and fluid transfer in micro-channels, and they appeared significantly deviated from conventional theory, due to measurement errors and fabrication methods. The present research, in order to deal with this opportunity, is focused on a set of experiments in the micro-milling of channels made of aluminum, titanium alloys and stainless steel, varying parameters, such as spindle speed, depth of cut per pass (ap, channel depth (d, feed per tooth (fz and coolant application. The experimental results were analyzed in terms of dimensional error, channel profile shape deviation from rectangular and surface quality (burr and roughness. The micro-milling process was capable of offering quality features required on the micro-channeled devices. Critical phenomena, like run-out, ploughing, minimum chip thickness and tool wear, were encountered as an explanation for the deviations in shape and for the surface quality of the micro-channels. The application of coolant and a low depth of cut per pass were significant to obtain better superficial quality features and a smaller dimensional error. In conclusion, the integration of superficial and geometrical features on the study of the quality of micro-channeled devices made of different metallic materials contributes to the understanding of the impact of calibrated cutting conditions in MEMS applications.
Clinicopahological features of superficial basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

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Oguma, J; Ozawa, S; Kazuno, A; Nitta, M; Ninomiya, Y; Tomita, S

2017-12-01

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSC) of the esophagus is classified as an epithelial malignant tumor and is a rare variant of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Most previous reports have suggested that advanced BSC has a poorer prognosis than typical SCC because of its high biological malignancy, but the biological activity of superficial BSC remains unclear. Twenty cases of superficial BSC, which underwent surgical resection in Tokai University Hospital between January 2004 and December 2013, were analyzed retrospectively. Among these cases, 19 cases with a T1 depth of invasion (BSC group) were compared with 180 cases of SCC that were resected during the same period and were pathologically diagnosed as T1 (SCC group). The frequency of lymph node metastasis in the T1 BSC group was significantly lower (2 patients, 11%) than that in the SCC group (84 patients, 47%) (P = 0.005). The frequency of lymphatic invasion in the BSC group was also lower (9 patients, 47%) than that in the SCC group (131 patients, 73%) (P = 0.021). The pathological type of the metastatic lymph node was BSC in all the superficial BSC cases with lymph node metastasis. This study demonstrated that lymph node metastasis was less likely to occur in cases with superficial BSC than in cases with superficial SCC. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
A Novel Perceptual Hash Algorithm for Multispectral Image Authentication

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Kaimeng Ding

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The perceptual hash algorithm is a technique to authenticate the integrity of images. While a few scholars have worked on mono-spectral image perceptual hashing, there is limited research on multispectral image perceptual hashing. In this paper, we propose a perceptual hash algorithm for the content authentication of a multispectral remote sensing image based on the synthetic characteristics of each band: firstly, the multispectral remote sensing image is preprocessed with band clustering and grid partition; secondly, the edge feature of the band subsets is extracted by band fusion-based edge feature extraction; thirdly, the perceptual feature of the same region of the band subsets is compressed and normalized to generate the perceptual hash value. The authentication procedure is achieved via the normalized Hamming distance between the perceptual hash value of the recomputed perceptual hash value and the original hash value. The experiments indicated that our proposed algorithm is robust compared to content-preserved operations and it efficiently authenticates the integrity of multispectral remote sensing images.
ViA: a perceptual visualization assistant

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Healey, Chris G.; St. Amant, Robert; Elhaddad, Mahmoud S.

2000-05-01

This paper describes an automated visualized assistant called ViA. ViA is designed to help users construct perceptually optical visualizations to represent, explore, and analyze large, complex, multidimensional datasets. We have approached this problem by studying what is known about the control of human visual attention. By harnessing the low-level human visual system, we can support our dual goals of rapid and accurate visualization. Perceptual guidelines that we have built using psychophysical experiments form the basis for ViA. ViA uses modified mixed-initiative planning algorithms from artificial intelligence to search of perceptually optical data attribute to visual feature mappings. Our perceptual guidelines are integrated into evaluation engines that provide evaluation weights for a given data-feature mapping, and hints on how that mapping might be improved. ViA begins by asking users a set of simple questions about their dataset and the analysis tasks they want to perform. Answers to these questions are used in combination with the evaluation engines to identify and intelligently pursue promising data-feature mappings. The result is an automatically-generated set of mappings that are perceptually salient, but that also respect the context of the dataset and users' preferences about how they want to visualize their data.
Visual perception of procedural textures: identifying perceptual dimensions and predicting generation models.

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Liu, Jun; Dong, Junyu; Cai, Xiaoxu; Qi, Lin; Chantler, Mike

2015-01-01

Procedural models are widely used in computer graphics for generating realistic, natural-looking textures. However, these mathematical models are not perceptually meaningful, whereas the users, such as artists and designers, would prefer to make descriptions using intuitive and perceptual characteristics like "repetitive," "directional," "structured," and so on. To make up for this gap, we investigated the perceptual dimensions of textures generated by a collection of procedural models. Two psychophysical experiments were conducted: free-grouping and rating. We applied Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to discover the perceptual features used by the observers in grouping similar textures. The results suggested that existing dimensions in literature cannot accommodate random textures. We therefore utilized isometric feature mapping (Isomap) to establish a three-dimensional perceptual texture space which better explains the features used by humans in texture similarity judgment. Finally, we proposed computational models to map perceptual features to the perceptual texture space, which can suggest a procedural model to produce textures according to user-defined perceptual scales.
Visual perception of procedural textures: identifying perceptual dimensions and predicting generation models.

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Jun Liu

Full Text Available Procedural models are widely used in computer graphics for generating realistic, natural-looking textures. However, these mathematical models are not perceptually meaningful, whereas the users, such as artists and designers, would prefer to make descriptions using intuitive and perceptual characteristics like "repetitive," "directional," "structured," and so on. To make up for this gap, we investigated the perceptual dimensions of textures generated by a collection of procedural models. Two psychophysical experiments were conducted: free-grouping and rating. We applied Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD to discover the perceptual features used by the observers in grouping similar textures. The results suggested that existing dimensions in literature cannot accommodate random textures. We therefore utilized isometric feature mapping (Isomap to establish a three-dimensional perceptual texture space which better explains the features used by humans in texture similarity judgment. Finally, we proposed computational models to map perceptual features to the perceptual texture space, which can suggest a procedural model to produce textures according to user-defined perceptual scales.
Perceptual representation and effectiveness of local figure?ground cues in natural contours

OpenAIRE

Sakai, Ko; Matsuoka, Shouhei; Kurematsu, Ken; Hatori, Yasuhiro

2015-01-01

A contour shape strongly influences the perceptual segregation of a figure from the ground. We investigated the contribution of local contour shape to figure–ground segregation. Although previous studies have reported local contour features that evoke figure–ground perception, they were often image features and not necessarily perceptual features. First, we examined whether contour features, specifically, convexity, closure, and symmetry, underlie the perceptual representation of natural cont...
Perceptual Confusions Among Consonants, Revisited: Cross-Spectral Integration of Phonetic-Feature Information and Consonant Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Thomas Ulrich; Greenberg, Steven

2012-01-01

The perceptual basis of consonant recognition was experimentally investigated through a study of how information associated with phonetic features (Voicing, Manner, and Place of Articulation) combines across the acoustic-frequency spectrum. The speech signals, 11 Danish consonants embedded...... in Consonant + Vowel + Liquid syllables, were partitioned into 3/4-octave bands (“slits”) centered at 750 Hz, 1500 Hz, and 3000 Hz, and presented individually and in two- or three-slit combinations. The amount of information transmitted (IT) was calculated from consonant- confusion matrices for each feature...... the bands are essentially independent in terms of decoding this feature. Because consonant recognition and Place decoding are highly correlated (correlation coefficient r2 = 0.99), these results imply that the auditory processes underlying consonant recognition are not strictly linear. This may account...
Non-retinotopic feature processing in the absence of retinotopic spatial layout and the construction of perceptual space from motion.

Science.gov (United States)

Ağaoğlu, Mehmet N; Herzog, Michael H; Oğmen, Haluk

2012-10-15

The spatial representation of a visual scene in the early visual system is well known. The optics of the eye map the three-dimensional environment onto two-dimensional images on the retina. These retinotopic representations are preserved in the early visual system. Retinotopic representations and processing are among the most prevalent concepts in visual neuroscience. However, it has long been known that a retinotopic representation of the stimulus is neither sufficient nor necessary for perception. Saccadic Stimulus Presentation Paradigm and the Ternus-Pikler displays have been used to investigate non-retinotopic processes with and without eye movements, respectively. However, neither of these paradigms eliminates the retinotopic representation of the spatial layout of the stimulus. Here, we investigated how stimulus features are processed in the absence of a retinotopic layout and in the presence of retinotopic conflict. We used anorthoscopic viewing (slit viewing) and pitted a retinotopic feature-processing hypothesis against a non-retinotopic feature-processing hypothesis. Our results support the predictions of the non-retinotopic feature-processing hypothesis and demonstrate the ability of the visual system to operate non-retinotopically at a fine feature processing level in the absence of a retinotopic spatial layout. Our results suggest that perceptual space is actively constructed from the perceptual dimension of motion. The implications of these findings for normal ecological viewing conditions are discussed. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Referenceless Prediction of Perceptual Fog Density and Perceptual Image Defogging.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Lark Kwon; You, Jaehee; Bovik, Alan Conrad

2015-11-01

We propose a referenceless perceptual fog density prediction model based on natural scene statistics (NSS) and fog aware statistical features. The proposed model, called Fog Aware Density Evaluator (FADE), predicts the visibility of a foggy scene from a single image without reference to a corresponding fog-free image, without dependence on salient objects in a scene, without side geographical camera information, without estimating a depth-dependent transmission map, and without training on human-rated judgments. FADE only makes use of measurable deviations from statistical regularities observed in natural foggy and fog-free images. Fog aware statistical features that define the perceptual fog density index derive from a space domain NSS model and the observed characteristics of foggy images. FADE not only predicts perceptual fog density for the entire image, but also provides a local fog density index for each patch. The predicted fog density using FADE correlates well with human judgments of fog density taken in a subjective study on a large foggy image database. As applications, FADE not only accurately assesses the performance of defogging algorithms designed to enhance the visibility of foggy images, but also is well suited for image defogging. A new FADE-based referenceless perceptual image defogging, dubbed DEnsity of Fog Assessment-based DEfogger (DEFADE) achieves better results for darker, denser foggy images as well as on standard foggy images than the state of the art defogging methods. A software release of FADE and DEFADE is available online for public use: http://live.ece.utexas.edu/research/fog/index.html.
INVENTORY FOR ASSESSMENT OF SOCIO-PERCEPTUAL ATTITUDE: PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES OF USE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana D Dubovitskaya

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Socio-perceptual attitude is defined as a predisposition of the subjects of communication to perceive, assess, and act in relation to each other in a certain way. The functions of social-perceptual attitudes are social adaptation (utilitarian function, cognitive function, expression and evaluation, and psychological protection. Author’s technique of diagnostics of social-perceptual attitude of a person in relation to other people is presented in the article. The inventory uses the proverbs of the peoples of the world as test material. The results of psychometric testing indicate the reliability and validity of the technique.High scores on the technique results indicate the individual’s characteristics such as willingness to trust, to help, and to notice positive experiences; the ability to see the positive potential; faith in people’s ability to develop and achieve better results; emotional acceptance, benevolence, and empathy.The average scores indicate the subject’s desire for close and trusting relationships, cooperation, sincerity; willingness to understand another person; desire to take into account individual psychological features of other people; contradictions with others are either absent or are resolved constructively.Low scores indicate that, in relation to others, the subject is characterized by the following: suspicion, anticipation of negative attitude to themselves, willingness to see the negative manifestations in the behavior of others, ignoring of their successes and achievements; emotional rejection, criticism, irony, malice; accusations against the others used to justify their own negative actions (aggression against said others.The author’s technique can be used in solution of the problem of psycho-diagnostics and therapy in order to optimize communication and interpersonal relations: achieve mutual understanding and cooperation, develop a constructive mutually beneficial solution, overcome the desire to criticize
Visual training improves perceptual grouping based on basic stimulus features.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurylo, Daniel D; Waxman, Richard; Kidron, Rachel; Silverstein, Steven M

2017-10-01

Training on visual tasks improves performance on basic and higher order visual capacities. Such improvement has been linked to changes in connectivity among mediating neurons. We investigated whether training effects occur for perceptual grouping. It was hypothesized that repeated engagement of integration mechanisms would enhance grouping processes. Thirty-six participants underwent 15 sessions of training on a visual discrimination task that required perceptual grouping. Participants viewed 20 × 20 arrays of dots or Gabor patches and indicated whether the array appeared grouped as vertical or horizontal lines. Across trials stimuli became progressively disorganized, contingent upon successful discrimination. Four visual dimensions were examined, in which grouping was based on similarity in luminance, color, orientation, and motion. Psychophysical thresholds of grouping were assessed before and after training. Results indicate that performance in all four dimensions improved with training. Training on a control condition, which paralleled the discrimination task but without a grouping component, produced no improvement. In addition, training on only the luminance and orientation dimensions improved performance for those conditions as well as for grouping by color, on which training had not occurred. However, improvement from partial training did not generalize to motion. Results demonstrate that a training protocol emphasizing stimulus integration enhanced perceptual grouping. Results suggest that neural mechanisms mediating grouping by common luminance and/or orientation contribute to those mediating grouping by color but do not share resources for grouping by common motion. Results are consistent with theories of perceptual learning emphasizing plasticity in early visual processing regions.
Evaluative pressure overcomes perceptual load effects.

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Normand, Alice; Autin, Frédérique; Croizet, Jean-Claude

2015-06-01

Perceptual load has been found to be a powerful bottom-up determinant of distractibility, with high perceptual load preventing distraction by any irrelevant information. However, when under evaluative pressure, individuals exert top-down attentional control by giving greater weight to task-relevant features, making them more distractible from task-relevant distractors. One study tested whether the top-down modulation of attention under evaluative pressure overcomes the beneficial bottom-up effect of high perceptual load on distraction. Using a response-competition task, we replicated previous findings that high levels of perceptual load suppress task-relevant distractor response interference, but only for participants in a control condition. Participants under evaluative pressure (i.e., who believed their intelligence was assessed) showed interference from task-relevant distractor at all levels of perceptual load. This research challenges the assumptions of the perceptual load theory and sheds light on a neglected determinant of distractibility: the self-relevance of the performance situation in which attentional control is solicited.
The perceptual effects of learning object categories that predict perceptual goals

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Van Gulick, Ana E.; Gauthier, Isabel

2014-01-01

In classic category learning studies, subjects typically learn to assign items to one of two categories, with no further distinction between how items on each side of the category boundary should be treated. In real life, however, we often learn categories that dictate further processing goals, for instance with objects in only one category requiring further individuation. Using methods from category learning and perceptual expertise, we studied the perceptual consequences of experience with objects in tasks that rely on attention to different dimensions in different parts of the space. In two experiments, subjects first learned to categorize complex objects from a single morphspace into two categories based on one morph dimension, and then learned to perform a different task, either naming or a local feature judgment, for each of the two categories. A same-different discrimination test before and after each training measured sensitivity to feature dimensions of the space. After initial categorization, sensitivity increased along the category-diagnostic dimension. After task association, sensitivity increased more for the category that was named, especially along the non-diagnostic dimension. The results demonstrate that local attentional weights, associated with individual exemplars as a function of task requirements, can have lasting effects on perceptual representations. PMID:24820671
Perceptual learning: toward a comprehensive theory.

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Watanabe, Takeo; Sasaki, Yuka

2015-01-03

Visual perceptual learning (VPL) is long-term performance increase resulting from visual perceptual experience. Task-relevant VPL of a feature results from training of a task on the feature relevant to the task. Task-irrelevant VPL arises as a result of exposure to the feature irrelevant to the trained task. At least two serious problems exist. First, there is the controversy over which stage of information processing is changed in association with task-relevant VPL. Second, no model has ever explained both task-relevant and task-irrelevant VPL. Here we propose a dual plasticity model in which feature-based plasticity is a change in a representation of the learned feature, and task-based plasticity is a change in processing of the trained task. Although the two types of plasticity underlie task-relevant VPL, only feature-based plasticity underlies task-irrelevant VPL. This model provides a new comprehensive framework in which apparently contradictory results could be explained.
Perceptual learning and human expertise.

Science.gov (United States)

Kellman, Philip J; Garrigan, Patrick

2009-06-01

We consider perceptual learning: experience-induced changes in the way perceivers extract information. Often neglected in scientific accounts of learning and in instruction, perceptual learning is a fundamental contributor to human expertise and is crucial in domains where humans show remarkable levels of attainment, such as language, chess, music, and mathematics. In Section 2, we give a brief history and discuss the relation of perceptual learning to other forms of learning. We consider in Section 3 several specific phenomena, illustrating the scope and characteristics of perceptual learning, including both discovery and fluency effects. We describe abstract perceptual learning, in which structural relationships are discovered and recognized in novel instances that do not share constituent elements or basic features. In Section 4, we consider primary concepts that have been used to explain and model perceptual learning, including receptive field change, selection, and relational recoding. In Section 5, we consider the scope of perceptual learning, contrasting recent research, focused on simple sensory discriminations, with earlier work that emphasized extraction of invariance from varied instances in more complex tasks. Contrary to some recent views, we argue that perceptual learning should not be confined to changes in early sensory analyzers. Phenomena at various levels, we suggest, can be unified by models that emphasize discovery and selection of relevant information. In a final section, we consider the potential role of perceptual learning in educational settings. Most instruction emphasizes facts and procedures that can be verbalized, whereas expertise depends heavily on implicit pattern recognition and selective extraction skills acquired through perceptual learning. We consider reasons why perceptual learning has not been systematically addressed in traditional instruction, and we describe recent successful efforts to create a technology of perceptual
Perceptual learning and human expertise

Science.gov (United States)

Kellman, Philip J.; Garrigan, Patrick

2009-06-01

We consider perceptual learning: experience-induced changes in the way perceivers extract information. Often neglected in scientific accounts of learning and in instruction, perceptual learning is a fundamental contributor to human expertise and is crucial in domains where humans show remarkable levels of attainment, such as language, chess, music, and mathematics. In Section 2, we give a brief history and discuss the relation of perceptual learning to other forms of learning. We consider in Section 3 several specific phenomena, illustrating the scope and characteristics of perceptual learning, including both discovery and fluency effects. We describe abstract perceptual learning, in which structural relationships are discovered and recognized in novel instances that do not share constituent elements or basic features. In Section 4, we consider primary concepts that have been used to explain and model perceptual learning, including receptive field change, selection, and relational recoding. In Section 5, we consider the scope of perceptual learning, contrasting recent research, focused on simple sensory discriminations, with earlier work that emphasized extraction of invariance from varied instances in more complex tasks. Contrary to some recent views, we argue that perceptual learning should not be confined to changes in early sensory analyzers. Phenomena at various levels, we suggest, can be unified by models that emphasize discovery and selection of relevant information. In a final section, we consider the potential role of perceptual learning in educational settings. Most instruction emphasizes facts and procedures that can be verbalized, whereas expertise depends heavily on implicit pattern recognition and selective extraction skills acquired through perceptual learning. We consider reasons why perceptual learning has not been systematically addressed in traditional instruction, and we describe recent successful efforts to create a technology of perceptual

Converging prefrontal pathways support associative and perceptual features of conditioned stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, James D; Kahnt, Thorsten; Gottfried, Jay A

2016-05-04

Perceptually similar stimuli often predict vastly different outcomes, requiring the brain to maintain specific associations in the face of potential ambiguity. This could be achieved either through local changes in stimulus representations, or through modulation of functional connections between stimulus-coding and outcome-coding regions. Here we test these competing hypotheses using classical conditioning of perceptually similar odours in the context of human fMRI. Pattern-based analyses of odour-evoked fMRI activity reveal that odour category, identity and value are coded in piriform (PC), orbitofrontal (OFC) and ventromedial prefrontal (vmPFC) cortices, respectively. However, we observe no learning-related reorganization of category or identity representations. Instead, changes in connectivity between vmPFC and OFC are correlated with learning-related changes in value, whereas connectivity changes between vmPFC and PC predict changes in perceived odour similarity. These results demonstrate that dissociable neural pathways support associative and perceptual representations of sensory stimuli.
Perceptual representation and effectiveness of local figure-ground cues in natural contours.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakai, Ko; Matsuoka, Shouhei; Kurematsu, Ken; Hatori, Yasuhiro

2015-01-01

A contour shape strongly influences the perceptual segregation of a figure from the ground. We investigated the contribution of local contour shape to figure-ground segregation. Although previous studies have reported local contour features that evoke figure-ground perception, they were often image features and not necessarily perceptual features. First, we examined whether contour features, specifically, convexity, closure, and symmetry, underlie the perceptual representation of natural contour shapes. We performed similarity tests between local contours, and examined the contribution of the contour features to the perceptual similarities between the contours. The local contours were sampled from natural contours so that their distribution was uniform in the space composed of the three contour features. This sampling ensured the equal appearance frequency of the factors and a wide variety of contour shapes including those comprised of contradictory factors that induce figure in the opposite directions. This sampling from natural contours is advantageous in order to randomly pickup a variety of contours that satisfy a wide range of cue combinations. Multidimensional scaling analyses showed that the combinations of convexity, closure, and symmetry contribute to perceptual similarity, thus they are perceptual quantities. Second, we examined whether the three features contribute to local figure-ground perception. We performed psychophysical experiments to judge the direction of the figure along the local contours, and examined the contribution of the features to the figure-ground judgment. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that closure was a significant factor, but that convexity and symmetry were not. These results indicate that closure is dominant in the local figure-ground perception with natural contours when the other cues coexist with equal probability including contradictory cases.
Perceptual representation and effectiveness of local figure–ground cues in natural contours

Science.gov (United States)

Sakai, Ko; Matsuoka, Shouhei; Kurematsu, Ken; Hatori, Yasuhiro

2015-01-01

A contour shape strongly influences the perceptual segregation of a figure from the ground. We investigated the contribution of local contour shape to figure–ground segregation. Although previous studies have reported local contour features that evoke figure–ground perception, they were often image features and not necessarily perceptual features. First, we examined whether contour features, specifically, convexity, closure, and symmetry, underlie the perceptual representation of natural contour shapes. We performed similarity tests between local contours, and examined the contribution of the contour features to the perceptual similarities between the contours. The local contours were sampled from natural contours so that their distribution was uniform in the space composed of the three contour features. This sampling ensured the equal appearance frequency of the factors and a wide variety of contour shapes including those comprised of contradictory factors that induce figure in the opposite directions. This sampling from natural contours is advantageous in order to randomly pickup a variety of contours that satisfy a wide range of cue combinations. Multidimensional scaling analyses showed that the combinations of convexity, closure, and symmetry contribute to perceptual similarity, thus they are perceptual quantities. Second, we examined whether the three features contribute to local figure–ground perception. We performed psychophysical experiments to judge the direction of the figure along the local contours, and examined the contribution of the features to the figure–ground judgment. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that closure was a significant factor, but that convexity and symmetry were not. These results indicate that closure is dominant in the local figure–ground perception with natural contours when the other cues coexist with equal probability including contradictory cases. PMID:26579057
Perceptual Representation and Effectiveness of Local Figure-Ground Cues in Natural Contours

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ko eSakai

2015-11-01

Full Text Available A contour shape strongly influences the perceptual segregation of a figure from the ground. We investigated the contribution of local contour shape to figure-ground segregation. Although previous studies have reported local contour features that evoke figure-ground perception, they were often image features and not necessarily perceptual features. First, we examined whether contour features, specifically, convexity, closure, and symmetry, underlie the perceptual representation of natural contour shapes. We performed similarity tests between local contours, and examined the contribution of the contour features to the perceptual similarities between the contours. The local contours were sampled from natural contours so that their distribution was uniform in the space composed of the three contour features. This sampling ensured the equal appearance frequency of the factors and a wide variety of contour shapes including those comprised of contradictory factors that induce figure in the opposite directions. This sampling from natural contours is advantageous in order to randomly pickup a variety of contours that satisfy a wide range of cue combinations. Multidimensional scaling analyses showed that the combinations of convexity, closure, and symmetry contribute to perceptual similarity, thus they are perceptual quantities. Second, we examined whether the three features contribute to local figure-ground perception. We performed psychophysical experiments to judge the direction of the figure along the local contours, and examined the contribution of the features to the figure-ground judgment. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that closure was a significant factor, but that convexity and symmetry were not. These results indicate that closure is dominant in the local figure-ground perception with natural contours when the other cues coexist with equal probability including contradictory cases.
Imaging of the most frequent superficial soft-tissue sarcomas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morel, Melanie; Taieb, Sophie; Ceugnart, Luc; Penel, Nicolas; Mortier, Laurent; Vanseymortier, Luc; Robin, Y.M.; Gosset, Pierre; Cotten, Anne

2011-01-01

Superficial soft-tissue sarcomas are malignant mesenchymal tumors located within the cutaneous and/or subcutaneous layers. Most superficial soft-tissue sarcomas are low-grade tumors; yet, the risk of local recurrence is high, and initial wide surgery is the main prognostic factor. Some of these superficial sarcomas may grow, following an infiltrative pattern, and their real extent may be underestimated clinically. Imaging techniques are useful to determine precisely the real margins of the tumor, especially in cases of clinically doubtful or recurrent or large superficial lesions. Imaging tools enable one to determine the relationship with the superficial fascia separating the subcutaneous layer from the underlying muscle. In our institution ultrasonographic examination is followed by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging when the size of the lesion exceeds 3-5 cm. Imaging assessment is performed prior to biopsy, enabling optimal surgical management. Imaging features of the main superficial sarcomas are detailed in the following article, according to their major locations: those arising in the epidermis and/or dermis, which are most often diagnosed by dermatologists, and the subcutaneous sarcomas. (orig.)
Imaging of the most frequent superficial soft-tissue sarcomas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morel, Melanie; Taieb, Sophie; Ceugnart, Luc [Centre Oscar Lambret, Department of Radiology, Lille (France); Penel, Nicolas [Centre Oscar Lambret, Department of Oncology, Lille (France); Mortier, Laurent [Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Lille, Department of Dermatology, Hopital Claude Huriez, Lille (France); Vanseymortier, Luc [Centre Oscar Lambret, Department of Surgery, Lille (France); Robin, Y.M. [Centre Oscar Lambret, Departement of Pathology, Lille (France); Gosset, Pierre [Groupement Hospitalier de l' Institut Catholique-Faculte Libre de Medecine de Lille, Department of Pathology, Hopital Saint-Philibert, Lomme (France); Cotten, Anne [Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Lille, Department of Musculoskeletal Radiology, Centre Hopital Roger Salengro, Lille (France)

2011-03-15

Superficial soft-tissue sarcomas are malignant mesenchymal tumors located within the cutaneous and/or subcutaneous layers. Most superficial soft-tissue sarcomas are low-grade tumors; yet, the risk of local recurrence is high, and initial wide surgery is the main prognostic factor. Some of these superficial sarcomas may grow, following an infiltrative pattern, and their real extent may be underestimated clinically. Imaging techniques are useful to determine precisely the real margins of the tumor, especially in cases of clinically doubtful or recurrent or large superficial lesions. Imaging tools enable one to determine the relationship with the superficial fascia separating the subcutaneous layer from the underlying muscle. In our institution ultrasonographic examination is followed by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging when the size of the lesion exceeds 3-5 cm. Imaging assessment is performed prior to biopsy, enabling optimal surgical management. Imaging features of the main superficial sarcomas are detailed in the following article, according to their major locations: those arising in the epidermis and/or dermis, which are most often diagnosed by dermatologists, and the subcutaneous sarcomas. (orig.)
Greater perceptual sensitivity to happy facial expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Maher, Stephen; Ekstrom, Tor; Chen, Yue

2014-01-01

Perception of subtle facial expressions is essential for social functioning; yet it is unclear if human perceptual sensitivities differ in detecting varying types of facial emotions. Evidence diverges as to whether salient negative versus positive emotions (such as sadness versus happiness) are preferentially processed. Here, we measured perceptual thresholds for the detection of four types of emotion in faces--happiness, fear, anger, and sadness--using psychophysical methods. We also evaluated the association of the perceptual performances with facial morphological changes between neutral and respective emotion types. Human observers were highly sensitive to happiness compared with the other emotional expressions. Further, this heightened perceptual sensitivity to happy expressions can be attributed largely to the emotion-induced morphological change of a particular facial feature (end-lip raise).
Perceptual Experience and Seeing-as

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Enrique Kalpokas

2015-07-01

Full Text Available According to Rorty, Davidson and Brandom, to have an experience is to be caused by our senses to hold a perceptual belief. This article argues that the phenomenon of seeing-as cannot be explained by such a conception of perceptual experience. First, the notion of experience defended by the aforementioned authors is reconstructed. Second, the main features of what Wittgenstein called “seeing aspects” are briefly presented. Finally, several arguments are developed in order to support the main thesis of the article: seeing-as cannot be explained by the conception of experience defended by Rorty, Davidson and Brandom.
Process and domain specificity in regions engaged for face processing: an fMRI study of perceptual differentiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Heather R; Zhu, Xun; Bhatt, Ramesh S; Clark, Jonathan D; Joseph, Jane E

2012-12-01

The degree to which face-specific brain regions are specialized for different kinds of perceptual processing is debated. This study parametrically varied demands on featural, first-order configural, or second-order configural processing of faces and houses in a perceptual matching task to determine the extent to which the process of perceptual differentiation was selective for faces regardless of processing type (domain-specific account), specialized for specific types of perceptual processing regardless of category (process-specific account), engaged in category-optimized processing (i.e., configural face processing or featural house processing), or reflected generalized perceptual differentiation (i.e., differentiation that crosses category and processing type boundaries). ROIs were identified in a separate localizer run or with a similarity regressor in the face-matching runs. The predominant principle accounting for fMRI signal modulation in most regions was generalized perceptual differentiation. Nearly all regions showed perceptual differentiation for both faces and houses for more than one processing type, even if the region was identified as face-preferential in the localizer run. Consistent with process specificity, some regions showed perceptual differentiation for first-order processing of faces and houses (right fusiform face area and occipito-temporal cortex and right lateral occipital complex), but not for featural or second-order processing. Somewhat consistent with domain specificity, the right inferior frontal gyrus showed perceptual differentiation only for faces in the featural matching task. The present findings demonstrate that the majority of regions involved in perceptual differentiation of faces are also involved in differentiation of other visually homogenous categories.
Process- and Domain-Specificity in Regions Engaged for Face Processing: An fMRI Study of Perceptual Differentiation

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Heather R.; Zhu, Xun; Bhatt, Ramesh S.; Clark, Jonathan D.; Joseph, Jane E.

2015-01-01

The degree to which face-specific brain regions are specialized for different kinds of perceptual processing is debated. The present study parametrically varied demands on featural, first-order configural or second-order configural processing of faces and houses in a perceptual matching task to determine the extent to which the process of perceptual differentiation was selective for faces regardless of processing type (domain-specific account), specialized for specific types of perceptual processing regardless of category (process-specific account), engaged in category-optimized processing (i.e., configural face processing or featural house processing) or reflected generalized perceptual differentiation (i.e. differentiation that crosses category and processing type boundaries). Regions of interest were identified in a separate localizer run or with a similarity regressor in the face-matching runs. The predominant principle accounting for fMRI signal modulation in most regions was generalized perceptual differentiation. Nearly all regions showed perceptual differentiation for both faces and houses for more than one processing type, even if the region was identified as face-preferential in the localizer run. Consistent with process-specificity, some regions showed perceptual differentiation for first-order processing of faces and houses (right fusiform face area and occipito-temporal cortex, and right lateral occipital complex), but not for featural or second-order processing. Somewhat consistent with domain-specificity, the right inferior frontal gyrus showed perceptual differentiation only for faces in the featural matching task. The present findings demonstrate that the majority of regions involved in perceptual differentiation of faces are also involved in differentiation of other visually homogenous categories. PMID:22849402
Perceptual learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Seitz, Aaron R

2017-07-10

Perceptual learning refers to how experience can change the way we perceive sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. Examples abound: music training improves our ability to discern tones; experience with food and wines can refine our pallet (and unfortunately more quickly empty our wallet), and with years of training radiologists learn to save lives by discerning subtle details of images that escape the notice of untrained viewers. We often take perceptual learning for granted, but it has a profound impact on how we perceive the world. In this Primer, I will explain how perceptual learning is transformative in guiding our perceptual processes, how research into perceptual learning provides insight into fundamental mechanisms of learning and brain processes, and how knowledge of perceptual learning can be used to develop more effective training approaches for those requiring expert perceptual skills or those in need of perceptual rehabilitation (such as individuals with poor vision). I will make a case that perceptual learning is ubiquitous, scientifically interesting, and has substantial practical utility to us all. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Can theories of animal discrimination explain perceptual learning in humans?

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Chris; Hall, Geoffrey

2014-01-01

We present a review of recent studies of perceptual learning conducted with nonhuman animals. The focus of this research has been to elucidate the mechanisms by which mere exposure to a pair of similar stimuli can increase the ease with which those stimuli are discriminated. These studies establish an important role for 2 mechanisms, one involving inhibitory associations between the unique features of the stimuli, the other involving a long-term habituation process that enhances the relative salience of these features. We then examine recent work investigating equivalent perceptual learning procedures with human participants. Our aim is to determine the extent to which the phenomena exhibited by people are susceptible to explanation in terms of the mechanisms revealed by the animal studies. Although we find no evidence that associative inhibition contributes to the perceptual learning effect in humans, initial detection of unique features (those that allow discrimination between 2 similar stimuli) appears to depend on an habituation process. Once the unique features have been detected, a tendency to attend to those features and to learn about their properties enhances subsequent discrimination. We conclude that the effects obtained with humans engage mechanisms additional to those seen in animals but argue that, for the most part, these have their basis in learning processes that are common to animals and people. In a final section, we discuss some implications of this analysis of perceptual learning for other aspects of experimental psychology and consider some potential applications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
Mutual information, perceptual independence, and holistic face perception.

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Fitousi, Daniel

2013-07-01

The concept of perceptual independence is ubiquitous in psychology. It addresses the question of whether two (or more) dimensions are perceived independently. Several authors have proposed perceptual independence (or its lack thereof) as a viable measure of holistic face perception (Loftus, Oberg, & Dillon, Psychological Review 111:835-863, 2004; Wenger & Ingvalson, Learning, Memory, and Cognition 28:872-892, 2002). According to this notion, the processing of facial features occurs in an interactive manner. Here, I examine this idea from the perspective of two theories of perceptual independence: the multivariate uncertainty analysis (MUA; Garner & Morton, Definitions, models, and experimental paradigms. Psychological Bulletin 72:233-259, 1969), and the general recognition theory (GRT; Ashby & Townsend, Psychological Review 93:154-179, 1986). The goals of the study were to (1) introduce the MUA, (2) examine various possible relations between MUA and GRT using numerical simulations, and (3) apply the MUA to two consensual markers of holistic face perception(-)recognition of facial features (Farah, Wilson, Drain, & Tanaka, Psychological Review 105:482-498, 1998) and the composite face effect (Young, Hellawell, & Hay, Perception 16:747-759, 1987). The results suggest that facial holism is generated by violations of several types of perceptual independence. They highlight the important theoretical role played by converging operations in the study of holistic face perception.
Imaging Features of Superficial and Deep Fibromatoses in the Adult Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric A. Walker

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The fibromatoses are a group of benign fibroblastic proliferations that vary from benign to intermediate in biological behavior. This article will discuss imaging characteristics and patient demographics of the adult type superficial (fascial and deep (musculoaponeurotic fibromatoses. The imaging appearance of these lesions can be characteristic (particularly when using magnetic resonance imaging. Palmar fibromatosis demonstrates multiple nodular or band-like soft tissue masses arising from the proximal palmar aponeurosis and extending along the subcutaneous tissues of the finger in parallel to the flexor tendons. T1 and T2-weighted signal intensity can vary from low (higher collagen to intermediate (higher cellularity, similar to the other fibromatoses. Plantar fibromatosis manifests as superficial lesions along the deep plantar aponeurosis, which typically blend with the adjacent plantar musculature. Linear tails of extension (“fascial tail sign” along the aponeurosis are frequent. Extraabdominal and abdominal wall fibromatosis often appear as a heterogeneous lesion with low signal intensity bands on all pulse sequences and linear fascial extensions (“fascial tail” sign with MR imaging. Mesenteric fibromatosis usually demonstrates a soft tissue density on CT with radiating strands projecting into the adjacent mesenteric fat. When imaging is combined with patient demographics, a diagnosis can frequently be obtained.
Characterization of a porcine model of chronic superficial varicose veins.

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Jones, Gregory T; Grant, Mark W; Thomson, Ian A; Hill, B Geraldine; van Rij, André M

2009-06-01

Previous animal models of venous disease, while inducing venous hypertension and valvular insufficiency, do not produce superficial varicose veins. In this study, we aimed to develop and characterize a pig-based model of superficial varicose veins. Right femoral arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) were surgically fashioned in young adult pigs. Animals were examined at postoperative times up to 15 weeks to determine the development of varicose veins and measurement of both blood pressure and flow velocities within the superficial thigh veins. Histology and vascular corrosion casts were used to characterize the resulting structural venous alterations. Porcine pathophysiological features were compared with those of human primary superficial varicose veins. Gross superficial varicosities developed over the ipsilateral medial thigh region after an initial lag period of 1-2 weeks. Veins demonstrated retrograde filling with valvular incompetence, and a moderate, non-pulsatile, venous hypertension, which was altered by changes in posture and Valsalva. Venous blood flow velocities were elevated to 15-30 cm/s in varicose veins. Structurally, pig varicose veins were enlarged, tortuous, had valvular degeneration, and regions of focal medial atrophy with or without overlying intimal thickening. The superficial varicose veins, which developed within this model, have a pathophysiology that is consistent with that observed in humans. The porcine femoral AVF model is proposed as a suitable experimental model to evaluate the pathobiology of superficial venous disease. It may also be suitable for the evaluation of treatment interventions including drug therapy.
Ultrasound of musculoskeletal soft-tissue tumors superficial to the investing fascia.

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Hung, Esther Hiu Yee; Griffith, James Francis; Ng, Alex Wing Hung; Lee, Ryan Ka Lok; Lau, Domily Ting Yi; Leung, Jason Chi Shun

2014-06-01

The objective of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound in assessing musculoskeletal soft-tissue tumors superficial to the investing fascia. Seven hundred fourteen superficial soft-tissue tumors evaluated with ultrasound by two musculoskeletal radiologists were retrospectively reviewed. In all ultrasound reports, the reporting radiologists provided one, two, or three diagnoses depending on their perceived level of diagnostic certainty. Two hundred forty-seven tumors had subsequent histologic correlation, thus allowing the accuracy of the ultrasound diagnosis to be determined. Images of the lesions with a discordant ultrasound diagnosis and histologic diagnosis were reviewed, and the ultrasound features were further classified as concordant with the known histologic diagnosis, concordant with the known histologic diagnosis with atypical features present, or discordant with the known histologic diagnosis. Four hundred sixty-seven tumors without pathologic confirmation were followed up clinically. Overall the accuracy of ultrasound examination for assessing superficial soft-tissue masses was 79.0% when all differential diagnoses were considered and 77.0% when only the first differential diagnosis was considered. The sensitivity and specificity of the first ultrasound diagnosis were 95.2% and 94.3%, respectively, for lipoma; 73.0% and 97.7% for vascular malformation; 80.0% and 95.4% for epidermoid cyst; and 68.8% and 95.2% for nerve sheath tumor. Reduced observer awareness of specific tumor entities tended to contribute to underdiagnosis more than poor specificity of ultrasound findings. Most tumors (236/247, 96%) were benign. The sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound for identifying malignant superficial soft-tissue tumors was 94.1% and 99.7%, respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound in the assessment of superficial musculoskeletal soft-tissue tumors is high and can be improved through increased radiologist awareness of less
Self-Reported Visual Perceptual Abnormalities Are Strongly Associated with Core Clinical Features in Psychotic Disorders

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Brian P. Keane

2018-03-01

Full Text Available BackgroundPast studies using the Bonn Scale for the Assessment of Basic Symptoms (hereafter, Bonn Scale have shown that self-reported perceptual/cognitive disturbances reveal which persons have or will soon develop schizophrenia. Here, we focused specifically on the clinical value of self-reported visual perceptual abnormalities (VPAs since they are underexplored and have been associated with suicidal ideation, negative symptoms, and objective visual dysfunction.MethodUsing the 17 Bonn Scale vision items, we cross-sectionally investigated lifetime occurrence of VPAs in 21 first-episode psychosis and 22 chronic schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (SZ/SA patients. Relationships were probed between VPAs and illness duration, symptom severity, current functioning, premorbid functioning, diagnosis, and age of onset.ResultsIncreased VPAs were associated with: earlier age of onset; more delusions, hallucinations, bizarre behavior, and depressive symptoms; and worse premorbid social functioning, especially in the childhood and early adolescent phases. SZ/SA participants endorsed more VPAs as compared to those with schizophreniform or psychotic disorder-NOS, especially in the perception of color, bodies, faces, object movement, and double/reversed vision. The range of self-reported VPAs was strikingly similar between first-episode and chronic patients and did not depend on the type or amount of antipsychotic medication. As a comparative benchmark, lifetime occurrence of visual hallucinations did not depend on diagnosis and was linked only to poor premorbid social functioning.ConclusionA brief 17-item interview derived from the Bonn Scale is strongly associated with core clinical features in schizophrenia. VPAs hold promise for clarifying diagnosis, predicting outcome, and guiding neurocognitive investigations.
Memory: Enduring Traces of Perceptual and Reflective Attention

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Chun, Marvin M.; Johnson, Marcia K.

2011-01-01

Attention and memory are typically studied as separate topics, but they are highly intertwined. Here we discuss the relation between memory and two fundamental types of attention: perceptual and reflective. Memory is the persisting consequence of cognitive activities initiated by and/or focused on external information from the environment (perceptual attention) and initiated by and/or focused on internal mental representations (reflective attention). We consider three key questions for advancing a cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory: To what extent do perception and reflection share representational areas? To what extent are the control processes that select, maintain, and manipulate perceptual and reflective information subserved by common areas and networks? During perception and reflection, to what extent are common areas responsible for binding features together to create complex, episodic memories and for reviving them later? Considering similarities and differences in perceptual and reflective attention helps integrate a broad range of findings and raises important unresolved issues. PMID:22099456
Memory: enduring traces of perceptual and reflective attention.

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Chun, Marvin M; Johnson, Marcia K

2011-11-17

Attention and memory are typically studied as separate topics, but they are highly intertwined. Here we discuss the relation between memory and two fundamental types of attention: perceptual and reflective. Memory is the persisting consequence of cognitive activities initiated by and/or focused on external information from the environment (perceptual attention) and initiated by and/or focused on internal mental representations (reflective attention). We consider three key questions for advancing a cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory: to what extent do perception and reflection share representational areas? To what extent are the control processes that select, maintain, and manipulate perceptual and reflective information subserved by common areas and networks? During perception and reflection, to what extent are common areas responsible for binding features together to create complex, episodic memories and for reviving them later? Considering similarities and differences in perceptual and reflective attention helps integrate a broad range of findings and raises important unresolved issues. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Perceptual categories enable pattern generalization in songbirds.

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Comins, Jordan A; Gentner, Timothy Q

2013-08-01

Since Chomsky's pioneering work on syntactic structures, comparative psychologists interested in the study of language evolution have targeted pattern complexity, using formal mathematical grammars, as the key to organizing language-relevant cognitive processes across species. This focus on formal syntactic complexity, however, often disregards the close interaction in real-world signals between the structure of a pattern and its constituent elements. Whether such features of natural auditory signals shape pattern generalization is unknown. In the present paper, we train birds to recognize differently patterned strings of natural signals (song motifs). Instead of focusing on the complexity of the overtly reinforced patterns, we ask how the perceptual groupings of pattern elements influence the generalization pattern knowledge. We find that learning and perception of training patterns is agnostic to the perceptual features of underlying elements. Surprisingly, however, these same features constrain the generalization of pattern knowledge, and thus its broader use. Our results demonstrate that the restricted focus of comparative language research on formal models of syntactic complexity is, at best, insufficient to understand pattern use. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Zooming in on the cause of the perceptual load effect in the go/no-go paradigm.

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Chen, Zhe; Cave, Kyle R

2016-08-01

Perceptual load theory (Lavie, 2005) claims that attentional capacity that is not used for the current task is allocated to irrelevant distractors. It predicts that if the attentional demands of the current task are high, distractor interference will be low. One particularly powerful demonstration of perceptual load effects on distractor processing relies on a go/no-go cue that is interpreted by either simple feature detection or feature conjunction (Lavie, 1995). However, a possible alternative interpretation of these effects is that the differential degree of distractor processing is caused by how broadly attention is allocated (attentional zoom) rather than to perceptual load. In 4 experiments, we show that when stimuli are arranged to equalize the extent of spatial attention across conditions, distractor interference varies little whether cues are defined by a simple feature or a conjunction, and that the typical perceptual load effect emerges only when attentional zoom can covary with perceptual load. These results suggest that attentional zoom can account for the differential degree of distractor processing traditionally attributed to perceptual load in the go/no-go paradigm. They also provide new insight into how different factors interact to control distractor interference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).
Perceptual and categorical decision making: goal-relevant representation of two domains at different levels of abstraction.

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Shankar, Swetha; Kayser, Andrew S

2017-06-01

To date it has been unclear whether perceptual decision making and rule-based categorization reflect activation of similar cognitive processes and brain regions. On one hand, both map potentially ambiguous stimuli to a smaller set of motor responses. On the other hand, decisions about perceptual salience typically concern concrete sensory representations derived from a noisy stimulus, while categorization is typically conceptualized as an abstract decision about membership in a potentially arbitrary set. Previous work has primarily examined these types of decisions in isolation. Here we independently varied salience in both the perceptual and categorical domains in a random dot-motion framework by manipulating dot-motion coherence and motion direction relative to a category boundary, respectively. Behavioral and modeling results suggest that categorical (more abstract) information, which is more relevant to subjects' decisions, is weighted more strongly than perceptual (more concrete) information, although they also have significant interactive effects on choice. Within the brain, BOLD activity within frontal regions strongly differentiated categorical salience and weakly differentiated perceptual salience; however, the interaction between these two factors activated similar frontoparietal brain networks. Notably, explicitly evaluating feature interactions revealed a frontal-parietal dissociation: parietal activity varied strongly with both features, but frontal activity varied with the combined strength of the information that defined the motor response. Together, these data demonstrate that frontal regions are driven by decision-relevant features and argue that perceptual decisions and rule-based categorization reflect similar cognitive processes and activate similar brain networks to the extent that they define decision-relevant stimulus-response mappings. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here we study the behavioral and neural dynamics of perceptual categorization when
Perceptual processing of a complex auditory context

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quiroga Martinez, David Ricardo; Hansen, Niels Christian; Højlund, Andreas

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a brain response elicited by deviants in a series of repetitive sounds. It reflects the perception of change in low-level sound features and reliably measures perceptual auditory memory. However, most MMN studies use simple tone patterns as stimuli, failing...
Space and time in perceptual causality

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Benjamin Straube

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Inferring causality is a fundamental feature of human cognition that allows us to theorize about and predict future states of the world. Michotte suggested that humans automatically perceive causality based on certain perceptual features of events. However, individual differences in judgments of perceptual causality cast doubt on Michotte’s view. To gain insights in the neural basis of individual difference in the perception of causality, our participants judged causal relationships in animations of a blue ball colliding with a red ball (a launching event while fMRI-data were acquired. Spatial continuity and temporal contiguity were varied parametrically in these stimuli. We did not find consistent brain activation differences between trials judged as caused and those judged as non-caused, making it unlikely that humans have universal instantiation of perceptual causality in the brain. However, participants were slower to respond to and showed greater neural activity for violations of causality, suggesting that humans are biased to expect causal relationships when moving objects appear to interact. Our participants demonstrated considerable individual differences in their sensitivity to spatial and temporal characteristics in perceiving causality. These qualitative differences in sensitivity to time or space in perceiving causality were instantiated in individual differences in activation of the left basal ganglia or right parietal lobe, respectively. Thus, the perception that the movement of one object causes the movement of another is triggered by elemental spatial and temporal sensitivities, which themselves are instantiated in specific distinct neural networks.
Dual mechanisms governing reward-driven perceptual learning [version 1; referees: 2 approved

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Dongho Kim

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this review, we explore how reward signals shape perceptual learning in animals and humans. Perceptual learning is the well-established phenomenon by which extensive practice elicits selective improvement in one’s perceptual discrimination of basic visual features, such as oriented lines or moving stimuli. While perceptual learning has long been thought to rely on ‘top-down’ processes, such as attention and decision-making, a wave of recent findings suggests that these higher-level processes are, in fact, not necessary. Rather, these recent findings indicate that reward signals alone, in the absence of the contribution of higher-level cognitive processes, are sufficient to drive the benefits of perceptual learning. Here, we will review the literature tying reward signals to perceptual learning. Based on these findings, we propose dual underlying mechanisms that give rise to perceptual learning: one mechanism that operates ‘automatically’ and is tied directly to reward signals, and another mechanism that involves more ‘top-down’, goal-directed computations.
Varieties of perceptual learning.

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Mackintosh, N J

2009-05-01

Although most studies of perceptual learning in human participants have concentrated on the changes in perception assumed to be occurring, studies of nonhuman animals necessarily measure discrimination learning and generalization and remain agnostic on the question of whether changes in behavior reflect changes in perception. On the other hand, animal studies do make it easier to draw a distinction between supervised and unsupervised learning. Differential reinforcement will surely teach animals to attend to some features of a stimulus array rather than to others. But it is an open question as to whether such changes in attention underlie the enhanced discrimination seen after unreinforced exposure to such an array. I argue that most instances of unsupervised perceptual learning observed in animals (and at least some in human animals) are better explained by appeal to well-established principles and phenomena of associative learning theory: excitatory and inhibitory associations between stimulus elements, latent inhibition, and habituation.
Perceptual embodiment of prosthetic limbs by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.

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Mulvey, Matthew R; Fawkner, Helen J; Radford, Helen E; Johnson, Mark I

2012-01-01

In able-bodied participants, it is possible to induce a sense of perceptual embodiment in an artificial hand using a visual-tactile illusion. In amputee patients, electrical stimulation of sensory afferents using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been shown to generate somatic sensations in an amputee's phantom limb(s). However, the effects of TENS on the perceptual embodiment of an artificial limb are not known. Our objective was to investigate the effects of TENS on the perceptual embodiment of an artificial limb in fully intact able-bodied participants. We used a modified version of the rubber hand illusion presented to 30 able-bodied participants (16 women, 14 men) to convey TENS paresthesia to an artificial hand. TENS electrodes were located over superficial radial nerve on the lateral aspect of the right forearm (1 cm proximal to the wrist), which was hidden from view. TENS intensity was increased to a strong non-painful TENS sensation (electrical paresthesia) was felt beneath the electrodes and projecting into the fingers of the hand. The electrical characteristics of TENS were asymmetric biphasic electrical pulsed waves, continuous pulse pattern, 120 Hz pulse frequency (rate), and 80 µs pulse duration (width). Participants reported significantly higher intensities of the rubber hand illusion during the two TENS conditions (mean = 5.8, standard deviation = 1.9) compared with the two non-TENS conditions (mean = 4.9, standard deviation = 1.7), p embodiment of an artificial hand. Further exploratory studies involving an amputee population are warranted. © 2011 International Neuromodulation Society.
Perceptual load in sport and the heuristic value of the perceptual load paradigm in examining expertise-related perceptual-cognitive adaptations.

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Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel; Schmid, Simone

2013-03-01

In two experiments, we transferred perceptual load theory to the dynamic field of team sports and tested the predictions derived from the theory using a novel task and stimuli. We tested a group of college students (N = 33) and a group of expert team sport players (N = 32) on a general perceptual load task and a complex, soccer-specific perceptual load task in order to extend the understanding of the applicability of perceptual load theory and further investigate whether distractor interference may differ between the groups, as the sport-specific processing task may not exhaust the processing capacity of the expert participants. In both, the general and the specific task, the pattern of results supported perceptual load theory and demonstrates that the predictions of the theory also transfer to more complex, unstructured situations. Further, perceptual load was the only determinant of distractor processing, as we neither found expertise effects in the general perceptual load task nor the sport-specific task. We discuss the heuristic utility of using response-competition paradigms for studying both general and domain-specific perceptual-cognitive adaptations.
Most superficial sublamina of rat superior colliculus: neuronal response properties and correlates with perceptual figure-ground segregation.

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Girman, S V; Lund, R D

2007-07-01

The uppermost layer (stratum griseum superficiale, SGS) of the superior colliculus (SC) provides an important gateway from the retina to the visual extrastriate and visuomotor systems. The majority of attention has been given to the role of this "visual" SC in saccade generation and target selection and it is generally considered to be less important in visual perception. We have found, however, that in the rat SGS1, the most superficial division of the SGS, the neurons perform very sophisticated analysis of visual information. First, in studying their responses with a variety of flashing stimuli we found that the neurons respond not to brightness changes per se, but to the appearance and/or disappearance of visual shapes in their receptive fields (RFs). Contrary to conventional RFs of neurons at the early stages of visual processing, the RFs in SGS1 cannot be described in terms of fixed spatial distribution of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Second, SGS1 neurons showed robust orientation tuning to drifting gratings and orientation-specific modulation of the center response from surround. These are features previously seen only in visual cortical neurons and are considered to be involved in "contour" perception and figure-ground segregation. Third, responses of SGS1 neurons showed complex dynamics; typically the response tuning became progressively sharpened with repetitive grating periods. We conclude that SGS1 neurons are involved in considerably more complex analysis of retinal input than was previously thought. SGS1 may participate in early stages of figure-ground segregation and have a role in low-resolution nonconscious vision as encountered after visual decortication.
Superficial basal cell carcinoma: A comparison of superficial only subtype with superficial combined with other subtypes by age, sex and anatomic site in 3150 cases.

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Pyne, John H; Myint, Esther; Barr, Elizabeth M; Clark, Simon P; David, Michael; Na, Renua; Hou, Ruihang

2017-08-01

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) may present as superficial subtype alone (sBCC) or superficial combined with other subtypes. The objective of this study was to compare sBCC without or with other BCC subtypes by age, sex and anatomic site. We retrospectively collected superficial BCC with the above characteristics from an Australian center during 2009 to 2014. We recorded 1528 sBCC and 1622 superficial BCC combined with other BCC subtype cases. Males numbered 2007 and females 1140. On males, head sites (forehead, cheek, nose and ear combined) compared to limb plus trunk sites displayed a higher incidence of superficial BCC combined with either nodular and or aggressive BCC subtypes (OR 13.15 CI 95% 8.9-19.5 P < .0001). On females a similar comparison also found a higher incidence of superficial BCC combined with solid subtype BCC on head sites compared to trunk and limb sites (OR 9.66 CI 95% 5.8-16.1 P < .0001). Superficial BCC alone is more likely on younger females on trunk and limb sites. Small partial biopsies reported as sBCC may miss other BCC subtypes present with higher risk on facial sites for males and females. Males had smaller proportions of superficial only subtype BCC on facial and ear sites compared to females. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Emotional words can be embodied or disembodied: the role of superficial vs. deep types of processing

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Ensie eAbbassi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Emotional words are processed rapidly and automatically in the left hemisphere (LH and slowly, with the involvement of attention, in the right hemisphere (RH. This review aims to find the reason for this difference and suggests that emotional words can be processed superficially or deeply due to the involvement of the linguistic and imagery systems, respectively. During superficial processing, emotional words likely make connections only with semantically associated words in the LH. This part of the process is automatic and may be sufficient for the purpose of language processing. Deep processing, in contrast, seems to involve conceptual information and imagery of a word’s perceptual and emotional properties using autobiographical memory contents. Imagery and the involvement of autobiographical memory likely differentiate between emotional and neutral word processing and explain the salient role of the RH in emotional word processing. It is concluded that the level of emotional word processing in the RH should be deeper than in the LH and, thus, it is conceivable that the slow mode of processing adds certain qualities to the output.
Emotional words can be embodied or disembodied: the role of superficial vs. deep types of processing.

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Abbassi, Ensie; Blanchette, Isabelle; Ansaldo, Ana I; Ghassemzadeh, Habib; Joanette, Yves

2015-01-01

Emotional words are processed rapidly and automatically in the left hemisphere (LH) and slowly, with the involvement of attention, in the right hemisphere (RH). This review aims to find the reason for this difference and suggests that emotional words can be processed superficially or deeply due to the involvement of the linguistic and imagery systems, respectively. During superficial processing, emotional words likely make connections only with semantically associated words in the LH. This part of the process is automatic and may be sufficient for the purpose of language processing. Deep processing, in contrast, seems to involve conceptual information and imagery of a word's perceptual and emotional properties using autobiographical memory contents. Imagery and the involvement of autobiographical memory likely differentiate between emotional and neutral word processing and explain the salient role of the RH in emotional word processing. It is concluded that the level of emotional word processing in the RH should be deeper than in the LH and, thus, it is conceivable that the slow mode of processing adds certain qualities to the output.
Emotional words can be embodied or disembodied: the role of superficial vs. deep types of processing

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Abbassi, Ensie; Blanchette, Isabelle; Ansaldo, Ana I.; Ghassemzadeh, Habib; Joanette, Yves

2015-01-01

Emotional words are processed rapidly and automatically in the left hemisphere (LH) and slowly, with the involvement of attention, in the right hemisphere (RH). This review aims to find the reason for this difference and suggests that emotional words can be processed superficially or deeply due to the involvement of the linguistic and imagery systems, respectively. During superficial processing, emotional words likely make connections only with semantically associated words in the LH. This part of the process is automatic and may be sufficient for the purpose of language processing. Deep processing, in contrast, seems to involve conceptual information and imagery of a word’s perceptual and emotional properties using autobiographical memory contents. Imagery and the involvement of autobiographical memory likely differentiate between emotional and neutral word processing and explain the salient role of the RH in emotional word processing. It is concluded that the level of emotional word processing in the RH should be deeper than in the LH and, thus, it is conceivable that the slow mode of processing adds certain qualities to the output. PMID:26217288
Superficial skin ulcers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samaila, Modupeola O.; Rafindadi, Abdulmumini H.; Oluwole, Olabode P.; Adewuyi, Sunday A.

2007-01-01

Objective was to determine the underlying cause of superficial skin ulcers over a 15-year period. A retrospective histopathological analysis of 670 cases of superficial skin ulcers diagnosed in the Dept. of Pathology, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria from January 1991 to December 2005. A total of 670 superficial skin ulcers were analyzed. The mail to female gender ratio was 409:261(1.5:1.0) and a peakage frequency of 44.3 %( 297) in the 5th and 6th decades. Spectrum of lesions encountered was categorized into inflammatory, infections, benign and malignant diseases. The malignant lesions were 309 (46.1%), non-specific inflammation 302 (45.1%), granulation tissue 25 (3.7%) and pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia 14 (2.1%). A total of 18(2.7%) specific infections were encountered, which included bacterial, fungal and viral infection. Benign lesions were 2(0.3%), comprising of neurofibroma and Bowen's disease. The most common malignant lesion was squamous cell carcinoma 203 (30.3%) with a male to female ratio of 128:75 (1.7:1.0). Of these 161 were well differentiated tumors. The lower limb was the prevalent site distribution of all the ulcers. Superficial ulcers may be harbinger of malignant diseases. Squamous cell carcinoma remains the most common malignant lesion arising from chronic superficial ulcers from our setting. Adequate tissue biopsy and early diagnosis may reduce the attendant morbidity of these ulcers. (author)
Right-hemispheric processing of non-linguistic word features

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Baumgaertner, Annette; Hartwigsen, Gesa; Roman Siebner, Hartwig

2013-01-01

-hemispheric homologues of classic left-hemispheric language areas may partly be due to processing nonlinguistic perceptual features of verbal stimuli. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to clarify the role of the right hemisphere in the perception of nonlinguistic word features in healthy individuals. Participants made...... perceptual, semantic, or phonological decisions on the same set of auditorily and visually presented word stimuli. Perceptual decisions required judgements about stimulus-inherent changes in font size (visual modality) or fundamental frequency contour (auditory modality). The semantic judgement required......, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), an area previously suggested to support language recovery after left-hemispheric stroke, displayed modality-independent activation during perceptual processing of word stimuli. Our findings indicate that activation of the right hemisphere during language tasks may...
Temporal resolution for the perception of features and conjunctions.

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Bodelón, Clara; Fallah, Mazyar; Reynolds, John H

2007-01-24

The visual system decomposes stimuli into their constituent features, represented by neurons with different feature selectivities. How the signals carried by these feature-selective neurons are integrated into coherent object representations is unknown. To constrain the set of possible integrative mechanisms, we quantified the temporal resolution of perception for color, orientation, and conjunctions of these two features. We find that temporal resolution is measurably higher for each feature than for their conjunction, indicating that time is required to integrate features into a perceptual whole. This finding places temporal limits on the mechanisms that could mediate this form of perceptual integration.
Perceptual Robust Design

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Pedersen, Søren Nygaard

The research presented in this PhD thesis has focused on a perceptual approach to robust design. The results of the research and the original contribution to knowledge is a preliminary framework for understanding, positioning, and applying perceptual robust design. Product quality is a topic...... been presented. Therefore, this study set out to contribute to the understanding and application of perceptual robust design. To achieve this, a state-of-the-art and current practice review was performed. From the review two main research problems were identified. Firstly, a lack of tools...... for perceptual robustness was found to overlap with the optimum for functional robustness and at most approximately 2.2% out of the 14.74% could be ascribed solely to the perceptual robustness optimisation. In conclusion, the thesis have offered a new perspective on robust design by merging robust design...
Is Hand Selection Modulated by Cognitive-perceptual Load?

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Liang, Jiali; Wilkinson, Krista; Sainburg, Robert L

2018-01-15

Previous studies proposed that selecting which hand to use for a reaching task appears to be modulated by a factor described as "task difficulty". However, what features of a task might contribute to greater or lesser "difficulty" in the context of hand selection decisions has yet to be determined. There has been evidence that biomechanical and kinematic factors such as movement smoothness and work can predict patterns of selection across the workspace, suggesting a role of predictive cost analysis in hand-selection. We hypothesize that this type of prediction for hand-selection should recruit substantial cognitive resources and thus should be influenced by cognitive-perceptual loading. We test this hypothesis by assessing the role of cognitive-perceptual loading on hand selection decisions, using a visual search task that presents different levels of difficulty (cognitive-perceptual load), as established in previous studies on overall response time and efficiency of visual search. Although the data are necessarily preliminary due to small sample size, our data suggested an influence of cognitive-perceptual load on hand selection, such that the dominant hand was selected more frequently as cognitive load increased. Interestingly, cognitive-perceptual loading also increased cross-midline reaches with both hands. Because crossing midline is more costly in terms of kinematic and kinetic factors, our findings suggest that cognitive processes are normally engaged to avoid costly actions, and that the choice not-to-cross midline requires cognitive resources. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Extending the Simultaneous-Sequential Paradigm to Measure Perceptual Capacity for Features and Words

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Scharff, Alec; Palmer, John; Moore, Cathleen M.

2011-01-01

In perception, divided attention refers to conditions in which multiple stimuli are relevant to an observer. To measure the effect of divided attention in terms of perceptual capacity, we introduce an extension of the simultaneous-sequential paradigm. The extension makes predictions for fixed-capacity models as well as for unlimited-capacity…
Metacognitive Confidence Increases with, but Does Not Determine, Visual Perceptual Learning.

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Zizlsperger, Leopold; Kümmel, Florian; Haarmeier, Thomas

2016-01-01

While perceptual learning increases objective sensitivity, the effects on the constant interaction of the process of perception and its metacognitive evaluation have been rarely investigated. Visual perception has been described as a process of probabilistic inference featuring metacognitive evaluations of choice certainty. For visual motion perception in healthy, naive human subjects here we show that perceptual sensitivity and confidence in it increased with training. The metacognitive sensitivity-estimated from certainty ratings by a bias-free signal detection theoretic approach-in contrast, did not. Concomitant 3Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) was applied in compliance with previous findings on effective high-low cross-frequency coupling subserving signal detection. While perceptual accuracy and confidence in it improved with training, there were no statistically significant tACS effects. Neither metacognitive sensitivity in distinguishing between their own correct and incorrect stimulus classifications, nor decision confidence itself determined the subjects' visual perceptual learning. Improvements of objective performance and the metacognitive confidence in it were rather determined by the perceptual sensitivity at the outset of the experiment. Post-decision certainty in visual perceptual learning was neither independent of objective performance, nor requisite for changes in sensitivity, but rather covaried with objective performance. The exact functional role of metacognitive confidence in human visual perception has yet to be determined.

Imagery Rescripting: The Impact of Conceptual and Perceptual Changes on Aversive Autobiographical Memories.

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Christien Slofstra

Full Text Available Imagery rescripting (ImRs is a process by which aversive autobiographical memories are rendered less unpleasant or emotional. ImRs is thought only to be effective if a change in the meaning-relevant (semantic content of the mental image is produced, according to a cognitive hypothesis of ImRs. We propose an additional hypothesis: that ImRs can also be effective by the manipulation of perceptual features of the memory, without explicitly targeting meaning-relevant content.In two experiments using a within-subjects design (both N = 48, community samples, both Conceptual-ImRs-focusing on changing meaning-relevant content-and Perceptual-ImRs-focusing on changing perceptual features-were compared to Recall-only of aversive autobiographical image-based memories. An active control condition, Recall + Attentional Breathing (Recall+AB was added in the first experiment. In the second experiment, a Positive-ImRs condition was added-changing the aversive image into a positive image that was unrelated to the aversive autobiographical memory. Effects on the aversive memory's unpleasantness, vividness and emotionality were investigated.In Experiment 1, compared to Recall-only, both Conceptual-ImRs and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in unpleasantness, and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in emotionality of memories. In Experiment 2, the effects on unpleasantness were not replicated, and both Conceptual-ImRs and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in emotionality, compared to Recall-only, as did Positive-ImRs. There were no effects on vividness, and the ImRs conditions did not differ significantly from Recall+AB.Results suggest that, in addition to traditional forms of ImRs, targeting the meaning-relevant content of an image during ImRs, relatively simple techniques focusing on perceptual aspects or positive imagery might also yield benefits. Findings require replication and extension to clinical samples.
Imagery Rescripting: The Impact of Conceptual and Perceptual Changes on Aversive Autobiographical Memories.

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Slofstra, Christien; Nauta, Maaike H; Holmes, Emily A; Bockting, Claudi L H

2016-01-01

Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is a process by which aversive autobiographical memories are rendered less unpleasant or emotional. ImRs is thought only to be effective if a change in the meaning-relevant (semantic) content of the mental image is produced, according to a cognitive hypothesis of ImRs. We propose an additional hypothesis: that ImRs can also be effective by the manipulation of perceptual features of the memory, without explicitly targeting meaning-relevant content. In two experiments using a within-subjects design (both N = 48, community samples), both Conceptual-ImRs-focusing on changing meaning-relevant content-and Perceptual-ImRs-focusing on changing perceptual features-were compared to Recall-only of aversive autobiographical image-based memories. An active control condition, Recall + Attentional Breathing (Recall+AB) was added in the first experiment. In the second experiment, a Positive-ImRs condition was added-changing the aversive image into a positive image that was unrelated to the aversive autobiographical memory. Effects on the aversive memory's unpleasantness, vividness and emotionality were investigated. In Experiment 1, compared to Recall-only, both Conceptual-ImRs and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in unpleasantness, and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in emotionality of memories. In Experiment 2, the effects on unpleasantness were not replicated, and both Conceptual-ImRs and Perceptual-ImRs led to greater decreases in emotionality, compared to Recall-only, as did Positive-ImRs. There were no effects on vividness, and the ImRs conditions did not differ significantly from Recall+AB. Results suggest that, in addition to traditional forms of ImRs, targeting the meaning-relevant content of an image during ImRs, relatively simple techniques focusing on perceptual aspects or positive imagery might also yield benefits. Findings require replication and extension to clinical samples.
Minimalist approach to perceptual interactions.

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Lenay, Charles; Stewart, John

2012-01-01

WORK AIMED AT STUDYING SOCIAL COGNITION IN AN INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE OFTEN ENCOUNTERS SUBSTANTIAL THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES: identifying the significant behavioral variables; recording them without disturbing the interaction; and distinguishing between: (a) the necessary and sufficient contributions of each individual partner for a collective dynamics to emerge; (b) features which derive from this collective dynamics and escape from the control of the individual partners; and (c) the phenomena arising from this collective dynamics which are subsequently appropriated and used by the partners. We propose a minimalist experimental paradigm as a basis for this conceptual discussion: by reducing the sensory inputs to a strict minimum, we force a spatial and temporal deployment of the perceptual activities, which makes it possible to obtain a complete recording and control of the dynamics of interaction. After presenting the principles of this minimalist approach to perception, we describe a series of experiments on two major questions in social cognition: recognizing the presence of another intentional subject; and phenomena of imitation. In both cases, we propose explanatory schema which render an interactionist approach to social cognition clear and explicit. Starting from our earlier work on perceptual crossing we present a new experiment on the mechanisms of reciprocal recognition of the perceptual intentionality of the other subject: the emergent collective dynamics of the perceptual crossing can be appropriated by each subject. We then present an experimental study of opaque imitation (when the subjects cannot see what they themselves are doing). This study makes it possible to characterize what a properly interactionist approach to imitation might be. In conclusion, we draw on these results, to show how an interactionist approach can contribute to a fully social approach to social cognition.
Perceptually-Inspired Computing

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Ming Lin

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Human sensory systems allow individuals to see, hear, touch, and interact with the surrounding physical environment. Understanding human perception and its limit enables us to better exploit the psychophysics of human perceptual systems to design more efficient, adaptive algorithms and develop perceptually-inspired computational models. In this talk, I will survey some of recent efforts on perceptually-inspired computing with applications to crowd simulation and multimodal interaction. In particular, I will present data-driven personality modeling based on the results of user studies, example-guided physics-based sound synthesis using auditory perception, as well as perceptually-inspired simplification for multimodal interaction. These perceptually guided principles can be used to accelerating multi-modal interaction and visual computing, thereby creating more natural human-computer interaction and providing more immersive experiences. I will also present their use in interactive applications for entertainment, such as video games, computer animation, and shared social experience. I will conclude by discussing possible future research directions.
Influence of Perceptual Saliency Hierarchy on Learning of Language Structures: An Artificial Language Learning Experiment.

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Gong, Tao; Lam, Yau W; Shuai, Lan

2016-01-01

Psychological experiments have revealed that in normal visual perception of humans, color cues are more salient than shape cues, which are more salient than textural patterns. We carried out an artificial language learning experiment to study whether such perceptual saliency hierarchy (color > shape > texture) influences the learning of orders regulating adjectives of involved visual features in a manner either congruent (expressing a salient feature in a salient part of the form) or incongruent (expressing a salient feature in a less salient part of the form) with that hierarchy. Results showed that within a few rounds of learning participants could learn the compositional segments encoding the visual features and the order between them, generalize the learned knowledge to unseen instances with the same or different orders, and show learning biases for orders that are congruent with the perceptual saliency hierarchy. Although the learning performances for both the biased and unbiased orders became similar given more learning trials, our study confirms that this type of individual perceptual constraint could contribute to the structural configuration of language, and points out that such constraint, as well as other factors, could collectively affect the structural diversity in languages.
Influence of Perceptual Saliency Hierarchy on Learning of Language Structures: An Artificial Language Learning Experiment

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Gong, Tao; Lam, Yau W.; Shuai, Lan

2016-01-01

Psychological experiments have revealed that in normal visual perception of humans, color cues are more salient than shape cues, which are more salient than textural patterns. We carried out an artificial language learning experiment to study whether such perceptual saliency hierarchy (color > shape > texture) influences the learning of orders regulating adjectives of involved visual features in a manner either congruent (expressing a salient feature in a salient part of the form) or incongruent (expressing a salient feature in a less salient part of the form) with that hierarchy. Results showed that within a few rounds of learning participants could learn the compositional segments encoding the visual features and the order between them, generalize the learned knowledge to unseen instances with the same or different orders, and show learning biases for orders that are congruent with the perceptual saliency hierarchy. Although the learning performances for both the biased and unbiased orders became similar given more learning trials, our study confirms that this type of individual perceptual constraint could contribute to the structural configuration of language, and points out that such constraint, as well as other factors, could collectively affect the structural diversity in languages. PMID:28066281
The impact of memory load and perceptual cues on puzzle learning by 24-month olds.

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Barr, Rachel; Moser, Alecia; Rusnak, Sylvia; Zimmermann, Laura; Dickerson, Kelly; Lee, Herietta; Gerhardstein, Peter

2016-11-01

Early childhood is characterized by memory capacity limitations and rapid perceptual and motor development [Rovee-Collier (1996). Infant Behavior & Development, 19, 385-400]. The present study examined 2-year olds' reproduction of a sliding action to complete an abstract fish puzzle under different levels of memory load and perceptual feature support. Experimental groups were compared to baseline controls to assess spontaneous rates of production of the target actions; baseline production was low across all experiments. Memory load was manipulated in Exp. 1 by adding pieces to the puzzle, increasing sequence length from 2 to 3 items, and to 3 items plus a distractor. Although memory load did not influence how toddlers learned to manipulate the puzzle pieces, it did influence toddlers' achievement of the goal-constructing the fish. Overall, girls were better at constructing the puzzle than boys. In Exp. 2, the perceptual features of the puzzle were altered by changing shape boundaries to create a two-piece horizontally cut puzzle (displaying bilateral symmetry), and by adding a semantically supportive context to the vertically cut puzzle (iconic). Toddlers were able to achieve the goal of building the fish equally well across the 2-item puzzle types (bilateral symmetry, vertical, iconic), but how they learned to manipulate the puzzle pieces varied as a function of the perceptual features. Here, as in Exp. 1, girls showed a different pattern of performance from the boys. This study demonstrates that changes in memory capacity and perceptual processing influence both goal-directed imitation learning and motoric performance. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Visual Perceptual Learning and Models.

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Dosher, Barbara; Lu, Zhong-Lin

2017-09-15

Visual perceptual learning through practice or training can significantly improve performance on visual tasks. Originally seen as a manifestation of plasticity in the primary visual cortex, perceptual learning is more readily understood as improvements in the function of brain networks that integrate processes, including sensory representations, decision, attention, and reward, and balance plasticity with system stability. This review considers the primary phenomena of perceptual learning, theories of perceptual learning, and perceptual learning's effect on signal and noise in visual processing and decision. Models, especially computational models, play a key role in behavioral and physiological investigations of the mechanisms of perceptual learning and for understanding, predicting, and optimizing human perceptual processes, learning, and performance. Performance improvements resulting from reweighting or readout of sensory inputs to decision provide a strong theoretical framework for interpreting perceptual learning and transfer that may prove useful in optimizing learning in real-world applications.
Neurothekeoma palpebrae in association with multiple superficial angiomyxomas: Tegumental Angiomyxoma- Neurothekeoma syndrome (TAN syndrome

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Tan Aik Kah

2011-09-01

Full Text Available We report a case of 10-year-old Indian girl with history of multiple superficial angiomyxoma, presented with three months history of painless right upper lid swelling. There were no visual dysfunctions. Previously, the patient had multiple superficial angiomyxoma (left pinna, left upper cheek, left upper limb, chest, right axilla, hard palate and epidermal cyst (chin. The histopathological specimens were negative to S-100 protein antibody. Systemic review and family history was unremarkable. Excision biopsy and upper lid reconstruction were performed. Intraoperatively the tumor was multilobulated, firm, well encapsulated and did not invade the underlying tarsal plate. Histopathological features of the upperlid tumor were consistent with nerves sheath myxoma (neurothekeoma. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first reported case of neurothekeoma in association with multiple superficial angiomyxoma.
Neurothekeoma palpebrae in association with multiple superficial angiomyxomas: Tegumental Angiomyxoma-Neurothekeoma syndrome (TAN syndrome).

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Kah, Tan Aik; Yong, Ku Chui; Annuar, Faridah Hanom

2011-07-01

We report a case of 10-year-old Indian girl with history of multiple superficial angiomyxoma, presented with three months history of painless right upper lid swelling. There were no visual dysfunctions. Previously, the patient had multiple superficial angiomyxoma (left pinna, left upper cheek, left upper limb, chest, right axilla, hard palate) and epidermal cyst (chin). The histopathological specimens were negative to S-100 protein antibody. Systemic review and family history was unremarkable. Excision biopsy and upper lid reconstruction were performed. Intraoperatively the tumor was multilobulated, firm, well encapsulated and did not invade the underlying tarsal plate. Histopathological features of the upperlid tumor were consistent with nerves sheath myxoma (neurothekeoma). To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of neurothekeoma in association with multiple superficial angiomyxoma.
Does Attention Serve to Integrate Features?

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Navon, David; Treisman, Anne

1990-01-01

An article and two commentaries consider the attentional feature-integration theory proposed by A. Treisman and colleagues. Hypotheses about the encoding of conjunctions are reviewed. Whether or not data support perceptual feature-integration is argued. (SLD)
Stability of Kinesthetic Perception in Efferent-Afferent Spaces: The Concept of Iso-perceptual Manifold.

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Latash, Mark L

2018-02-21

The main goal of this paper is to introduce the concept of iso-perceptual manifold for perception of body configuration and related variables (kinesthetic perception) and to discuss its relation to the equilibrium-point hypothesis and the concepts of reference coordinate and uncontrolled manifold. Hierarchical control of action is postulated with abundant transformations between sets of spatial reference coordinates for salient effectors at different levels. Iso-perceptual manifold is defined in the combined space of afferent and efferent variables as the subspace corresponding to a stable percept. Examples of motion along an iso-perceptual manifold (perceptually equivalent motion) are considered during various natural actions. Some combinations of afferent and efferent signals, in particular those implying a violation of body's integrity, give rise to variable percepts by artificial projection onto iso-perceptual manifolds. This framework is used to interpret unusual features of vibration-induced kinesthetic illusions and to predict new illusions not yet reported in the literature. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Perceptual structure of adductor spasmodic dysphonia and its acoustic correlates.

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Cannito, Michael P; Doiuchi, Maki; Murry, Thomas; Woodson, Gayle E

2012-11-01

To examine the perceptual structure of voice attributes in adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) before and after botulinum toxin treatment and identify acoustic correlates of underlying perceptual factors. Reliability of perceptual judgments is considered in detail. Pre- and posttreatment trial with comparison to healthy controls, using single-blind randomized listener judgments of voice qualities, as well as retrospective comparison with acoustic measurements. Oral readings were recorded from 42 ADSD speakers before and after treatment as well as from their age- and sex-matched controls. Experienced judges listened to speech samples and rated attributes of overall voice quality, breathiness, roughness, and brokenness, using computer-implemented visual analog scaling. Data were adjusted for regression to the mean and submitted to principal components factor analysis. Acoustic waveforms, extracted from the reading samples, were analyzed and measurements correlated with perceptual factor scores. Four reliable perceptual variables of ADSD voice were effectively reduced to two underlying factors that corresponded to hyperadduction, most strongly associated with roughness, and hypoadduction, most strongly associated with breathiness. After treatment, the hyperadduction factor improved, whereas the hypoadduction factor worsened. Statistically significant (P<0.01) correlations were observed between perceived roughness and four acoustic measures, whereas breathiness correlated with aperiodicity and cepstral peak prominence (CPPs). This study supported a two-factor model of ADSD, suggesting perceptual characterization by both hyperadduction and hypoadduction before and after treatment. Responses of the factors to treatment were consistent with previous research. Correlations among perceptual and acoustic variables suggested that multiple acoustic features contributed to the overall impression of roughness. Although CPPs appears to be a partial correlate of perceived
The magic spell of language. Linguistic categories and their perceptual consequences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stapel, D.; Semin, G.R.

2007-01-01

Language is a tool that directs attention to different aspects of reality. Using participants from the same linguistic community, the authors demonstrate in 4 studies that metasemantic features of linguistic categories influence basic perceptual processes. More specifically, the hypothesis that
Cerebellar tDCS dissociates the timing of perceptual decisions from perceptual change in speech

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Lametti, D.R.; Oostwoud Wijdenes, L.; Bonaiuto, J.; Bestmann, S.; Rothwell, J.C.

2016-01-01

Neuroimaging studies suggest that the cerebellum might play a role in both speech perception and speech perceptual learning. However, it remains unclear what this role is: does the cerebellum directly contribute to the perceptual decision? Or does it contribute to the timing of perceptual decisions?
Perceptual organization and visual attention.

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Kimchi, Ruth

2009-01-01

Perceptual organization--the processes structuring visual information into coherent units--and visual attention--the processes by which some visual information in a scene is selected--are crucial for the perception of our visual environment and to visuomotor behavior. Recent research points to important relations between attentional and organizational processes. Several studies demonstrated that perceptual organization constrains attentional selectivity, and other studies suggest that attention can also constrain perceptual organization. In this chapter I focus on two aspects of the relationship between perceptual organization and attention. The first addresses the question of whether or not perceptual organization can take place without attention. I present findings demonstrating that some forms of grouping and figure-ground segmentation can occur without attention, whereas others require controlled attentional processing, depending on the processes involved and the conditions prevailing for each process. These findings challenge the traditional view, which assumes that perceptual organization is a unitary entity that operates preattentively. The second issue addresses the question of whether perceptual organization can affect the automatic deployment of attention. I present findings showing that the mere organization of some elements in the visual field by Gestalt factors into a coherent perceptual unit (an "object"), with no abrupt onset or any other unique transient, can capture attention automatically in a stimulus-driven manner. Taken together, the findings discussed in this chapter demonstrate the multifaceted, interactive relations between perceptual organization and visual attention.
The relationship between visual working memory and attention: retention of precise colour information in the absence of effects on perceptual selection.

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Hollingworth, Andrew; Hwang, Seongmin

2013-10-19

We examined the conditions under which a feature value in visual working memory (VWM) recruits visual attention to matching stimuli. Previous work has suggested that VWM supports two qualitatively different states of representation: an active state that interacts with perceptual selection and a passive (or accessory) state that does not. An alternative hypothesis is that VWM supports a single form of representation, with the precision of feature memory controlling whether or not the representation interacts with perceptual selection. The results of three experiments supported the dual-state hypothesis. We established conditions under which participants retained a relatively precise representation of a parcticular colour. If the colour was immediately task relevant, it reliably recruited attention to matching stimuli. However, if the colour was not immediately task relevant, it failed to interact with perceptual selection. Feature maintenance in VWM is not necessarily equivalent with feature-based attentional selection.
HIGH ORIGIN OF SUPERFICIAL ULNAR ARTERY- A CASE REPORT

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Anjana Jayakumaran Nair

2017-03-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND High origin and superficially placed ulnar artery is a rare anatomical variant that usually arises either in the axilla or arm and runs a superficial course in the forearm, enters the hand and participates in the formation of superficial palmar arch. During routine dissection of cadavers in our department, we observed a unilateral case of high origin and superficial ulnar artery in a human male cadaver. It originated from the brachial artery in the lower third of arm 4 cm above its bifurcation. From its origin, it passed downwards along the medial aspect of forearm, superficial to the flexors, entered hand superficial to the flexor retinaculum and formed superficial palmar arch. The knowledge of existence of a superficial ulnar artery is important during vascular and reconstructive surgery and also in evaluation of angiographic images. Superficial position makes it more vulnerable to trauma and more accessible to cannulation.
Common Superficial Bursitis.

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Khodaee, Morteza

2017-02-15

Superficial bursitis most often occurs in the olecranon and prepatellar bursae. Less common locations are the superficial infrapatellar and subcutaneous (superficial) calcaneal bursae. Chronic microtrauma (e.g., kneeling on the prepatellar bursa) is the most common cause of superficial bursitis. Other causes include acute trauma/hemorrhage, inflammatory disorders such as gout or rheumatoid arthritis, and infection (septic bursitis). Diagnosis is usually based on clinical presentation, with a particular focus on signs of septic bursitis. Ultrasonography can help distinguish bursitis from cellulitis. Blood testing (white blood cell count, inflammatory markers) and magnetic resonance imaging can help distinguish infectious from noninfectious causes. If infection is suspected, bursal aspiration should be performed and fluid examined using Gram stain, crystal analysis, glucose measurement, blood cell count, and culture. Management depends on the type of bursitis. Acute traumatic/hemorrhagic bursitis is treated conservatively with ice, elevation, rest, and analgesics; aspiration may shorten the duration of symptoms. Chronic microtraumatic bursitis should be treated conservatively, and the underlying cause addressed. Bursal aspiration of microtraumatic bursitis is generally not recommended because of the risk of iatrogenic septic bursitis. Although intrabursal corticosteroid injections are sometimes used to treat microtraumatic bursitis, high-quality evidence demonstrating any benefit is unavailable. Chronic inflammatory bursitis (e.g., gout, rheumatoid arthritis) is treated by addressing the underlying condition, and intrabursal corticosteroid injections are often used. For septic bursitis, antibiotics effective against Staphylococcus aureus are generally the initial treatment, with surgery reserved for bursitis not responsive to antibiotics or for recurrent cases. Outpatient antibiotics may be considered in those who are not acutely ill; patients who are acutely ill
Photoluminescence of a superficial Si nanolayer and an example of its use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ley, M.; Svrcek, V.; Kuznicki, Z.T.

2003-01-01

A characteristic photoluminescence of a superficial Si nanolayer realized by ion implantation has been observed. This effect, being totally independent of those shown recently for a nanoscale Si-layered system, is similar to that produced by Si nanocrystals (Si nc). To visualize the nature and give evidence of this effect, we fabricated samples in two different ways: (i) by incorporation of Si nc into thin SiO 2 films deposited on Si wafer by the spin-on-glass method and (ii) by a nanoscale superficial crystalline-Si modification using medium-energy ion implantation and thermal treatment. In both cases the UV-to-red light conversion has been observed to be independent of wafer post-implantation damage. To show the UV-to-red conversion contribution, we use the ion modified superficial Si layer with its well-defined potential barrier, the so-called carrier collection limit. Such a modified Si structure gives us a method of deconvoluting several optoelectronic features observed experimentally on modified Si. The practical realization is compatible with well-established Si technology

Perceptual approaches to finding features in data

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Rogowitz, Bernice E.

2013-03-01

Electronic imaging applications hinge on the ability to discover features in data. For example, doctors examine diagnostic images for tumors, broken bones and changes in metabolic activity. Financial analysts explore visualizations of market data to find correlations, outliers and interaction effects. Seismologists look for signatures in geological data to tell them where to drill or where an earthquake may begin. These data are very diverse, including images, numbers, graphs, 3-D graphics, and text, and are growing exponentially, largely through the rise in automatic data collection technologies such as sensors and digital imaging. This paper explores important trends in the art and science of finding features in data, such as the tension between bottom-up and top-down processing, the semantics of features, and the integration of human- and algorithm-based approaches. This story is told from the perspective of the IS and T/SPIE Conference on Human Vision and Electronic Imaging (HVEI), which has fostered research at the intersection between human perception and the evolution of new technologies.
Holistic face perception is modulated by experience-dependent perceptual grouping.

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Curby, Kim M; Entenman, Robert J; Fleming, Justin T

2016-07-01

What role do general-purpose, experience-sensitive perceptual mechanisms play in producing characteristic features of face perception? We previously demonstrated that different-colored, misaligned framing backgrounds, designed to disrupt perceptual grouping of face parts appearing upon them, disrupt holistic face perception. In the current experiments, a similar part-judgment task with composite faces was performed: face parts appeared in either misaligned, different-colored rectangles or aligned, same-colored rectangles. To investigate whether experience can shape impacts of perceptual grouping on holistic face perception, a pre-task fostered the perception of either (a) the misaligned, differently colored rectangle frames as parts of a single, multicolored polygon or (b) the aligned, same-colored rectangle frames as a single square shape. Faces appearing in the misaligned, differently colored rectangles were processed more holistically by those in the polygon-, compared with the square-, pre-task group. Holistic effects for faces appearing in aligned, same-colored rectangles showed the opposite pattern. Experiment 2, which included a pre-task condition fostering the perception of the aligned, same-colored frames as pairs of independent rectangles, provided converging evidence that experience can modulate impacts of perceptual grouping on holistic face perception. These results are surprising given the proposed impenetrability of holistic face perception and provide insights into the elusive mechanisms underlying holistic perception.
Predicting perceptual quality of images in realistic scenario using deep filter banks

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Zhang, Weixia; Yan, Jia; Hu, Shiyong; Ma, Yang; Deng, Dexiang

2018-03-01

Classical image perceptual quality assessment models usually resort to natural scene statistic methods, which are based on an assumption that certain reliable statistical regularities hold on undistorted images and will be corrupted by introduced distortions. However, these models usually fail to accurately predict degradation severity of images in realistic scenarios since complex, multiple, and interactive authentic distortions usually appear on them. We propose a quality prediction model based on convolutional neural network. Quality-aware features extracted from filter banks of multiple convolutional layers are aggregated into the image representation. Furthermore, an easy-to-implement and effective feature selection strategy is used to further refine the image representation and finally a linear support vector regression model is trained to map image representation into images' subjective perceptual quality scores. The experimental results on benchmark databases present the effectiveness and generalizability of the proposed model.
Perceptual Processing Affects Conceptual Processing

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van Dantzig, Saskia; Pecher, Diane; Zeelenberg, Rene; Barsalou, Lawrence W.

2008-01-01

According to the Perceptual Symbols Theory of cognition (Barsalou, 1999), modality-specific simulations underlie the representation of concepts. A strong prediction of this view is that perceptual processing affects conceptual processing. In this study, participants performed a perceptual detection task and a conceptual property-verification task…
Perceptual quality estimation of H.264/AVC videos using reduced-reference and no-reference models

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Shahid, Muhammad; Pandremmenou, Katerina; Kondi, Lisimachos P.; Rossholm, Andreas; Lövström, Benny

2016-09-01

Reduced-reference (RR) and no-reference (NR) models for video quality estimation, using features that account for the impact of coding artifacts, spatio-temporal complexity, and packet losses, are proposed. The purpose of this study is to analyze a number of potentially quality-relevant features in order to select the most suitable set of features for building the desired models. The proposed sets of features have not been used in the literature and some of the features are used for the first time in this study. The features are employed by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), which selects only the most influential of them toward perceptual quality. For comparison, we apply feature selection in the complete feature sets and ridge regression on the reduced sets. The models are validated using a database of H.264/AVC encoded videos that were subjectively assessed for quality in an ITU-T compliant laboratory. We infer that just two features selected by RR LASSO and two bitstream-based features selected by NR LASSO are able to estimate perceptual quality with high accuracy, higher than that of ridge, which uses more features. The comparisons with competing works and two full-reference metrics also verify the superiority of our models.
Improved superficial brain hemorrhage visualization in susceptibility weighted images by constrained minimum intensity projection

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Castro, Marcelo A.; Pham, Dzung L.; Butman, John

2016-03-01

Minimum intensity projection is a technique commonly used to display magnetic resonance susceptibility weighted images, allowing the observer to better visualize hemorrhages and vasculature. The technique displays the minimum intensity in a given projection within a thick slab, allowing different connectivity patterns to be easily revealed. Unfortunately, the low signal intensity of the skull within the thick slab can mask superficial tissues near the skull base and other regions. Because superficial microhemorrhages are a common feature of traumatic brain injury, this effect limits the ability to proper diagnose and follow up patients. In order to overcome this limitation, we developed a method to allow minimum intensity projection to properly display superficial tissues adjacent to the skull. Our approach is based on two brain masks, the largest of which includes extracerebral voxels. The analysis of the rind within both masks containing the actual brain boundary allows reclassification of those voxels initially missed in the smaller mask. Morphological operations are applied to guarantee accuracy and topological correctness, and the mean intensity within the mask is assigned to all outer voxels. This prevents bone from dominating superficial regions in the projection, enabling superior visualization of cortical hemorrhages and vessels.
Drenaje suplementario del sistema venoso superficial en colgajos pediculados Supplementary drainage of superficial venous system in pedicled flaps

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A. Fernández García

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Los colgajos pediculados pueden sufrir edema y congestión debido a que su drenaje a trevés del sistema venoso superfical es imposible y el flujo hacia el sistema profundo a nivel del pedículo es precario. Esta situación suele evolucionar hacia la necrosis parcial o la pérdida total del colgajo en pocas horas. La apertura del sistema venoso superficial permite el drenaje adecuado de los tejidos transferidos y evita estas complicaciones. Este artículo analiza el papel de las anastomosis microquirúrgicas en el sistema venoso superficial de los colgajos pediculados. Esta técnica permite comunicar el sistema venoso superfical de los tejidos transferidos con el sistema venoso superficial del territorio que rodea al defecto. Presentamos los resultados obtenidos con esta técnica en colgajos de perforante en hélice, colgajos miocutáneos, colgajos neurocutáneos y colgajos fasciograsos volteados.The pedicled flaps can suffer edema and congestion due to the impossibility of drainage toward the superficial venous system and the precarious flow via the deep system at the level of the pedicle. The evolution of this situation is usually partial necrosis or total loss of the flap in a few hours. The opening of the venous superficial system achieves an appropriate drainage of the transfered tissues and avoids these complications. In this article we analyze the role of the microsurgical anastomosis at the level of the superficial venous system of pedicled flaps. This technique allows to communicate the superficial venous system of the transfered tissues with the superficial venous system of the territory around the defect. We report the results with this method in propeller perforator flaps, miocutaneous flaps, neurocutaneous flaps and adipofascial turn over flaps.
Modified Functional Superficial Parotidectomy With Ligation of the Major Branch of the Parotid Duct Extending to the Superficial Lobe.

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Chang, Jung Woo; Leem, Soo Seong; Choi, Hwan Jun; Lee, Jang Hyun

2017-05-01

A functional superficial parotidectomy can maintain salivary function by preserving the Stensen duct. However, this technique still brings the possibility of salivary leakage, because major branches of the parotid duct from the resected site do not get ligated. To reduce this complication, this study introduces a modified technique with major branch ligation. From December 2008 to February 2015, 14 patients who underwent superficial parotidectomy were divided into 2 groups. Group A was treated with the modified functional superficial parotidectomy involving the major branch between the superficial lobe and parotid duct. Group B was treated with the conventional superficial parotidectomy without involving the major branch of the parotid duct. The clinical complications, period of Hemovac usage, and surgical duration were noted in each group. Two of 8 patients in group A had a major branch from Stensen duct that was ligated, and there was no evidence of salivary leakage or sialocele in any of the patients of group A, whereas group B contained 2 cases of salivary leakage, one of which became sialocele. Group A had a significantly longer Hemovac maintenance period than group B (P < 0.05), and the duration of surgery was also significantly different between the 2 groups (P < 0.05). Because a solitary major branch of the main parotid duct occasionally extends toward the superficial lobe, our modified technique-functional superficial parotidectomy with ligation of the major branch toward the superficial lobe-is a useful option for treatment of a benign parotid mass in such cases.
Explaining seeing? Disentangling qualia from perceptual organization.

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Ibáñez, Agustin; Bekinschtein, Tristan

2010-09-01

Abstract Visual perception and integration seem to play an essential role in our conscious phenomenology. Relatively local neural processing of reentrant nature may explain several visual integration processes (feature binding or figure-ground segregation, object recognition, inference, competition), even without attention or cognitive control. Based on the above statements, should the neural signatures of visual integration (via reentrant process) be non-reportable phenomenological qualia? We argue that qualia are not required to understand this perceptual organization.
The nature-disorder paradox: A perceptual study on how nature is disorderly yet aesthetically preferred.

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Kotabe, Hiroki P; Kardan, Omid; Berman, Marc G

2017-08-01

Natural environments have powerful aesthetic appeal linked to their capacity for psychological restoration. In contrast, disorderly environments are aesthetically aversive, and have various detrimental psychological effects. But in our research, we have repeatedly found that natural environments are perceptually disorderly. What could explain this paradox? We present 3 competing hypotheses: the aesthetic preference for naturalness is more powerful than the aesthetic aversion to disorder (the nature-trumps-disorder hypothesis ); disorder is trivial to aesthetic preference in natural contexts (the harmless-disorder hypothesis ); and disorder is aesthetically preferred in natural contexts (the beneficial-disorder hypothesis ). Utilizing novel methods of perceptual study and diverse stimuli, we rule in the nature-trumps-disorder hypothesis and rule out the harmless-disorder and beneficial-disorder hypotheses. In examining perceptual mechanisms, we find evidence that high-level scene semantics are both necessary and sufficient for the nature-trumps-disorder effect. Necessity is evidenced by the effect disappearing in experiments utilizing only low-level visual stimuli (i.e., where scene semantics have been removed) and experiments utilizing a rapid-scene-presentation procedure that obscures scene semantics. Sufficiency is evidenced by the effect reappearing in experiments utilizing noun stimuli which remove low-level visual features. Furthermore, we present evidence that the interaction of scene semantics with low-level visual features amplifies the nature-trumps-disorder effect-the effect is weaker both when statistically adjusting for quantified low-level visual features and when using noun stimuli which remove low-level visual features. These results have implications for psychological theories bearing on the joint influence of low- and high-level perceptual inputs on affect and cognition, as well as for aesthetic design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all
Acetylcholine and Olfactory Perceptual Learning

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Wilson, Donald A.; Fletcher, Max L.; Sullivan, Regina M.

2004-01-01

Olfactory perceptual learning is a relatively long-term, learned increase in perceptual acuity, and has been described in both humans and animals. Data from recent electrophysiological studies have indicated that olfactory perceptual learning may be correlated with changes in odorant receptive fields of neurons in the olfactory bulb and piriform…
Enhanced attentional gain as a mechanism for generalized perceptual learning in human visual cortex.

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Byers, Anna; Serences, John T

2014-09-01

Learning to better discriminate a specific visual feature (i.e., a specific orientation in a specific region of space) has been associated with plasticity in early visual areas (sensory modulation) and with improvements in the transmission of sensory information from early visual areas to downstream sensorimotor and decision regions (enhanced readout). However, in many real-world scenarios that require perceptual expertise, observers need to efficiently process numerous exemplars from a broad stimulus class as opposed to just a single stimulus feature. Some previous data suggest that perceptual learning leads to highly specific neural modulations that support the discrimination of specific trained features. However, the extent to which perceptual learning acts to improve the discriminability of a broad class of stimuli via the modulation of sensory responses in human visual cortex remains largely unknown. Here, we used functional MRI and a multivariate analysis method to reconstruct orientation-selective response profiles based on activation patterns in the early visual cortex before and after subjects learned to discriminate small offsets in a set of grating stimuli that were rendered in one of nine possible orientations. Behavioral performance improved across 10 training sessions, and there was a training-related increase in the amplitude of orientation-selective response profiles in V1, V2, and V3 when orientation was task relevant compared with when it was task irrelevant. These results suggest that generalized perceptual learning can lead to modified responses in the early visual cortex in a manner that is suitable for supporting improved discriminability of stimuli drawn from a large set of exemplars. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.
Neural correlates of context-dependent feature conjunction learning in visual search tasks.

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Reavis, Eric A; Frank, Sebastian M; Greenlee, Mark W; Tse, Peter U

2016-06-01

Many perceptual learning experiments show that repeated exposure to a basic visual feature such as a specific orientation or spatial frequency can modify perception of that feature, and that those perceptual changes are associated with changes in neural tuning early in visual processing. Such perceptual learning effects thus exert a bottom-up influence on subsequent stimulus processing, independent of task-demands or endogenous influences (e.g., volitional attention). However, it is unclear whether such bottom-up changes in perception can occur as more complex stimuli such as conjunctions of visual features are learned. It is not known whether changes in the efficiency with which people learn to process feature conjunctions in a task (e.g., visual search) reflect true bottom-up perceptual learning versus top-down, task-related learning (e.g., learning better control of endogenous attention). Here we show that feature conjunction learning in visual search leads to bottom-up changes in stimulus processing. First, using fMRI, we demonstrate that conjunction learning in visual search has a distinct neural signature: an increase in target-evoked activity relative to distractor-evoked activity (i.e., a relative increase in target salience). Second, we demonstrate that after learning, this neural signature is still evident even when participants passively view learned stimuli while performing an unrelated, attention-demanding task. This suggests that conjunction learning results in altered bottom-up perceptual processing of the learned conjunction stimuli (i.e., a perceptual change independent of the task). We further show that the acquired change in target-evoked activity is contextually dependent on the presence of distractors, suggesting that search array Gestalts are learned. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2319-2330, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Illusory conjunctions and perceptual grouping in a visual search task in schizophrenia.

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Carr, V J; Dewis, S A; Lewin, T J

1998-07-27

This report describes part of a series of experiments, conducted within the framework of feature integration theory, to determine whether patients with schizophrenia show deficits in preattentive processing. Thirty subjects with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia and 30 age-, gender-, and education-matched normal control subjects completed two computerized experimental tasks, a visual search task assessing the frequency of illusory conjunctions (i.e. false perceptions) under conditions of divided attention (Experiment 3) and a task which examined the effects of perceptual grouping on illusory conjunctions (Experiment 4). We also assessed current symptomatology and its relationship to task performance. Contrary to our hypotheses, schizophrenia subjects did not show higher rates of illusory conjunctions, and the influence of perceptual grouping on the frequency of illusory conjunctions was similar for schizophrenia and control subjects. Nonetheless, specific predictions from feature integration theory about the impact of different target types (Experiment 3) and perceptual groups (Experiment 4) on the likelihood of forming an illusory conjunction were strongly supported, thereby confirming the integrity of the experimental procedures. Overall, these studies revealed no firm evidence that schizophrenia is associated with a preattentive abnormality in visual search using stimuli that differ on the basis of physical characteristics.
Blind image quality assessment based on aesthetic and statistical quality-aware features

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Jenadeleh, Mohsen; Masaeli, Mohammad Masood; Moghaddam, Mohsen Ebrahimi

2017-07-01

The main goal of image quality assessment (IQA) methods is the emulation of human perceptual image quality judgments. Therefore, the correlation between objective scores of these methods with human perceptual scores is considered as their performance metric. Human judgment of the image quality implicitly includes many factors when assessing perceptual image qualities such as aesthetics, semantics, context, and various types of visual distortions. The main idea of this paper is to use a host of features that are commonly employed in image aesthetics assessment in order to improve blind image quality assessment (BIQA) methods accuracy. We propose an approach that enriches the features of BIQA methods by integrating a host of aesthetics image features with the features of natural image statistics derived from multiple domains. The proposed features have been used for augmenting five different state-of-the-art BIQA methods, which use statistical natural scene statistics features. Experiments were performed on seven benchmark image quality databases. The experimental results showed significant improvement of the accuracy of the methods.
Perceptual Veridicality in Esthetic Communication: A Model, General Procedure, and Illustration.

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Holbrook, Morris B.; Bertges, Stephen A.

1981-01-01

Developed a model and tested the following hypotheses: (1) esthetic features--tempo, rhythm, dynamics, and phrasing in piano performance--are accurately perceived by audience members and (2) such perceptual veridicality does not depend upon one's degree of education/training and is therefore shared by critics and audience members. (PD)
The neural response in short-term visual recognition memory for perceptual conjunctions.

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Elliott, R; Dolan, R J

1998-01-01

Short-term visual memory has been widely studied in humans and animals using delayed matching paradigms. The present study used positron emission tomography (PET) to determine the neural substrates of delayed matching to sample for complex abstract patterns over a 5-s delay. More specifically, the study assessed any differential neural response associated with remembering individual perceptual properties (color only and shape only) compared to conjunction between these properties. Significant activations associated with short-term visual memory (all memory conditions compared to perceptuomotor control) were observed in extrastriate cortex, medial and lateral parietal cortex, anterior cingulate, inferior frontal gyrus, and the thalamus. Significant deactivations were observed throughout the temporal cortex. Although the requirement to remember color compared to shape was associated with subtly different patterns of blood flow, the requirement to remember perceptual conjunctions between these features was not associated with additional specific activations. These data suggest that visual memory over a delay of the order of 5 s is mainly dependent on posterior perceptual regions of the cortex, with the exact regions depending on the perceptual aspect of the stimuli to be remembered.
Integrated approaches to perceptual learning.

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Jacobs, Robert A

2010-04-01

New technologies and new ways of thinking have recently led to rapid expansions in the study of perceptual learning. We describe three themes shared by many of the nine articles included in this topic on Integrated Approaches to Perceptual Learning. First, perceptual learning cannot be studied on its own because it is closely linked to other aspects of cognition, such as attention, working memory, decision making, and conceptual knowledge. Second, perceptual learning is sensitive to both the stimulus properties of the environment in which an observer exists and to the properties of the tasks that the observer needs to perform. Moreover, the environmental and task properties can be characterized through their statistical regularities. Finally, the study of perceptual learning has important implications for society, including implications for science education and medical rehabilitation. Contributed articles relevant to each theme are summarized. Copyright © 2010 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.
Memory plays tricks on me: perceptual bias induced by memory reactivated size in Ebbinghaus illusion.

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Rey, Amandine E; Vallet, Guillaume T; Riou, Benoit; Lesourd, Mathieu; Versace, Rémy

2015-10-01

The relationship between perceptual and memory processing is at the core of cognition. Growing evidence suggests reciprocal influences between them so that memory features should lead to an actual perceptual bias. In the present study, we investigate the reciprocal influence of perceptual and memory processing by further adapting the Ebbinghaus illusion and tested it in a psychophysical design. In a 2AFC (two-alternative forced choice) paradigm, the perceptual bias in the Ebbinghaus illusion was induced by a physical size (Experiment 1) or a memory reactivated size of the inducers (Experiment 2, the size was reactivated thanks to a color-size association). One test disk was presented on the left of the screen and was surrounded by six inducers with a large or small (perceptual or reactivated) size. The test disk varied in size and participants were asked to indicate whether this test disk was smaller or larger than a reference disk presented on the right of the screen (the reference disk was invariant in size). Participants' responses were influenced by the size of the inducers for the perceptual and the reactivated size of the inducers. These results provide new evidence for the influence of memory on perception in a psychophysics paradigm. Published by Elsevier B.V.
The superficial ulnar artery: development and clinical significance Artéria ulnar superficial: desenvolvimento e relevância clínica

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Srinivasulu Reddy

2007-09-01

Full Text Available The principal arteries of the upper limb show a wide range of variation that is of considerable interest to orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, radiologists and anatomists. We present here a case of superficial ulnar artery found during the routine dissection of right upper limb of a 50-year-old male cadaver. The superficial ulnar artery originated from the brachial artery, crossed the median nerve anteriorly and ran lateral to this nerve and the brachial artery. The superficial ulnar artery in the arm gave rise to a narrow muscular branch to the biceps brachii. At the elbow level the artery ran superficial to the bicipital aponeurosis where it was crossed by the median cubital vein. It then ran downward and medially superficial to the forearm flexor muscles, and then downward to enter the hand. At the palm, it formed the superficial and deep palmar arches together with the branches of the radial artery. The presence of a superficial ulnar artery is clinically important when raising forearm flaps in reconstructive surgery. The embryology and clinical significance of the variation are discussed.As principais artérias do membro superior apresentam uma ampla variação, que é relativamente importante a cirurgiões ortopédicos e plásticos, radiologistas e anatomistas.Apresentamosumcaso de artéria ulnar superficial encontrada durante dissecção de rotina de membro superior direito de um cadáver masculino de 50 anos de idade.Aartéria ulnar superficial originava-se da artéria braquial, cruzava o nervo mediano anteriormente e percorria lateralmente esse nervo e a artéria braquial. A artéria ulnar superficial no braço deu origem a um ramo muscular estreito do músculo bíceps braquial. Ao nível do cotovelo, a artéria percorria superficialmente a aponeurose bicipital, onde era cruzada pela veia cubital mediana. Percorria, então, em sentido descendente e medialmente superficial aos músculos flexores do antebraço, e então descendia para

Superficies de segundo orden

OpenAIRE

Salazar Salazar, Luis Álvaro

1987-01-01

Este trabajo se propone poner al alcance de estudiantes de primeros semestres de carreras de aplicación de la matemática, un algoritmo proporcionado por el álgebra lineal, para tratar con mas generalidad, agilidad y libertad unos objetos de la geometría analítica de no fácil manipulación por otros métodos y que se conocen como superficies de segundo orden o superficies cuádricas. En este orden de ideas, el autor considera importante que con este tratamiento se incluya este tema en una asignat...
Studying Real-World Perceptual Expertise

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Jianhong eShen

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Significant insights into visual cognition have come from studying real-world perceptual expertise. Many have previously reviewed empirical findings and theoretical developments from this work. Here we instead provide a brief perspective on approaches, considerations, and challenges to studying real-world perceptual expertise. We discuss factors like choosing to use real-world versus artificial object domains of expertise, selecting a target domain of real-world perceptual expertise, recruiting experts, evaluating their level of expertise, and experimentally testing experts in the lab and online. Throughout our perspective, we highlight expert birding (also called birdwatching as an example, as it has been used as a target domain for over two decades in the perceptual expertise literature.
Visual Perceptual Echo Reflects Learning of Regularities in Rapid Luminance Sequences.

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Chang, Acer Y-C; Schwartzman, David J; VanRullen, Rufin; Kanai, Ryota; Seth, Anil K

2017-08-30

A novel neural signature of active visual processing has recently been described in the form of the "perceptual echo", in which the cross-correlation between a sequence of randomly fluctuating luminance values and occipital electrophysiological signals exhibits a long-lasting periodic (∼100 ms cycle) reverberation of the input stimulus (VanRullen and Macdonald, 2012). As yet, however, the mechanisms underlying the perceptual echo and its function remain unknown. Reasoning that natural visual signals often contain temporally predictable, though nonperiodic features, we hypothesized that the perceptual echo may reflect a periodic process associated with regularity learning. To test this hypothesis, we presented subjects with successive repetitions of a rapid nonperiodic luminance sequence, and examined the effects on the perceptual echo, finding that echo amplitude linearly increased with the number of presentations of a given luminance sequence. These data suggest that the perceptual echo reflects a neural signature of regularity learning.Furthermore, when a set of repeated sequences was followed by a sequence with inverted luminance polarities, the echo amplitude decreased to the same level evoked by a novel stimulus sequence. Crucially, when the original stimulus sequence was re-presented, the echo amplitude returned to a level consistent with the number of presentations of this sequence, indicating that the visual system retained sequence-specific information, for many seconds, even in the presence of intervening visual input. Altogether, our results reveal a previously undiscovered regularity learning mechanism within the human visual system, reflected by the perceptual echo. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How the brain encodes and learns fast-changing but nonperiodic visual input remains unknown, even though such visual input characterizes natural scenes. We investigated whether the phenomenon of "perceptual echo" might index such learning. The perceptual echo is a
Perceptual learning of acoustic noise generates memory-evoked potentials.

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Andrillon, Thomas; Kouider, Sid; Agus, Trevor; Pressnitzer, Daniel

2015-11-02

Experience continuously imprints on the brain at all stages of life. The traces it leaves behind can produce perceptual learning [1], which drives adaptive behavior to previously encountered stimuli. Recently, it has been shown that even random noise, a type of sound devoid of acoustic structure, can trigger fast and robust perceptual learning after repeated exposure [2]. Here, by combining psychophysics, electroencephalography (EEG), and modeling, we show that the perceptual learning of noise is associated with evoked potentials, without any salient physical discontinuity or obvious acoustic landmark in the sound. Rather, the potentials appeared whenever a memory trace was observed behaviorally. Such memory-evoked potentials were characterized by early latencies and auditory topographies, consistent with a sensory origin. Furthermore, they were generated even on conditions of diverted attention. The EEG waveforms could be modeled as standard evoked responses to auditory events (N1-P2) [3], triggered by idiosyncratic perceptual features acquired through learning. Thus, we argue that the learning of noise is accompanied by the rapid formation of sharp neural selectivity to arbitrary and complex acoustic patterns, within sensory regions. Such a mechanism bridges the gap between the short-term and longer-term plasticity observed in the learning of noise [2, 4-6]. It could also be key to the processing of natural sounds within auditory cortices [7], suggesting that the neural code for sound source identification will be shaped by experience as well as by acoustics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Perceptual learning modifies untrained pursuit eye movements.

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Szpiro, Sarit F A; Spering, Miriam; Carrasco, Marisa

2014-07-07

Perceptual learning improves detection and discrimination of relevant visual information in mature humans, revealing sensory plasticity. Whether visual perceptual learning affects motor responses is unknown. Here we implemented a protocol that enabled us to address this question. We tested a perceptual response (motion direction estimation, in which observers overestimate motion direction away from a reference) and a motor response (voluntary smooth pursuit eye movements). Perceptual training led to greater overestimation and, remarkably, it modified untrained smooth pursuit. In contrast, pursuit training did not affect overestimation in either pursuit or perception, even though observers in both training groups were exposed to the same stimuli for the same time period. A second experiment revealed that estimation training also improved discrimination, indicating that overestimation may optimize perceptual sensitivity. Hence, active perceptual training is necessary to alter perceptual responses, and an acquired change in perception suffices to modify pursuit, a motor response. © 2014 ARVO.
Tuned by experience: How orientation probability modulates early perceptual processing.

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Jabar, Syaheed B; Filipowicz, Alex; Anderson, Britt

2017-09-01

Probable stimuli are more often and more quickly detected. While stimulus probability is known to affect decision-making, it can also be explained as a perceptual phenomenon. Using spatial gratings, we have previously shown that probable orientations are also more precisely estimated, even while participants remained naive to the manipulation. We conducted an electrophysiological study to investigate the effect that probability has on perception and visual-evoked potentials. In line with previous studies on oddballs and stimulus prevalence, low-probability orientations were associated with a greater late positive 'P300' component which might be related to either surprise or decision-making. However, the early 'C1' component, thought to reflect V1 processing, was dampened for high-probability orientations while later P1 and N1 components were unaffected. Exploratory analyses revealed a participant-level correlation between C1 and P300 amplitudes, suggesting a link between perceptual processing and decision-making. We discuss how these probability effects could be indicative of sharpening of neurons preferring the probable orientations, due either to perceptual learning, or to feature-based attention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Perceptual dimensions of style in paintings

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Marković Slobodan

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this study is to specify the basic perceptual dimensions underlying the judgments of the physical features which define the style in paintings (e.g. salient form, colorful surface, oval contours etc.. The other aim of the study is to correlate these dimensions with the subjective (affective dimensions of the experience of paintings. In the preliminary study a set of 25 pairs of elementary perceptual descriptors were empirically specified, and a set of 25 bipolar scales were made (e.g. uncolored-multicolored. In the experiment 30 subjects judged 24 paintings (paintings were taken from the study of Radonjić and Marković, 2004 on 25 scales. Factor analysis revealed the four factors: form (scales: precise, neat, salient form etc., color (color contrast, lightness contrast, vivid colors, space (voluminosity, depth and oval contours and complexity (multicolored, ornate, detailed. Obtained factors reflected the nature of the phenomenological and neural segregation of form, color, depth processing, and partially of complexity processing (e.g. spatial frequency processing within both the form and color subsystem. The aim of the next step of analysis was to specify the correlations between two groups of judgments: (a mean judgments of 24 paintings on perceptual factors and (b mean judgments of the same set of 24 paintings on subjective (affective experience factors, i.e. regularity, attraction, arousal and relaxation (judgments taken from Radonjić and Marković, 2005. The following significant correlations were obtained: regularity-form, regularity-space, attraction-form and arousal-complexity (negative correlation. The reasons for the unexpected negative correlation between arousal and complexity should be specified in further studies.
Semantic Features, Perceptual Expectations, and Frequency as Factors in the Learning of Polar Spatial Adjective Concepts.

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Dunckley, Candida J. Lutes; Radtke, Robert C.

Two semantic theories of word learning, a perceptual complexity hypothesis (H. Clark, 1970) and a quantitative complexity hypothesis (E. Clark, 1972) were tested by teaching 24 preschoolers and 16 college students CVC labels for five polar spatial adjective concepts having single word representations in English, and for three having no direct…
Dynamic binding of visual features by neuronal/stimulus synchrony.

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Iwabuchi, A

1998-05-01

When people see a visual scene, certain parts of the visual scene are treated as belonging together and we regard them as a perceptual unit, which is called a "figure". People focus on figures, and the remaining parts of the scene are disregarded as "ground". In Gestalt psychology this process is called "figure-ground segregation". According to current perceptual psychology, a figure is formed by binding various visual features in a scene, and developments in neuroscience have revealed that there are many feature-encoding neurons, which respond to such features specifically. It is not known, however, how the brain binds different features of an object into a coherent visual object representation. Recently, the theory of binding by neuronal synchrony, which argues that feature binding is dynamically mediated by neuronal synchrony of feature-encoding neurons, has been proposed. This review article portrays the problem of figure-ground segregation and features binding, summarizes neurophysiological and psychophysical experiments and theory relevant to feature binding by neuronal/stimulus synchrony, and suggests possible directions for future research on this topic.
Attentional capture under high perceptual load.

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Cosman, Joshua D; Vecera, Shaun P

2010-12-01

Attentional capture by abrupt onsets can be modulated by several factors, including the complexity, or perceptual load, of a scene. We have recently demonstrated that observers are less likely to be captured by abruptly appearing, task-irrelevant stimuli when they perform a search that is high, as opposed to low, in perceptual load (Cosman & Vecera, 2009), consistent with perceptual load theory. However, recent results indicate that onset frequency can influence stimulus-driven capture, with infrequent onsets capturing attention more often than did frequent onsets. Importantly, in our previous task, an abrupt onset was present on every trial, and consequently, attentional capture might have been affected by both onset frequency and perceptual load. In the present experiment, we examined whether onset frequency influences attentional capture under conditions of high perceptual load. When onsets were presented frequently, we replicated our earlier results; attentional capture by onsets was modulated under conditions of high perceptual load. Importantly, however, when onsets were presented infrequently, we observed robust capture effects. These results conflict with a strong form of load theory and, instead, suggest that exposure to the elements of a task (e.g., abrupt onsets) combines with high perceptual load to modulate attentional capture by task-irrelevant information.
Auditory Perceptual Learning for Speech Perception Can be Enhanced by Audiovisual Training.

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Bernstein, Lynne E; Auer, Edward T; Eberhardt, Silvio P; Jiang, Jintao

2013-01-01

Speech perception under audiovisual (AV) conditions is well known to confer benefits to perception such as increased speed and accuracy. Here, we investigated how AV training might benefit or impede auditory perceptual learning of speech degraded by vocoding. In Experiments 1 and 3, participants learned paired associations between vocoded spoken nonsense words and nonsense pictures. In Experiment 1, paired-associates (PA) AV training of one group of participants was compared with audio-only (AO) training of another group. When tested under AO conditions, the AV-trained group was significantly more accurate than the AO-trained group. In addition, pre- and post-training AO forced-choice consonant identification with untrained nonsense words showed that AV-trained participants had learned significantly more than AO participants. The pattern of results pointed to their having learned at the level of the auditory phonetic features of the vocoded stimuli. Experiment 2, a no-training control with testing and re-testing on the AO consonant identification, showed that the controls were as accurate as the AO-trained participants in Experiment 1 but less accurate than the AV-trained participants. In Experiment 3, PA training alternated AV and AO conditions on a list-by-list basis within participants, and training was to criterion (92% correct). PA training with AO stimuli was reliably more effective than training with AV stimuli. We explain these discrepant results in terms of the so-called "reverse hierarchy theory" of perceptual learning and in terms of the diverse multisensory and unisensory processing resources available to speech perception. We propose that early AV speech integration can potentially impede auditory perceptual learning; but visual top-down access to relevant auditory features can promote auditory perceptual learning.
Outcome of superficial squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus: a clinicopathological study

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Maria Aparecida Coelho de Arruda Henry

2013-05-01

Full Text Available PURPOSE: To analyze the clinicopathological features and outcome of patients with pathologically proven superficial squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. METHODS: A total of 234 consecutive cases of esophageal carcinoma in a 15-year period were reviewed. RESULTS: Superficial esophageal cancer was found in five patients (2.1%. They were four men and one woman and the mean age was 52.5 years. Smoking and alcohol were the main risk factors. Achalasia due to Chagas disease occurred in one patient and a second primary tumor developed in the larynx in another patient. Four patients underwent esophagectomy and one patient received chemoradiotherapy. The histopathologic diagnosis was of squamous cell carcinoma in all cases. Intramucosal tumor (Tis was identified in three cases and superficially invasive carcinoma in two cases. Four patients are free of disease with survival times of two, four, six and nine years. The patient who developed laryngeal cancer died six years after esophagectomy. CONCLUSION: Long-term survival in patients with esophageal cancer is related to early diagnosis. Therefore, a less aggressive surgical approach, such as endoscopic resection, may be a good option for these patients, if depth of tumor invasion can be accurately predicted by the new imaging tools.
Perceptual learning modifies untrained pursuit eye movements

OpenAIRE

Szpiro, Sarit F. A.; Spering, Miriam; Carrasco, Marisa

2014-01-01

Perceptual learning improves detection and discrimination of relevant visual information in mature humans, revealing sensory plasticity. Whether visual perceptual learning affects motor responses is unknown. Here we implemented a protocol that enabled us to address this question. We tested a perceptual response (motion direction estimation, in which observers overestimate motion direction away from a reference) and a motor response (voluntary smooth pursuit eye movements). Perceptual training...
Perceptual support promotes strategy generation: Evidence from equation solving.

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Alibali, Martha W; Crooks, Noelle M; McNeil, Nicole M

2017-08-30

Over time, children shift from using less optimal strategies for solving mathematics problems to using better ones. But why do children generate new strategies? We argue that they do so when they begin to encode problems more accurately; therefore, we hypothesized that perceptual support for correct encoding would foster strategy generation. Fourth-grade students solved mathematical equivalence problems (e.g., 3 + 4 + 5 = 3 + __) in a pre-test. They were then randomly assigned to one of three perceptual support conditions or to a Control condition. Participants in all conditions completed three mathematical equivalence problems with feedback about correctness. Participants in the experimental conditions received perceptual support (i.e., highlighting in red ink) for accurately encoding the equal sign, the right side of the equation, or the numbers that could be added to obtain the correct solution. Following this intervention, participants completed a problem-solving post-test. Among participants who solved the problems incorrectly at pre-test, those who received perceptual support for correctly encoding the equal sign were more likely to generate new, correct strategies for solving the problems than were those who received feedback only. Thus, perceptual support for accurate encoding of a key problem feature promoted generation of new, correct strategies. Statement of Contribution What is already known on this subject? With age and experience, children shift to using more effective strategies for solving math problems. Problem encoding also improves with age and experience. What the present study adds? Support for encoding the equal sign led children to generate correct strategies for solving equations. Improvements in problem encoding are one source of new strategies. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.
Semantic Representations in 3D Perceptual Space

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Suncica Zdravkovic

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Barsalou's (1999 perceptual theory of knowledge echoes the pre-20th century tradition of conceptualizing all knowledge as inherently perceptual. Hence conceptual space has an infinite number of dimensions and heavily relies on perceptual experience. Osgood's (1952 semantic differential technique was developed as a bridge between perception and semantics. We updated Osgood's methodology in order to investigate current issues in visual cognition by: (1 using a 2D rather than a 1D space to place the concepts, (2 having dimensions that were perceptual while the targets were conceptual, (3 coupling visual experience with another two perceptual domains (audition and touch, (4 analyzing the data using MDS (not factor analysis. In three experiments, subjects (N = 57 judged five concrete and five abstract words on seven bipolar scales in three perceptual modalities. The 2D space led to different patterns of response compared to the classic 1D space. MDS revealed that perceptual modalities are not equally informative for mapping word-meaning distances (Mantel min = −.23; Mantel max = .88. There was no reliable differences due to test administration modality (paper vs. computer, nor scale orientation. The present findings are consistent with multidimensionality of conceptual space, a perceptual basis for knowledge, and dynamic characteristics of concepts discussed in contemporary theories.
Auditory Perceptual Abilities Are Associated with Specific Auditory Experience

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Yael Zaltz

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The extent to which auditory experience can shape general auditory perceptual abilities is still under constant debate. Some studies show that specific auditory expertise may have a general effect on auditory perceptual abilities, while others show a more limited influence, exhibited only in a relatively narrow range associated with the area of expertise. The current study addresses this issue by examining experience-dependent enhancement in perceptual abilities in the auditory domain. Three experiments were performed. In the first experiment, 12 pop and rock musicians and 15 non-musicians were tested in frequency discrimination (DLF, intensity discrimination, spectrum discrimination (DLS, and time discrimination (DLT. Results showed significant superiority of the musician group only for the DLF and DLT tasks, illuminating enhanced perceptual skills in the key features of pop music, in which miniscule changes in amplitude and spectrum are not critical to performance. The next two experiments attempted to differentiate between generalization and specificity in the influence of auditory experience, by comparing subgroups of specialists. First, seven guitar players and eight percussionists were tested in the DLF and DLT tasks that were found superior for musicians. Results showed superior abilities on the DLF task for guitar players, though no difference between the groups in DLT, demonstrating some dependency of auditory learning on the specific area of expertise. Subsequently, a third experiment was conducted, testing a possible influence of vowel density in native language on auditory perceptual abilities. Ten native speakers of German (a language characterized by a dense vowel system of 14 vowels, and 10 native speakers of Hebrew (characterized by a sparse vowel system of five vowels, were tested in a formant discrimination task. This is the linguistic equivalent of a DLS task. Results showed that German speakers had superior formant
Generation and Perceptual Implicit Memory: Different Generation Tasks Produce Different Effects on Perceptual Priming

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Mulligan, Neil W.; Dew, Ilana T. Z.

2009-01-01

The generation manipulation has been critical in delineating differences between implicit and explicit memory. In contrast to past research, the present experiments indicate that generating from a rhyme cue produces as much perceptual priming as does reading. This is demonstrated for 3 visual priming tasks: perceptual identification, word-fragment…
INFLUENCE INTERHEMISPHERIC FUNCTIONAL ASYMMETRY BRAIN ON HUMAN PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eugene Gtnnadyevna Surovyatkina

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The goals of the work was to determine linkage between the dominant hemisphere of the brain and the occurrence of perceptual processes of the personality of students of the University of the Ministry of internal Affairs of Russia. Researching of relationship between characteristics of the nature of perceptual processes and lateralization of brain functions supplements the information about professional suitability and reliability of employees of enforcement structure within the individually-typological approach. The experimental psychological research of determination of motor and sensory asymmetries in the measurement system "hand-foot-ear-eye" (was performed by Homskay E.D., the leading channel of the auditory perception for the people with the left-hemispheric dominance, and kinesthetic channel for the people with right-hemispheric dominance were revealed. Features of functioning of system "FMPA-perception" in groups with different type of hemispheric dominance is recommended to consider in academic and professional activities of the cadets, and at the stage of professional selection.
Reactive agents and perceptual ambiguity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dartel, M. van; Sprinkhuizen-Kuyper, I.G.; Postma, E.O.; Herik, H.J. van den

2005-01-01

Reactive agents are generally believed to be incapable of coping with perceptual ambiguity (i.e., identical sensory states that require different responses). However, a recent finding suggests that reactive agents can cope with perceptual ambiguity in a simple model (Nolfi, 2002). This paper
Perceptual integration without conscious access.

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Fahrenfort, Johannes J; van Leeuwen, Jonathan; Olivers, Christian N L; Hogendoorn, Hinze

2017-04-04

The visual system has the remarkable ability to integrate fragmentary visual input into a perceptually organized collection of surfaces and objects, a process we refer to as perceptual integration. Despite a long tradition of perception research, it is not known whether access to consciousness is required to complete perceptual integration. To investigate this question, we manipulated access to consciousness using the attentional blink. We show that, behaviorally, the attentional blink impairs conscious decisions about the presence of integrated surface structure from fragmented input. However, despite conscious access being impaired, the ability to decode the presence of integrated percepts remains intact, as shown through multivariate classification analyses of electroencephalogram (EEG) data. In contrast, when disrupting perception through masking, decisions about integrated percepts and decoding of integrated percepts are impaired in tandem, while leaving feedforward representations intact. Together, these data show that access consciousness and perceptual integration can be dissociated.

Perceptual integration without conscious access

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fahrenfort, Johannes J.; Van Leeuwen, Jonathan; Olivers, Christian N.L.; Hogendoorn, Hinze

2017-01-01

The visual system has the remarkable ability to integrate fragmentary visual input into a perceptually organized collection of surfaces and objects, a process we refer to as perceptual integration. Despite a long tradition of perception research, it is not known whether access to consciousness is
Helicobacter pylori infection, glandular atrophy and intestinal metaplasia in superficial gastritis, gastric erosion, erosive gastritis, gastric ulcer and early gastric cancer

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Chuan; Yamada, Nobutaka; Wu, Yun-Lin; Wen, Min; Matsuhisa, Takeshi; Matsukura, Norio

2005-01-01

AIM: To evaluate the histological features of gastric mucosa, including Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with early gastric cancer and endoscopically found superficial gastritis, gastric erosion, erosive gastritis, gastric ulcer.
Perceptual learning: top to bottom.

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Amitay, Sygal; Zhang, Yu-Xuan; Jones, Pete R; Moore, David R

2014-06-01

Perceptual learning has traditionally been portrayed as a bottom-up phenomenon that improves encoding or decoding of the trained stimulus. Cognitive skills such as attention and memory are thought to drive, guide and modulate learning but are, with notable exceptions, not generally considered to undergo changes themselves as a result of training with simple perceptual tasks. Moreover, shifts in threshold are interpreted as shifts in perceptual sensitivity, with no consideration for non-sensory factors (such as response bias) that may contribute to these changes. Accumulating evidence from our own research and others shows that perceptual learning is a conglomeration of effects, with training-induced changes ranging from the lowest (noise reduction in the phase locking of auditory signals) to the highest (working memory capacity) level of processing, and includes contributions from non-sensory factors that affect decision making even on a "simple" auditory task such as frequency discrimination. We discuss our emerging view of learning as a process that increases the signal-to-noise ratio associated with perceptual tasks by tackling noise sources and inefficiencies that cause performance bottlenecks, and present some implications for training populations other than young, smart, attentive and highly-motivated college students. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Right-hemispheric processing of non-linguistic word features: implications for mapping language recovery after stroke.

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Baumgaertner, Annette; Hartwigsen, Gesa; Roman Siebner, Hartwig

2013-06-01

Verbal stimuli often induce right-hemispheric activation in patients with aphasia after left-hemispheric stroke. This right-hemispheric activation is commonly attributed to functional reorganization within the language system. Yet previous evidence suggests that functional activation in right-hemispheric homologues of classic left-hemispheric language areas may partly be due to processing nonlinguistic perceptual features of verbal stimuli. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to clarify the role of the right hemisphere in the perception of nonlinguistic word features in healthy individuals. Participants made perceptual, semantic, or phonological decisions on the same set of auditorily and visually presented word stimuli. Perceptual decisions required judgements about stimulus-inherent changes in font size (visual modality) or fundamental frequency contour (auditory modality). The semantic judgement required subjects to decide whether a stimulus is natural or man-made; the phonologic decision required a decision on whether a stimulus contains two or three syllables. Compared to phonologic or semantic decision, nonlinguistic perceptual decisions resulted in a stronger right-hemispheric activation. Specifically, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), an area previously suggested to support language recovery after left-hemispheric stroke, displayed modality-independent activation during perceptual processing of word stimuli. Our findings indicate that activation of the right hemisphere during language tasks may, in some instances, be driven by a "nonlinguistic perceptual processing" mode that focuses on nonlinguistic word features. This raises the possibility that stronger activation of right inferior frontal areas during language tasks in aphasic patients with left-hemispheric stroke may at least partially reflect increased attentional focus on nonlinguistic perceptual aspects of language. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Superficial dose evaluation of four dose calculation algorithms

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Cao, Ying; Yang, Xiaoyu; Yang, Zhen; Qiu, Xiaoping; Lv, Zhiping; Lei, Mingjun; Liu, Gui; Zhang, Zijian; Hu, Yongmei

2017-08-01

Accurate superficial dose calculation is of major importance because of the skin toxicity in radiotherapy, especially within the initial 2 mm depth being considered more clinically relevant. The aim of this study is to evaluate superficial dose calculation accuracy of four commonly used algorithms in commercially available treatment planning systems (TPS) by Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and film measurements. The superficial dose in a simple geometrical phantom with size of 30 cm×30 cm×30 cm was calculated by PBC (Pencil Beam Convolution), AAA (Analytical Anisotropic Algorithm), AXB (Acuros XB) in Eclipse system and CCC (Collapsed Cone Convolution) in Raystation system under the conditions of source to surface distance (SSD) of 100 cm and field size (FS) of 10×10 cm2. EGSnrc (BEAMnrc/DOSXYZnrc) program was performed to simulate the central axis dose distribution of Varian Trilogy accelerator, combined with measurements of superficial dose distribution by an extrapolation method of multilayer radiochromic films, to estimate the dose calculation accuracy of four algorithms in the superficial region which was recommended in detail by the ICRU (International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurement) and the ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection). In superficial region, good agreement was achieved between MC simulation and film extrapolation method, with the mean differences less than 1%, 2% and 5% for 0°, 30° and 60°, respectively. The relative skin dose errors were 0.84%, 1.88% and 3.90%; the mean dose discrepancies (0°, 30° and 60°) between each of four algorithms and MC simulation were (2.41±1.55%, 3.11±2.40%, and 1.53±1.05%), (3.09±3.00%, 3.10±3.01%, and 3.77±3.59%), (3.16±1.50%, 8.70±2.84%, and 18.20±4.10%) and (14.45±4.66%, 10.74±4.54%, and 3.34±3.26%) for AXB, CCC, AAA and PBC respectively. Monte Carlo simulation verified the feasibility of the superficial dose measurements by multilayer Gafchromic films. And the rank
Decoding stimulus features in primate somatosensory cortex during perceptual categorization

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Alvarez, Manuel; Zainos, Antonio; Romo, Ranulfo

2015-01-01

Neurons of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) respond as functions of frequency or amplitude of a vibrotactile stimulus. However, whether S1 neurons encode both frequency and amplitude of the vibrotactile stimulus or whether each sensory feature is encoded by separate populations of S1 neurons is not known, To further address these questions, we recorded S1 neurons while trained monkeys categorized only one sensory feature of the vibrotactile stimulus: frequency, amplitude, or duration. The results suggest a hierarchical encoding scheme in S1: from neurons that encode all sensory features of the vibrotactile stimulus to neurons that encode only one sensory feature. We hypothesize that the dynamic representation of each sensory feature in S1 might serve for further downstream processing that leads to the monkey’s psychophysical behavior observed in these tasks. PMID:25825711
Perceptual learning and adult cortical plasticity.

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Gilbert, Charles D; Li, Wu; Piech, Valentin

2009-06-15

The visual cortex retains the capacity for experience-dependent changes, or plasticity, of cortical function and cortical circuitry, throughout life. These changes constitute the mechanism of perceptual learning in normal visual experience and in recovery of function after CNS damage. Such plasticity can be seen at multiple stages in the visual pathway, including primary visual cortex. The manifestation of the functional changes associated with perceptual learning involve both long term modification of cortical circuits during the course of learning, and short term dynamics in the functional properties of cortical neurons. These dynamics are subject to top-down influences of attention, expectation and perceptual task. As a consequence, each cortical area is an adaptive processor, altering its function in accordance to immediate perceptual demands.
Perceptual inference.

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Aggelopoulos, Nikolaos C

2015-08-01

Perceptual inference refers to the ability to infer sensory stimuli from predictions that result from internal neural representations built through prior experience. Methods of Bayesian statistical inference and decision theory model cognition adequately by using error sensing either in guiding action or in "generative" models that predict the sensory information. In this framework, perception can be seen as a process qualitatively distinct from sensation, a process of information evaluation using previously acquired and stored representations (memories) that is guided by sensory feedback. The stored representations can be utilised as internal models of sensory stimuli enabling long term associations, for example in operant conditioning. Evidence for perceptual inference is contributed by such phenomena as the cortical co-localisation of object perception with object memory, the response invariance in the responses of some neurons to variations in the stimulus, as well as from situations in which perception can be dissociated from sensation. In the context of perceptual inference, sensory areas of the cerebral cortex that have been facilitated by a priming signal may be regarded as comparators in a closed feedback loop, similar to the better known motor reflexes in the sensorimotor system. The adult cerebral cortex can be regarded as similar to a servomechanism, in using sensory feedback to correct internal models, producing predictions of the outside world on the basis of past experience. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Adaptation and perceptual norms

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Webster, Michael A.; Yasuda, Maiko; Haber, Sara; Leonard, Deanne; Ballardini, Nicole

2007-02-01

We used adaptation to examine the relationship between perceptual norms--the stimuli observers describe as psychologically neutral, and response norms--the stimulus levels that leave visual sensitivity in a neutral or balanced state. Adapting to stimuli on opposite sides of a neutral point (e.g. redder or greener than white) biases appearance in opposite ways. Thus the adapting stimulus can be titrated to find the unique adapting level that does not bias appearance. We compared these response norms to subjectively defined neutral points both within the same observer (at different retinal eccentricities) and between observers. These comparisons were made for visual judgments of color, image focus, and human faces, stimuli that are very different and may depend on very different levels of processing, yet which share the property that for each there is a well defined and perceptually salient norm. In each case the adaptation aftereffects were consistent with an underlying sensitivity basis for the perceptual norm. Specifically, response norms were similar to and thus covaried with the perceptual norm, and under common adaptation differences between subjectively defined norms were reduced. These results are consistent with models of norm-based codes and suggest that these codes underlie an important link between visual coding and visual experience.
On the Use of Memory Models in Audio Features

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Karl Kristoffer

2011-01-01

Audio feature estimation is potentially improved by including higher- level models. One such model is the Short Term Memory (STM) model. A new paradigm of audio feature estimation is obtained by adding the influence of notes in the STM. These notes are identified when the perceptual spectral flux...
Perceptual Training Strongly Improves Visual Motion Perception in Schizophrenia

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Norton, Daniel J.; McBain, Ryan K.; Ongur, Dost; Chen, Yue

2011-01-01

Schizophrenia patients exhibit perceptual and cognitive deficits, including in visual motion processing. Given that cognitive systems depend upon perceptual inputs, improving patients' perceptual abilities may be an effective means of cognitive intervention. In healthy people, motion perception can be enhanced through perceptual learning, but it…
Modelling the perceptual similarity of facial expressions from image statistics and neural responses.

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Sormaz, Mladen; Watson, David M; Smith, William A P; Young, Andrew W; Andrews, Timothy J

2016-04-01

The ability to perceive facial expressions of emotion is essential for effective social communication. We investigated how the perception of facial expression emerges from the image properties that convey this important social signal, and how neural responses in face-selective brain regions might track these properties. To do this, we measured the perceptual similarity between expressions of basic emotions, and investigated how this is reflected in image measures and in the neural response of different face-selective regions. We show that the perceptual similarity of different facial expressions (fear, anger, disgust, sadness, happiness) can be predicted by both surface and feature shape information in the image. Using block design fMRI, we found that the perceptual similarity of expressions could also be predicted from the patterns of neural response in the face-selective posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), but not in the fusiform face area (FFA). These results show that the perception of facial expression is dependent on the shape and surface properties of the image and on the activity of specific face-selective regions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A Neural Signature Encoding Decisions under Perceptual Ambiguity.

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Sun, Sai; Yu, Rongjun; Wang, Shuo

2017-01-01

People often make perceptual decisions with ambiguous information, but it remains unclear whether the brain has a common neural substrate that encodes various forms of perceptual ambiguity. Here, we used three types of perceptually ambiguous stimuli as well as task instructions to examine the neural basis for both stimulus-driven and task-driven perceptual ambiguity. We identified a neural signature, the late positive potential (LPP), that encoded a general form of stimulus-driven perceptual ambiguity. In addition to stimulus-driven ambiguity, the LPP was also modulated by ambiguity in task instructions. To further specify the functional role of the LPP and elucidate the relationship between stimulus ambiguity, behavioral response, and the LPP, we employed regression models and found that the LPP was specifically associated with response latency and confidence rating, suggesting that the LPP encoded decisions under perceptual ambiguity. Finally, direct behavioral ratings of stimulus and task ambiguity confirmed our neurophysiological findings, which could not be attributed to differences in eye movements either. Together, our findings argue for a common neural signature that encodes decisions under perceptual ambiguity but is subject to the modulation of task ambiguity. Our results represent an essential first step toward a complete neural understanding of human perceptual decision making.
Is sequence awareness mandatory for perceptual sequence learning: An assessment using a pure perceptual sequence learning design.

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Deroost, Natacha; Coomans, Daphné

2018-02-01

We examined the role of sequence awareness in a pure perceptual sequence learning design. Participants had to react to the target's colour that changed according to a perceptual sequence. By varying the mapping of the target's colour onto the response keys, motor responses changed randomly. The effect of sequence awareness on perceptual sequence learning was determined by manipulating the learning instructions (explicit versus implicit) and assessing the amount of sequence awareness after the experiment. In the explicit instruction condition (n = 15), participants were instructed to intentionally search for the colour sequence, whereas in the implicit instruction condition (n = 15), they were left uninformed about the sequenced nature of the task. Sequence awareness after the sequence learning task was tested by means of a questionnaire and the process-dissociation-procedure. The results showed that the instruction manipulation had no effect on the amount of perceptual sequence learning. Based on their report to have actively applied their sequence knowledge during the experiment, participants were subsequently regrouped in a sequence strategy group (n = 14, of which 4 participants from the implicit instruction condition and 10 participants from the explicit instruction condition) and a no-sequence strategy group (n = 16, of which 11 participants from the implicit instruction condition and 5 participants from the explicit instruction condition). Only participants of the sequence strategy group showed reliable perceptual sequence learning and sequence awareness. These results indicate that perceptual sequence learning depends upon the continuous employment of strategic cognitive control processes on sequence knowledge. Sequence awareness is suggested to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for perceptual learning to take place. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Prediction of kindergarteners' behavior on Metropolitan Readiness Tests from preschool perceptual and perceptual-motor performances: a validation study.

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Belka, D E

1981-06-01

Multiple regression equations were generated to predict cognitive achievement for 40 children (ages 57 to 68 mo.) 1 yr. after administration of a battery of 6 perceptual and perceptual-motor tests to determine if previous results from Toledo could be replicated. Regression equations generated from maximum R2 improvement techniques indicated that performance at prekindergarten is useful for prediction of cognitive performance (total score and total score without the copying subtest on the Metropolitan Readiness Tests) 1 yr. later at the end of kindergarten. The optimal battery included scores on auditory perception, fine perceptual-motor, and gross perceptual-motor tasks. The moderate predictive power of the equations obtained was compared with high predictive power generated in the Toledo study.
Linguistic and Perceptual Mapping in Spatial Representations: An Attentional Account.

Science.gov (United States)

Valdés-Conroy, Berenice; Hinojosa, José A; Román, Francisco J; Romero-Ferreiro, Verónica

2018-03-01

Building on evidence for embodied representations, we investigated whether Spanish spatial terms map onto the NEAR/FAR perceptual division of space. Using a long horizontal display, we measured congruency effects during the processing of spatial terms presented in NEAR or FAR space. Across three experiments, we manipulated the task demands in order to investigate the role of endogenous attention in linguistic and perceptual space mapping. We predicted congruency effects only when spatial properties were relevant for the task (reaching estimation task, Experiment 1) but not when attention was allocated to other features (lexical decision, Experiment 2; and color, Experiment 3). Results showed faster responses for words presented in Near-space in all experiments. Consistent with our hypothesis, congruency effects were observed only when a reaching estimate was requested. Our results add important evidence for the role of top-down processing in congruency effects from embodied representations of spatial terms. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.
Animacy, perceptual load, and inattentional blindness.

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Calvillo, Dustin P; Jackson, Russell E

2014-06-01

Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice unexpected objects in a visual scene while engaging in an attention-demanding task. We examined the effects of animacy and perceptual load on inattentional blindness. Participants searched for a category exemplar under low or high perceptual load. On the last trial, the participants were exposed to an unexpected object that was either animate or inanimate. Unexpected objects were detected more frequently when they were animate rather than inanimate, and more frequently with low than with high perceptual loads. We also measured working memory capacity and found that it predicted the detection of unexpected objects, but only with high perceptual loads. The results are consistent with the animate-monitoring hypothesis, which suggests that animate objects capture attention because of the importance of the detection of animate objects in ancestral hunter-gatherer environments.
Influence of prior information on pain involves biased perceptual decision-making.

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Wiech, Katja; Vandekerckhove, Joachim; Zaman, Jonas; Tuerlinckx, Francis; Vlaeyen, Johan W S; Tracey, Irene

2014-08-04

Prior information about features of a stimulus is a strong modulator of perception. For instance, the prospect of more intense pain leads to an increased perception of pain, whereas the expectation of analgesia reduces pain, as shown in placebo analgesia and expectancy modulations during drug administration. This influence is commonly assumed to be rooted in altered sensory processing and expectancy-related modulations in the spinal cord, are often taken as evidence for this notion. Contemporary models of perception, however, suggest that prior information can also modulate perception by biasing perceptual decision-making - the inferential process underlying perception in which prior information is used to interpret sensory information. In this type of bias, the information is already present in the system before the stimulus is observed. Computational models can distinguish between changes in sensory processing and altered decision-making as they result in different response times for incorrect choices in a perceptual decision-making task (Figure S1A,B). Using a drift-diffusion model, we investigated the influence of both processes in two independent experiments. The results of both experiments strongly suggest that these changes in pain perception are predominantly based on altered perceptual decision-making. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Visual-perceptual impairment in children with cerebral palsy: a systematic review.

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Ego, Anne; Lidzba, Karen; Brovedani, Paola; Belmonti, Vittorio; Gonzalez-Monge, Sibylle; Boudia, Baya; Ritz, Annie; Cans, Christine

2015-04-01

Visual perception is one of the cognitive functions often impaired in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of this systematic literature review was to assess the frequency of visual-perceptual impairment (VPI) and its relationship with patient characteristics. Eligible studies were relevant papers assessing visual perception with five common standardized assessment instruments in children with CP published from January 1990 to August 2011. Of the 84 studies selected, 15 were retained. In children with CP, the proportion of VPI ranged from 40% to 50% and the mean visual perception quotient from 70 to 90. None of the studies reported a significant influence of CP subtype, IQ level, side of motor impairment, neuro-ophthalmological outcomes, or seizures. The severity of neuroradiological lesions seemed associated with VPI. The influence of prematurity was controversial, but a lower gestational age was more often associated with lower visual motor skills than with decreased visual-perceptual abilities. The impairment of visual perception in children with CP should be considered a core disorder within the CP syndrome. Further research, including a more systematic approach to neuropsychological testing, is needed to explore the specific impact of CP subgroups and of neuroradiological features on visual-perceptual development. © 2015 The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology © 2015 Mac Keith Press.
Grey scale, the 'crispening effect', and perceptual linearization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Belaïd, N.; Martens, J.B.

1998-01-01

One way of optimizing a display is to maximize the number of distinguishable grey levels, which in turn is equivalent to perceptually linearizing the display. Perceptual linearization implies that equal steps in grey value evoke equal steps in brightness sensation. The key to perceptual

The development of real-time stability supports visual working memory performance: Young children's feature binding can be improved through perceptual structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Simmering, Vanessa R; Wood, Chelsey M

2017-08-01

Working memory is a basic cognitive process that predicts higher-level skills. A central question in theories of working memory development is the generality of the mechanisms proposed to explain improvements in performance. Prior theories have been closely tied to particular tasks and/or age groups, limiting their generalizability. The cognitive dynamics theory of visual working memory development has been proposed to overcome this limitation. From this perspective, developmental improvements arise through the coordination of cognitive processes to meet demands of different behavioral tasks. This notion is described as real-time stability, and can be probed through experiments that assess how changing task demands impact children's performance. The current studies test this account by probing visual working memory for colors and shapes in a change detection task that compares detection of changes to new features versus swaps in color-shape binding. In Experiment 1, 3- to 4-year-old children showed impairments specific to binding swaps, as predicted by decreased real-time stability early in development; 5- to 6-year-old children showed a slight advantage on binding swaps, but 7- to 8-year-old children and adults showed no difference across trial types. Experiment 2 tested the proposed explanation of young children's binding impairment through added perceptual structure, which supported the stability and precision of feature localization in memory-a process key to detecting binding swaps. This additional structure improved young children's binding swap detection, but not new-feature detection or adults' performance. These results provide further evidence for the cognitive dynamics and real-time stability explanation of visual working memory development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).
Perceptual Fusion in Humans and Machines

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.A. Salah (Albert Ali); O. Tanrı dağ

2008-01-01

htmlabstractHumans perceive the world through different perceptual modalities, which are processed in the brain by modality-specific areas and structures. However, there also exist multimodal neurons and areas, specialized in integrating perceptual information to enhance or suppress brain response.
Analysis of Feature Extraction Methods for Speaker Dependent Speech Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gurpreet Kaur

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Speech recognition is about what is being said, irrespective of who is saying. Speech recognition is a growing field. Major progress is taking place on the technology of automatic speech recognition (ASR. Still, there are lots of barriers in this field in terms of recognition rate, background noise, speaker variability, speaking rate, accent etc. Speech recognition rate mainly depends on the selection of features and feature extraction methods. This paper outlines the feature extraction techniques for speaker dependent speech recognition for isolated words. A brief survey of different feature extraction techniques like Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC, Linear Predictive Coding Coefficients (LPCC, Perceptual Linear Prediction (PLP, Relative Spectra Perceptual linear Predictive (RASTA-PLP analysis are presented and evaluation is done. Speech recognition has various applications from daily use to commercial use. We have made a speaker dependent system and this system can be useful in many areas like controlling a patient vehicle using simple commands.
Scanning electron microscopy of superficial white onychomycosis*

Science.gov (United States)

de Almeida Jr., Hiram Larangeira; Boabaid, Roberta Oliveira; Timm, Vitor; Silva, Ricardo Marques e; de Castro, Luis Antonio Suita

2015-01-01

Superficial white onychomycosis is characterized by opaque, friable, whitish superficial spots on the nail plate. We examined an affected halux nail of a 20-year-old male patient with scanning electron microscopy. The mycological examination isolated Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Abundant hyphae with the formation of arthrospores were found on the nail's surface, forming small fungal colonies. These findings showed the great capacity for dissemination of this form of onychomycosis. PMID:26560225
Perceptually specific and perceptually non-specific influences on rereading benefits for spatially transformed text: evidence from eye movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheridan, Heather; Reingold, Eyal M

2012-12-01

The present study used eye tracking methodology to examine rereading benefits for spatially transformed text. Eye movements were monitored while participants read the same target word twice, in two different low-constraint sentence frames. The congruency of perceptual processing was manipulated by either applying the same type of transformation to the word during the first and second presentations (i.e., the congruent condition), or employing two different types of transformations across the two presentations of the word (i.e., the incongruent condition). Perceptual specificity effects were demonstrated such that fixation times for the second presentation of the target word were shorter for the congruent condition compared to the incongruent condition. Moreover, we demonstrated an additional perceptually non-specific effect such that second reading fixation times were shorter for the incongruent condition relative to a baseline condition that employed a normal typography (i.e., non-transformed) during the first presentation and a transformation during the second presentation. Both of these effects (i.e., perceptually specific and perceptually non-specific) were similar in magnitude for high and low frequency words, and both effects persisted across a 1 week lag between the first and second readings. We discuss the present findings in the context of the distinction between conscious and unconscious memory, and the distinction between perceptually versus conceptually driven processing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Graphemes Sharing Phonetic Features Tend to Induce Similar Synesthetic Colors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Mi-Jeong; Kim, Yeseul; Shin, Ji-Young; Kim, Chai-Youn

2017-01-01

Individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia experience idiosyncratic colors when viewing achromatic letters or digits. Despite large individual differences in grapheme-color association, synesthetes tend to associate graphemes sharing a perceptual feature with similar synesthetic colors. Sound has been suggested as one such feature. In the present study, we investigated whether graphemes of which representative phonemes have similar phonetic features tend to be associated with analogous synesthetic colors. We tested five Korean multilingual synesthetes on a color-matching task using graphemes from Korean, English, and Japanese orthography. We then compared the similarity of synesthetic colors induced by those characters sharing a phonetic feature. Results showed that graphemes associated with the same phonetic feature tend to induce synesthetic color in both within- and cross-script analyses. Moreover, this tendency was consistent for graphemes that are not transliterable into each other as well as graphemes that are. These results suggest that it is the perceptual-i.e., phonetic-properties associated with graphemes, not just conceptual associations such as transliteration, that determine synesthetic color.
Illusory conjunctions in simultanagnosia: coarse coding of visual feature location?

Science.gov (United States)

McCrea, Simon M; Buxbaum, Laurel J; Coslett, H Branch

2006-01-01

Simultanagnosia is a disorder characterized by an inability to see more than one object at a time. We report a simultanagnosic patient (ED) with bilateral posterior infarctions who produced frequent illusory conjunctions on tasks involving form and surface features (e.g., a red T) and form alone. ED also produced "blend" errors in which features of one familiar perceptual unit appeared to migrate to another familiar perceptual unit (e.g., "RO" read as "PQ"). ED often misread scrambled letter strings as a familiar word (e.g., "hmoe" read as "home"). Finally, ED's success in reporting two letters in an array was inversely related to the distance between the letters. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that ED's illusory reflect coarse coding of visual feature location that is ameliorated in part by top-down information from object and word recognition systems; the findings are also consistent, however, with Treisman's Feature Integration Theory. Finally, the data provide additional support for the claim that the dorsal parieto-occipital cortex is implicated in the binding of visual feature information.
Reproducibility of somatosensory spatial perceptual maps.

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Steenbergen, Peter; Buitenweg, Jan R; Trojan, Jörg; Veltink, Peter H

2013-02-01

Various studies have shown subjects to mislocalize cutaneous stimuli in an idiosyncratic manner. Spatial properties of individual localization behavior can be represented in the form of perceptual maps. Individual differences in these maps may reflect properties of internal body representations, and perceptual maps may therefore be a useful method for studying these representations. For this to be the case, individual perceptual maps need to be reproducible, which has not yet been demonstrated. We assessed the reproducibility of localizations measured twice on subsequent days. Ten subjects participated in the experiments. Non-painful electrocutaneous stimuli were applied at seven sites on the lower arm. Subjects localized the stimuli on a photograph of their own arm, which was presented on a tablet screen overlaying the real arm. Reproducibility was assessed by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for the mean localizations of each electrode site and the slope and offset of regression models of the localizations, which represent scaling and displacement of perceptual maps relative to the stimulated sites. The ICCs of the mean localizations ranged from 0.68 to 0.93; the ICCs of the regression parameters were 0.88 for the intercept and 0.92 for the slope. These results indicate a high degree of reproducibility. We conclude that localization patterns of non-painful electrocutaneous stimuli on the arm are reproducible on subsequent days. Reproducibility is a necessary property of perceptual maps for these to reflect properties of a subject's internal body representations. Perceptual maps are therefore a promising method for studying body representations.
Topographic generalization of tactile perceptual learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrar, Vanessa; Spence, Charles; Makin, Tamar R

2014-02-01

Perceptual learning can improve our sensory abilities. Understanding its underlying mechanisms, in particular, when perceptual learning generalizes, has become a focus of research and controversy. Specifically, there is little consensus regarding the extent to which tactile perceptual learning generalizes across fingers. We measured tactile orientation discrimination abilities on 4 fingers (index and middle fingers of both hands), using psychophysical measures, before and after 4 training sessions on 1 finger. Given the somatotopic organization of the hand representation in the somatosensory cortex, the topography of the cortical areas underlying tactile perceptual learning can be inferred from the pattern of generalization across fingers; only fingers sharing cortical representation with the trained finger ought to improve with it. Following training, performance improved not only for the trained finger but also for its adjacent and homologous fingers. Although these fingers were not exposed to training, they nevertheless demonstrated similar levels of learning as the trained finger. Conversely, the performance of the finger that was neither adjacent nor homologous to the trained finger was unaffected by training, despite the fact that our procedure was designed to enhance generalization, as described in recent visual perceptual learning research. This pattern of improved performance is compatible with previous reports of neuronal receptive fields (RFs) in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) spanning adjacent and homologous digits. We conclude that perceptual learning rooted in low-level cortex can still generalize, and suggest potential applications for the neurorehabilitation of syndromes associated with maladaptive plasticity in SI. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.
Comparing perceptual and preferential decision making.

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Dutilh, Gilles; Rieskamp, Jörg

2016-06-01

Perceptual and preferential decision making have been studied largely in isolation. Perceptual decisions are considered to be at a non-deliberative cognitive level and have an outside criterion that defines the quality of decisions. Preferential decisions are considered to be at a higher cognitive level and the quality of decisions depend on the decision maker's subjective goals. Besides these crucial differences, both types of decisions also have in common that uncertain information about the choice situation has to be processed before a decision can be made. The present work aims to acknowledge the commonalities of both types of decision making to lay bare the crucial differences. For this aim we examine perceptual and preferential decisions with a novel choice paradigm that uses the identical stimulus material for both types of decisions. This paradigm allows us to model the decisions and response times of both types of decisions with the same sequential sampling model, the drift diffusion model. The results illustrate that the different incentive structure in both types of tasks changes people's behavior so that they process information more efficiently and respond more cautiously in the perceptual as compared to the preferential task. These findings set out a perspective for further integration of perceptual and preferential decision making in a single ramework.
Generalization of perceptual and motor learning: a causal link with memory encoding and consolidation?

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Censor, N

2013-10-10

In both perceptual and motor learning, numerous studies have shown specificity of learning to the trained eye or hand and to the physical features of the task. However, generalization of learning is possible in both perceptual and motor domains. Here, I review evidence for perceptual and motor learning generalization, suggesting that generalization patterns are affected by the way in which the original memory is encoded and consolidated. Generalization may be facilitated during fast learning, with possible engagement of higher-order brain areas recurrently interacting with the primary visual or motor cortices encoding the stimuli or movements' memories. Such generalization may be supported by sleep, involving functional interactions between low and higher-order brain areas. Repeated exposure to the task may alter generalization patterns of learning and overall offline learning. Development of unifying frameworks across learning modalities and better understanding of the conditions under which learning can generalize may enable to gain insight regarding the neural mechanisms underlying procedural learning and have useful clinical implications. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Pupil size tracks perceptual content and surprise.

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Kloosterman, Niels A; Meindertsma, Thomas; van Loon, Anouk M; Lamme, Victor A F; Bonneh, Yoram S; Donner, Tobias H

2015-04-01

Changes in pupil size at constant light levels reflect the activity of neuromodulatory brainstem centers that control global brain state. These endogenously driven pupil dynamics can be synchronized with cognitive acts. For example, the pupil dilates during the spontaneous switches of perception of a constant sensory input in bistable perceptual illusions. It is unknown whether this pupil dilation only indicates the occurrence of perceptual switches, or also their content. Here, we measured pupil diameter in human subjects reporting the subjective disappearance and re-appearance of a physically constant visual target surrounded by a moving pattern ('motion-induced blindness' illusion). We show that the pupil dilates during the perceptual switches in the illusion and a stimulus-evoked 'replay' of that illusion. Critically, the switch-related pupil dilation encodes perceptual content, with larger amplitude for disappearance than re-appearance. This difference in pupil response amplitude enables prediction of the type of report (disappearance vs. re-appearance) on individual switches (receiver-operating characteristic: 61%). The amplitude difference is independent of the relative durations of target-visible and target-invisible intervals and subjects' overt behavioral report of the perceptual switches. Further, we show that pupil dilation during the replay also scales with the level of surprise about the timing of switches, but there is no evidence for an interaction between the effects of surprise and perceptual content on the pupil response. Taken together, our results suggest that pupil-linked brain systems track both the content of, and surprise about, perceptual events. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Frequent video game players resist perceptual interference.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aaron V Berard

Full Text Available Playing certain types of video games for a long time can improve a wide range of mental processes, from visual acuity to cognitive control. Frequent gamers have also displayed generalized improvements in perceptual learning. In the Texture Discrimination Task (TDT, a widely used perceptual learning paradigm, participants report the orientation of a target embedded in a field of lines and demonstrate robust over-night improvement. However, changing the orientation of the background lines midway through TDT training interferes with overnight improvements in overall performance on TDT. Interestingly, prior research has suggested that this effect will not occur if a one-hour break is allowed in between the changes. These results have suggested that after training is over, it may take some time for learning to become stabilized and resilient against interference. Here, we tested whether frequent gamers have faster stabilization of perceptual learning compared to non-gamers and examined the effect of daily video game playing on interference of training of TDT with one background orientation on perceptual learning of TDT with a different background orientation. As a result, we found that non-gamers showed overnight performance improvement only on one background orientation, replicating previous results with the interference in TDT. In contrast, frequent gamers demonstrated overnight improvements in performance with both background orientations, suggesting that they are better able to overcome interference in perceptual learning. This resistance to interference suggests that video game playing not only enhances the amplitude and speed of perceptual learning but also leads to faster and/or more robust stabilization of perceptual learning.
Frequent video game players resist perceptual interference.

Science.gov (United States)

Berard, Aaron V; Cain, Matthew S; Watanabe, Takeo; Sasaki, Yuka

2015-01-01

Playing certain types of video games for a long time can improve a wide range of mental processes, from visual acuity to cognitive control. Frequent gamers have also displayed generalized improvements in perceptual learning. In the Texture Discrimination Task (TDT), a widely used perceptual learning paradigm, participants report the orientation of a target embedded in a field of lines and demonstrate robust over-night improvement. However, changing the orientation of the background lines midway through TDT training interferes with overnight improvements in overall performance on TDT. Interestingly, prior research has suggested that this effect will not occur if a one-hour break is allowed in between the changes. These results have suggested that after training is over, it may take some time for learning to become stabilized and resilient against interference. Here, we tested whether frequent gamers have faster stabilization of perceptual learning compared to non-gamers and examined the effect of daily video game playing on interference of training of TDT with one background orientation on perceptual learning of TDT with a different background orientation. As a result, we found that non-gamers showed overnight performance improvement only on one background orientation, replicating previous results with the interference in TDT. In contrast, frequent gamers demonstrated overnight improvements in performance with both background orientations, suggesting that they are better able to overcome interference in perceptual learning. This resistance to interference suggests that video game playing not only enhances the amplitude and speed of perceptual learning but also leads to faster and/or more robust stabilization of perceptual learning.
Clinico Mycological Study of Superficial Mycoses

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Rachana J. Magdum

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Generally it is well established fact that geographical distribution of the fungi may change from time to time; hence this study was planned. Aim and Objectives: To analyze the prevalence of superficial mycoses, its clinical presentation and species identification of the fungal isolates responsible for the disease. Material and Methods: A total 125 clinically diagnosed cases of superficial mycoses visiting Dermatology and Venereology outpatient department of Bharati Hospital, Sangli, for a period of one year were included in the study. Specimens like skin scrapping, nail clipping, hair were collected and subjected to KOH mount and culture. Identification of species was done by macroscopic examination of culture, tease mount and other physiological tests including Urease test, Hair perforation tests and Germ tube test. Results: Superficial mycosis was more common in the age group of 21-30 years (28% and in males (60.8%. The infection was more common in students (29.6%. Tinea corporis (42.4% was the commonest clinical type followed by tinea cruris (22.4%. 61.6% cases were positive by direct microscopy and 60.8% cases showed culture positive. Out of 125 samples, dermatophytes were grown in 63 cases (82.89% followed by non dermatophytic moulds in 10 cases (13.16% and Candida albicans in 3 cases (3.95%. The most common isolate among dermtophytosis was T. rubrum (46.05% followed by T. mentagrophyte (25%. Conclusion: It was concluded that along with dermatophytes, non dermatophytic moulds are also important to cause of superficial mycoses
Superficial herpes simplex virus wound infection following lung transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Karolak, Wojtek; Wojarski, Jacek; Zegleń, Sławomir; Ochman, Marek; Urlik, Maciej; Hudzik, Bartosz; Wozniak-Grygiel, Elzbieta; Maruszewski, Marcin

2017-08-01

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are infections of tissues, organs, or spaces exposed by surgeons during performance of an invasive procedure. SSIs are classified into superficial, which are limited to skin and subcutaneous tissues, and deep. The incidence of deep SSIs in lung transplant (LTx) patients is estimated at 5%. No reports have been published as to the incidence of superficial SSIs specifically in LTx patients. Common sense would dictate that the majority of superficial SSIs would be bacterial. Uncommonly, fungal SSIs may occur, and we believe that no reports exist as to the incidence of viral wound infections in LTx patients, or in any solid organ transplant patients. We report a de novo superficial wound infection with herpes simplex virus following lung transplantation, its possible source, treatment, and resolution. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Perceptual tools for quality-aware video networks

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Bovik, A. C.

2014-01-01

Monitoring and controlling the quality of the viewing experience of videos transmitted over increasingly congested networks (especially wireless networks) is a pressing problem owing to rapid advances in video-centric mobile communication and display devices that are straining the capacity of the network infrastructure. New developments in automatic perceptual video quality models offer tools that have the potential to be used to perceptually optimize wireless video, leading to more efficient video data delivery and better received quality. In this talk I will review key perceptual principles that are, or could be used to create effective video quality prediction models, and leading quality prediction models that utilize these principles. The goal is to be able to monitor and perceptually optimize video networks by making them "quality-aware."
Audiovisual speech perception development at varying levels of perceptual processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalonde, Kaylah; Holt, Rachael Frush

2016-04-01

This study used the auditory evaluation framework [Erber (1982). Auditory Training (Alexander Graham Bell Association, Washington, DC)] to characterize the influence of visual speech on audiovisual (AV) speech perception in adults and children at multiple levels of perceptual processing. Six- to eight-year-old children and adults completed auditory and AV speech perception tasks at three levels of perceptual processing (detection, discrimination, and recognition). The tasks differed in the level of perceptual processing required to complete them. Adults and children demonstrated visual speech influence at all levels of perceptual processing. Whereas children demonstrated the same visual speech influence at each level of perceptual processing, adults demonstrated greater visual speech influence on tasks requiring higher levels of perceptual processing. These results support previous research demonstrating multiple mechanisms of AV speech processing (general perceptual and speech-specific mechanisms) with independent maturational time courses. The results suggest that adults rely on both general perceptual mechanisms that apply to all levels of perceptual processing and speech-specific mechanisms that apply when making phonetic decisions and/or accessing the lexicon. Six- to eight-year-old children seem to rely only on general perceptual mechanisms across levels. As expected, developmental differences in AV benefit on this and other recognition tasks likely reflect immature speech-specific mechanisms and phonetic processing in children.
Understanding the three-dimensional anatomy of the superficial lymphatics of the limbs.

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Tourani, Saam S; Taylor, G Ian; Ashton, Mark W

2014-11-01

There are minimal data in the current literature regarding the depth of the superficial lymphatic collectors of the limbs in relation to the various subcutaneous tissue layers. Injection, microdissection, radiographic, and histologic studies of the superficial lymphatics and the subcutaneous tissues of 32 limbs from 15 human cadavers were performed. Five layers were consistently identified in the integument of all the upper and lower limb specimens: (1) skin, (2) subcutaneous fat, (3) superficial fascia, (4) loose areolar tissue, and (5) deep fascia. Layer 2 was further divided into superficial (2a) and deep (2c) compartments by a thin, transparent, horizontal septum (layer 2b). The main superficial veins and the superficial nerves coursed in layer 4. The lymphatic collectors were found at layer 2c and layer 4. The use of consistent nomenclature to describe the subcutaneous tissue layers facilitates a greater understanding and discussion of the anatomy. In lymphovenous anastomosis for the treatment of lymphedema, indocyanine green lymphography is an unreliable method for identification of the superficial collectors of the thigh. The medial proximal leg, the dorsum of the wrist over the anatomical snuffbox, and the volar proximal forearm provide suitable areas for locating superficial collectors with nearby matching size veins. In vertical medial thigh lift, choosing a dissection plane superficial to the great saphenous vein is unlikely to preserve the collectors of the ventromedial bundle.
Low level perceptual, not attentional, processes modulate distractor interference in high perceptual load displays: evidence from neglect/extinction.

Science.gov (United States)

Mevorach, Carmel; Tsal, Yehoshua; Humphreys, Glyn W

2014-01-10

According to perceptual load theory (Lavie, 2005) distractor interference is determined by the availability of attentional resources. If target processing does not exhaust resources (with low perceptual load) distractor processing will take place resulting in interference with a primary task; however, when target processing uses-up attentional capacity (with high perceptual load) interference can be avoided. An alternative account (Tsal and Benoni, 2010a) suggests that perceptual load effects can be based on distractor dilution by the mere presence of additional neutral items in high-load displays so that the effect is not driven by the amount of attention resources required for target processing. Here we tested whether patients with unilateral neglect or extinction would show dilution effects from neutral items in their contralesional (neglected/extinguished) field, even though these items do not impose increased perceptual load on the target and at the same time attract reduced attentional resources compared to stimuli in the ipsilesional field. Thus, such items do not affect the amount of attention resources available for distractor processing. We found that contralesional neutral elements can eliminate distractor interference as strongly as centrally presented ones in neglect/extinction patients, despite contralesional items being less well attended. The data are consistent with an account in terms of perceptual dilution of distracters rather than available resources for distractor processing. We conclude that distractor dilution can underlie the elimination of distractor interference in visual displays.

Low level perceptual, not attentional, processes modulate distractor interference in high perceptual Load displays: evidence from neglect/extinction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmel eMevorach

2014-01-01

Full Text Available According to perceptual load theory (Lavie, 2005 distractor interference is determined by the availability of attentional resources. If target processing does not exhaust resources (with low perceptual load distractor processing will take place resulting in interference with a primary task; however when target processing uses-up attentional capacity (with high perceptual load interference can be avoided. An alternative account (Tsal & Benoni, 2010 suggests that perceptual load effects can be based on distractor dilution by the mere presence of additional neutral items in high load displays so that the effect is not driven by the amount of attention resources required for target processing. Here we tested whether patients with unilateral neglect or extinction would show dilution effects from neutral items in their contralesional (neglected/extinguished field, even though these items do not impose increased perceptual load on the target and at the same time attract reduced attentional resources compared to stimuli in the ipsilesional field. Thus, such items do not affect the amount of attention resources available for distractor processing. We found that contralesional neutral elements can eliminate distractor interference as strongly as centrally presented ones in neglect/extinction patients, despite contralesional items being less well attended. The data are consistent with an account in terms of perceptual dilution of distracters rather than available resources for distractor processing. We conclude that distractor dilution can underlie the elimination of distractor interference in visual displays.
Functional consequences of experience-dependent plasticity on tactile perception following perceptual learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Trzcinski, Natalie K; Gomez-Ramirez, Manuel; Hsiao, Steven S

2016-09-01

Continuous training enhances perceptual discrimination and promotes neural changes in areas encoding the experienced stimuli. This type of experience-dependent plasticity has been demonstrated in several sensory and motor systems. Particularly, non-human primates trained to detect consecutive tactile bar indentations across multiple digits showed expanded excitatory receptive fields (RFs) in somatosensory cortex. However, the perceptual implications of these anatomical changes remain undetermined. Here, we trained human participants for 9 days on a tactile task that promoted expansion of multi-digit RFs. Participants were required to detect consecutive indentations of bar stimuli spanning multiple digits. Throughout the training regime we tracked participants' discrimination thresholds on spatial (grating orientation) and temporal tasks on the trained and untrained hands in separate sessions. We hypothesized that training on the multi-digit task would decrease perceptual thresholds on tasks that require stimulus processing across multiple digits, while also increasing thresholds on tasks requiring discrimination on single digits. We observed an increase in orientation thresholds on a single digit. Importantly, this effect was selective for the stimulus orientation and hand used during multi-digit training. We also found that temporal acuity between digits improved across trained digits, suggesting that discriminating the temporal order of multi-digit stimuli can transfer to temporal discrimination of other tactile stimuli. These results suggest that experience-dependent plasticity following perceptual learning improves and interferes with tactile abilities in manners predictive of the task and stimulus features used during training. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Neural plasticity underlying visual perceptual learning in aging.

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Mishra, Jyoti; Rolle, Camarin; Gazzaley, Adam

2015-07-01

Healthy aging is associated with a decline in basic perceptual abilities, as well as higher-level cognitive functions such as working memory. In a recent perceptual training study using moving sweeps of Gabor stimuli, Berry et al. (2010) observed that older adults significantly improved discrimination abilities on the most challenging perceptual tasks that presented paired sweeps at rapid rates of 5 and 10 Hz. Berry et al. further showed that this perceptual training engendered transfer-of-benefit to an untrained working memory task. Here, we investigated the neural underpinnings of the improvements in these perceptual tasks, as assessed by event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Early visual ERP components time-locked to stimulus onset were compared pre- and post-training, as well as relative to a no-contact control group. The visual N1 and N2 components were significantly enhanced after training, and the N1 change correlated with improvements in perceptual discrimination on the task. Further, the change observed for the N1 and N2 was associated with the rapidity of the perceptual challenge; the visual N1 (120-150 ms) was enhanced post-training for 10 Hz sweep pairs, while the N2 (240-280 ms) was enhanced for the 5 Hz sweep pairs. We speculate that these observed post-training neural enhancements reflect improvements by older adults in the allocation of attention that is required to accurately dissociate perceptually overlapping stimuli when presented in rapid sequence. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Memory Å. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Social network extraction based on Web: 1. Related superficial methods

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Khairuddin Matyuso Nasution, Mahyuddin

2018-01-01

Often the nature of something affects methods to resolve the related issues about it. Likewise, methods to extract social networks from the Web, but involve the structured data types differently. This paper reveals several methods of social network extraction from the same sources that is Web: the basic superficial method, the underlying superficial method, the description superficial method, and the related superficial methods. In complexity we derive the inequalities between methods and so are their computations. In this case, we find that different results from the same tools make the difference from the more complex to the simpler: Extraction of social network by involving co-occurrence is more complex than using occurrences.
Competition explains limited attention and perceptual resources: implications for perceptual load and dilution theories.

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Scalf, Paige E; Torralbo, Ana; Tapia, Evelina; Beck, Diane M

2013-01-01

Both perceptual load theory and dilution theory purport to explain when and why task-irrelevant information, or so-called distractors are processed. Central to both explanations is the notion of limited resources, although the theories differ in the precise way in which those limitations affect distractor processing. We have recently proposed a neurally plausible explanation of limited resources in which neural competition among stimuli hinders their representation in the brain. This view of limited capacity can also explain distractor processing, whereby the competitive interactions and bias imposed to resolve the competition determine the extent to which a distractor is processed. This idea is compatible with aspects of both perceptual load and dilution models of distractor processing, but also serves to highlight their differences. Here we review the evidence in favor of a biased competition view of limited resources and relate these ideas to both classic perceptual load theory and dilution theory.
[Superficial venous thrombosis. A state of art].

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Sándor, Tamás

2017-01-01

For a long time superficial thrombophlebitis has been thought to be a rather benign condition. Recently, when duplex ultrasound technique is used for the diagnosis more and more often, the disease is proved to be more dangerous than anticipated. Thrombosis propagates to the deep veins in 6-44% and pulmonary embolism was observed on the patients in 1,5-33%. We can calculate venous thromboembolic complications on every fourth patient. Diagnosis is clinical, but duplex ultrasound examination is mandatory, for estimation of the thrombus extent, for exclusion of the deep venous thrombosis and for follow up. Both legs should be checked with ultrasound, because simultaneous deep venous thrombosis can develop on the contralateral limb. Two different forms can be distinguished: superficial venous thrombosis with, or without varicose veins. In cases of spontaneous, non varicous form, especially when the process is migrating or recurrent, a careful clinical examination is necessery for exclusion of malignant diseases and thrombophilia. The treatment options are summarised on the basis of recent international consensus statements. The American and German guidelines are similar. Compression and mobilisation are cornerstones of the therapy. For a short segment thrombosis non steroidal antiinflammatory drugs are effective. For longer segments low molecular-weight heparins are preferred. Information on the effect of the novel oral anticoagulants for the therapy is lacking but they may appear to be effective in the future for this indication. When thrombus is close to the sapheno-femoral or sapheno-popliteal junction crossectomy (high ligation), or low molecular-weight heparin in therapeutic doses are indicated. The term superficial thrombophlebitis should be discouraged, because inflammation and infection is not the primary pathology. It should be called correctly superficial venous thrombosis in order to avoid the unnecessary administration of antibiotics and the misconception
Shared mechanisms of perceptual learning and decision making.

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Law, Chi-Tat; Gold, Joshua I

2010-04-01

Perceptual decisions require the brain to weigh noisy evidence from sensory neurons to form categorical judgments that guide behavior. Here we review behavioral and neurophysiological findings suggesting that at least some forms of perceptual learning do not appear to affect the response properties of neurons that represent the sensory evidence. Instead, improved perceptual performance results from changes in how the sensory evidence is selected and weighed to form the decision. We discuss the implications of this idea for possible sites and mechanisms of training-induced improvements in perceptual processing in the brain. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.
The perceptual flow of phonetic feature processing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greenberg, Steven; Christiansen, Thomas Ulrich

2008-01-01

How does the brain process spoken language? It is our thesis that word intelligibility and consonant identification are insufficient by themselves to model how the speech signal is decoded - a finer-grained approach is required. In this study, listeners identified 11 different Danish consonants....... This asymmetric pattern of feature decoding may provide extra-segmental information of utility for speech processing, particularly in adverse listening conditions....... spoken in a Consonant + Vowel + [l] environment. Each syllable was processed so that only a portion of the original audio spectrum was present. Three-quarter-octave bands of speech, centered at 750, 1500, and 3000 Hz, were presented individually and in combination with each other. The conditional...
Graphemes Sharing Phonetic Features Tend to Induce Similar Synesthetic Colors

OpenAIRE

Kang, Mi-Jeong; Kim, Yeseul; Shin, Ji-Young; Kim, Chai-Youn

2017-01-01

Individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia experience idiosyncratic colors when viewing achromatic letters or digits. Despite large individual differences in grapheme-color association, synesthetes tend to associate graphemes sharing a perceptual feature with similar synesthetic colors. Sound has been suggested as one such feature. In the present study, we investigated whether graphemes of which representative phonemes have similar phonetic features tend to be associated with analogous synes...
Perceptual Bias and Loudness Change: An Investigation of Memory, Masking, and Psychophysiology

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Olsen, Kirk N.

Loudness is a fundamental aspect of human auditory perception that is closely associated with a sound's physical acoustic intensity. The dynamic quality of intensity change is an inherent acoustic feature in real-world listening domains such as speech and music. However, perception of loudness change in response to continuous intensity increases (up-ramps) and decreases (down-ramps) has received relatively little empirical investigation. Overestimation of loudness change in response to up-ramps is said to be linked to an adaptive survival response associated with looming (or approaching) motion in the environment. The hypothesised 'perceptual bias' to looming auditory motion suggests why perceptual overestimation of up-ramps may occur; however it does not offer a causal explanation. It is concluded that post-stimulus judgements of perceived loudness change are significantly affected by a cognitive recency response bias that, until now, has been an artefact of experimental procedure. Perceptual end-level differences caused by duration specific sensory adaptation at peripheral and/or central stages of auditory processing may explain differences in post-stimulus judgements of loudness change. Experiments that investigate human responses to acoustic intensity dynamics, encompassing topics from basic auditory psychophysics (e.g., sensory adaptation) to cognitive-emotional appraisal of increasingly complex stimulus events such as music and auditory warnings, are proposed for future research.
Cortical Surround Interactions and Perceptual Salience via Natural Scene Statistics.

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Ruben Coen-Cagli

Full Text Available Spatial context in images induces perceptual phenomena associated with salience and modulates the responses of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1. However, the computational and ecological principles underlying contextual effects are incompletely understood. We introduce a model of natural images that includes grouping and segmentation of neighboring features based on their joint statistics, and we interpret the firing rates of V1 neurons as performing optimal recognition in this model. We show that this leads to a substantial generalization of divisive normalization, a computation that is ubiquitous in many neural areas and systems. A main novelty in our model is that the influence of the context on a target stimulus is determined by their degree of statistical dependence. We optimized the parameters of the model on natural image patches, and then simulated neural and perceptual responses on stimuli used in classical experiments. The model reproduces some rich and complex response patterns observed in V1, such as the contrast dependence, orientation tuning and spatial asymmetry of surround suppression, while also allowing for surround facilitation under conditions of weak stimulation. It also mimics the perceptual salience produced by simple displays, and leads to readily testable predictions. Our results provide a principled account of orientation-based contextual modulation in early vision and its sensitivity to the homogeneity and spatial arrangement of inputs, and lends statistical support to the theory that V1 computes visual salience.
A Perceptually Reweighted Mixed-Norm Method for Sparse Approximation of Audio Signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Mads Græsbøll; Sturm, Bob L.

2011-01-01

using standard software. A prominent feature of the new method is that it solves a problem that is closely related to the objective of coding, namely rate-distortion optimization. In computer simulations, we demonstrate the properties of the algorithm and its application to real audio signals.......In this paper, we consider the problem of finding sparse representations of audio signals for coding purposes. In doing so, it is of utmost importance that when only a subset of the present components of an audio signal are extracted, it is the perceptually most important ones. To this end, we...... propose a new iterative algorithm based on two principles: 1) a reweighted l1-norm based measure of sparsity; and 2) a reweighted l2-norm based measure of perceptual distortion. Using these measures, the considered problem is posed as a constrained convex optimization problem that can be solved optimally...
Competition explains limited attention and perceptual resources: implications for perceptual load and dilution theories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paige E. Scalf

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Both perceptual load theory and dilution theory purport to explain when and why task-irrelevant information, or so-called distractors are processed. Central to both explanations is the notion of limited resources, although the theories differ in the precise way in which those limitations affect distractor processing. We have recently proposed a neurally plausible explanation of limited resources in which neural competition among stimuli hinders their representation in the brain. This view of limited capacity can also explain distractor processing, whereby the competitive interactions and bias imposed to resolve the competition determine the extent to which a distractor is processed. This idea is compatible with aspects of both perceptual load and dilution models of distractor processing, but also serves to highlight their differences. Here we review the evidence in favor of a biased competition view of limited resources and relate these ideas to both classic perceptual load theory and dilution theory.
The effects of attention on perceptual implicit memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajaram, S; Srinivas, K; Travers, S

2001-10-01

Reports on the effects of dividing attention at study on subsequent perceptual priming suggest that perceptual priming is generally unaffected by attentional manipulations as long as word identity is processed. We tested this hypothesis in three experiments by using the implicit word fragment completion and word stem completion tasks. Division of attention was instantiated with the Stroop task in order to ensure the processing of word identity even when the participant's attention was directed to a stimulus attribute other than the word itself. Under these conditions, we found that even though perceptual priming was significant, it was significantly reduced in magnitude. A stem cued recall test in Experiment 2 confirmed a more deleterious effect of divided attention on explicit memory. Taken together, our findings delineate the relative contributions of perceptual analysis and attentional processes in mediating perceptual priming on two ubiquitously used tasks of word fragment completion and word stem completion.
The DiaNAH test battery for visual perceptual disorders : Validity and efficacy in rehabilitation practice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heutink, Jochem; de Vries, Stefanie; Melis, Bart; Vrijling, Anne; Tucha, Oliver

2018-01-01

We developed the DiaNAH test battery for the screening of mid-level and higher-order visual perceptual disorders in clinical practice. The DiaNAH battery comprises 11 different tests and can be administered in 30-60 minutes. Important feature of the DiaNAH battery is that it is administered on a 24”
A Residential Area Extraction Method for High Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery by Using Visual Saliency and Perceptual Organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHEN Yixiang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Inspired by human visual cognitive mechanism,a method of residential area extraction from high-resolution remote sensing images was proposed based on visual saliency and perceptual organization. Firstly,the data field theory of cognitive physics was introduced to model the visual saliency and the candidate residential areas were produced by adaptive thresholding. Then,the exact residential areas were obtained and refined by perceptual organization based on the high-frequency features of multi-scale wavelet transform. Finally,the validity of the proposed method was verified by experiments conducted on ZY-3 and Quickbird image data sets.
Major Superficial White Matter Abnormalities in Huntington's Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Owen R.; Joshi, Shantanu H.; Squitieri, Ferdinando; Sanchez-Castaneda, Cristina; Narr, Katherine; Shattuck, David W.; Caltagirone, Carlo; Sabatini, Umberto; Di Paola, Margherita

2016-01-01

Background: The late myelinating superficial white matter at the juncture of the cortical gray and white matter comprising the intracortical myelin and short-range association fibers has not received attention in Huntington's disease. It is an area of the brain that is late myelinating and is sensitive to both normal aging and neurodegenerative disease effects. Therefore, it may be sensitive to Huntington's disease processes. Methods: Structural MRI data from 25 Pre-symptomatic subjects, 24 Huntington's disease patients and 49 healthy controls was run through a cortical pattern-matching program. The surface corresponding to the white matter directly below the cortical gray matter was then extracted. Individual subject's Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data was aligned to their structural MRI data. Diffusivity values along the white matter surface were then sampled at each vertex point. DTI measures with high spatial resolution across the superficial white matter surface were then analyzed with the General Linear Model to test for the effects of disease. Results: There was an overall increase in the axial and radial diffusivity across much of the superficial white matter (p < 0.001) in Pre-symptomatic subjects compared to controls. In Huntington's disease patients increased diffusivity covered essentially the whole brain (p < 0.001). Changes are correlated with genotype (CAG repeat number) and disease burden (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study showed broad abnormalities in superficial white matter even before symptoms are present in Huntington's disease. Since, the superficial white matter has a unique microstructure and function these abnormalities suggest it plays an important role in the disease. PMID:27242403
Perceptual Space of Superimposed Dual-Frequency Vibrations in the Hands.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Inwook; Seo, Jeongil; Choi, Seungmoon

2017-01-01

The use of distinguishable complex vibrations that have multiple spectral components can improve the transfer of information by vibrotactile interfaces. We investigated the qualitative characteristics of dual-frequency vibrations as the simplest complex vibrations compared to single-frequency vibrations. Two psychophysical experiments were conducted to elucidate the perceptual characteristics of these vibrations by measuring the perceptual distances among single-frequency and dual-frequency vibrations. The perceptual distances of dual-frequency vibrations between their two frequency components along their relative intensity ratio were measured in Experiment I. The estimated perceptual spaces for three frequency conditions showed non-linear perceptual differences between the dual-frequency and single-frequency vibrations. A perceptual space was estimated from the measured perceptual distances among ten dual-frequency compositions and five single-frequency vibrations in Experiment II. The effect of the component frequency and the frequency ratio was revealed in the perceptual space. In a percept of dual-frequency vibration, the lower frequency component showed a dominant effect. Additionally, the perceptual difference among single-frequency and dual-frequency vibrations were increased with a low relative difference between two frequencies of a dual-frequency vibration. These results are expected to provide a fundamental understanding about the perception of complex vibrations to enrich the transfer of information using vibrotactile stimuli.
Iterative perceptual learning for social behavior synthesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Kok, I.A.; Poppe, Ronald Walter; Heylen, Dirk K.J.

We introduce Iterative Perceptual Learning (IPL), a novel approach to learn computational models for social behavior synthesis from corpora of human–human interactions. IPL combines perceptual evaluation with iterative model refinement. Human observers rate the appropriateness of synthesized
Perceptual load interacts with stimulus processing across sensory modalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Klemen, J; Büchel, C; Rose, M

2009-06-01

According to perceptual load theory, processing of task-irrelevant stimuli is limited by the perceptual load of a parallel attended task if both the task and the irrelevant stimuli are presented to the same sensory modality. However, it remains a matter of debate whether the same principles apply to cross-sensory perceptual load and, more generally, what form cross-sensory attentional modulation in early perceptual areas takes in humans. Here we addressed these questions using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants undertook an auditory one-back working memory task of low or high perceptual load, while concurrently viewing task-irrelevant images at one of three object visibility levels. The processing of the visual and auditory stimuli was measured in the lateral occipital cortex (LOC) and auditory cortex (AC), respectively. Cross-sensory interference with sensory processing was observed in both the LOC and AC, in accordance with previous results of unisensory perceptual load studies. The present neuroimaging results therefore warrant the extension of perceptual load theory from a unisensory to a cross-sensory context: a validation of this cross-sensory interference effect through behavioural measures would consolidate the findings.

Effects of perceptual and semantic cues on ERP modulations associated with prospective memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Cousens, Ross; Cutmore, Timothy; Wang, Ya; Wilson, Jennifer; Chan, Raymond C K; Shum, David H K

2015-10-01

Prospective memory involves the formation and execution of intended actions and is essential for autonomous living. In this study (N=32), the effect of the nature of PM cues (semantic versus perceptual) on established event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited in PM tasks (N300 and prospective positivity) was investigated. PM cues defined by their perceptual features clearly elicited the N300 and prospective positivity whereas PM cues defined by semantic relatedness elicited prospective positivity. This calls into question the view that the N300 is a marker of general processes underlying detection of PM cues, but supports existing research showing that prospective positivity represents general post-retrieval processes that follow detection of PM cues. Continued refinement of ERP paradigms for understanding the neural correlates of PM is needed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Accurate expectancies diminish perceptual distraction during visual search

Science.gov (United States)

Sy, Jocelyn L.; Guerin, Scott A.; Stegman, Anna; Giesbrecht, Barry

2014-01-01

The load theory of visual attention proposes that efficient selective perceptual processing of task-relevant information during search is determined automatically by the perceptual demands of the display. If the perceptual demands required to process task-relevant information are not enough to consume all available capacity, then the remaining capacity automatically and exhaustively “spills-over” to task-irrelevant information. The spill-over of perceptual processing capacity increases the likelihood that task-irrelevant information will impair performance. In two visual search experiments, we tested the automaticity of the allocation of perceptual processing resources by measuring the extent to which the processing of task-irrelevant distracting stimuli was modulated by both perceptual load and top-down expectations using behavior, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and electrophysiology. Expectations were generated using a trial-by-trial cue that provided information about the likely load of the upcoming visual search task. When the cues were valid, behavioral interference was eliminated and the influence of load on frontoparietal and visual cortical responses was attenuated relative to when the cues were invalid. In conditions in which task-irrelevant information interfered with performance and modulated visual activity, individual differences in mean blood oxygenation level dependent responses measured from the left intraparietal sulcus were negatively correlated with individual differences in the severity of distraction. These results are consistent with the interpretation that a top-down biasing mechanism interacts with perceptual load to support filtering of task-irrelevant information. PMID:24904374
Accurate expectancies diminish perceptual distraction during visual search

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jocelyn L Sy

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The load theory of visual attention proposes that efficient selective perceptual processing of task-relevant information during search is determined automatically by the perceptual demands of the display. If the perceptual demands required to process task-relevant information are not enough to consume all available capacity, then the remaining capacity automatically and exhaustively spills-over to task-irrelevant information. The spill-over of perceptual processing capacity increases the likelihood that task-irrelevant information will impair performance. In two visual search experiments, we tested the automaticity of the allocation of perceptual processing resources by measuring the extent to which the processing of task-irrelevant distracting stimuli was modulated by both perceptual load and top-down expectations using behavior, fMRI, and electrophysiology. Expectations were generated by a trial-by-trial cue that provided information about the likely load of the upcoming visual search task. When the cues were valid, behavioral interference was eliminated and the influence of load on frontoparietal and visual cortical responses was attenuated relative to when the cues were invalid. In conditions in which task-irrelevant information interfered with performance and modulated visual activity, individual differences in mean BOLD responses measured from the left intraparietal sulcus were negatively correlated with individual differences in the severity of distraction. These results are consistent with the interpretation that a top-down biasing mechanism interacts with perceptual load to support filtering of task-irrelevant information.
Perceptual incongruence influences bistability and cortical activation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brouwer, G.J.; Tong, F.; Hagoort, P.; van Ee, R.

2009-01-01

We employed a parametric psychophysical design in combination with functional imaging to examine the influence of metric changes in perceptual incongruence on perceptual alternation rates and cortical responses. Subjects viewed a bistable stimulus defined by incongruent depth cues; bistability
Iterative Perceptual Learning for Social Behavior Synthesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Kok, I.A.; Poppe, Ronald Walter; Heylen, Dirk K.J.

We introduce Iterative Perceptual Learning (IPL), a novel approach for learning computational models for social behavior synthesis from corpora of human-human interactions. The IPL approach combines perceptual evaluation with iterative model refinement. Human observers rate the appropriateness of
Working memory templates are maintained as feature-specific perceptual codes.

Science.gov (United States)

Sreenivasan, Kartik K; Sambhara, Deepak; Jha, Amishi P

2011-07-01

Working memory (WM) representations serve as templates that guide behavior, but the neural basis of these templates remains elusive. We tested the hypothesis that WM templates are maintained by biasing activity in sensoriperceptual neurons that code for features of items being held in memory. Neural activity was recorded using event-related potentials (ERPs) as participants viewed a series of faces and responded when a face matched a target face held in WM. Our prediction was that if activity in neurons coding for the features of the target is preferentially weighted during maintenance of the target, then ERP activity evoked by a nontarget probe face should be commensurate with the visual similarity between target and probe. Visual similarity was operationalized as the degree of overlap in visual features between target and probe. A face-sensitive ERP response was modulated by target-probe similarity. Amplitude was largest for probes that were similar to the target, and decreased monotonically as a function of decreasing target-probe similarity. These results indicate that neural activity is weighted in favor of visual features that comprise an actively held memory representation. As such, our findings support the notion that WM templates rely on neural populations involved in forming percepts of memory items.
Caudate nucleus reactivity predicts perceptual learning rate for visual feature conjunctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Reavis, Eric A; Frank, Sebastian M; Tse, Peter U

2015-04-15

Useful information in the visual environment is often contained in specific conjunctions of visual features (e.g., color and shape). The ability to quickly and accurately process such conjunctions can be learned. However, the neural mechanisms responsible for such learning remain largely unknown. It has been suggested that some forms of visual learning might involve the dopaminergic neuromodulatory system (Roelfsema et al., 2010; Seitz and Watanabe, 2005), but this hypothesis has not yet been directly tested. Here we test the hypothesis that learning visual feature conjunctions involves the dopaminergic system, using functional neuroimaging, genetic assays, and behavioral testing techniques. We use a correlative approach to evaluate potential associations between individual differences in visual feature conjunction learning rate and individual differences in dopaminergic function as indexed by neuroimaging and genetic markers. We find a significant correlation between activity in the caudate nucleus (a component of the dopaminergic system connected to visual areas of the brain) and visual feature conjunction learning rate. Specifically, individuals who showed a larger difference in activity between positive and negative feedback on an unrelated cognitive task, indicative of a more reactive dopaminergic system, learned visual feature conjunctions more quickly than those who showed a smaller activity difference. This finding supports the hypothesis that the dopaminergic system is involved in visual learning, and suggests that visual feature conjunction learning could be closely related to associative learning. However, no significant, reliable correlations were found between feature conjunction learning and genotype or dopaminergic activity in any other regions of interest. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Basic perceptual changes that alter meaning and neural correlates of recognition memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Chuanji; Hermiller, Molly S; Voss, Joel L; Guo, Chunyan

2015-01-01

It is difficult to pinpoint the border between perceptual and conceptual processing, despite their treatment as distinct entities in many studies of recognition memory. For instance, alteration of simple perceptual characteristics of a stimulus can radically change meaning, such as the color of bread changing from white to green. We sought to better understand the role of perceptual and conceptual processing in memory by identifying the effects of changing a basic perceptual feature (color) on behavioral and neural correlates of memory in circumstances when this change would be expected to either change the meaning of a stimulus or to have no effect on meaning (i.e., to influence conceptual processing or not). Abstract visual shapes ("squiggles") were colorized during study and presented during test in either the same color or a different color. Those squiggles that subjects found to resemble meaningful objects supported behavioral measures of conceptual priming, whereas meaningless squiggles did not. Further, changing color from study to test had a selective effect on behavioral correlates of priming for meaningful squiggles, indicating that color change altered conceptual processing. During a recognition memory test, color change altered event-related brain potential (ERP) correlates of memory for meaningful squiggles but not for meaningless squiggles. Specifically, color change reduced the amplitude of frontally distributed N400 potentials (FN400), implying that these potentials indicated conceptual processing during recognition memory that was sensitive to color change. In contrast, color change had no effect on FN400 correlates of recognition for meaningless squiggles, which were overall smaller in amplitude than for meaningful squiggles (further indicating that these potentials signal conceptual processing during recognition). Thus, merely changing the color of abstract visual shapes can alter their meaning, changing behavioral and neural correlates of memory
Perceptual load-dependent neural correlates of distractor interference inhibition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiansong Xu

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The load theory of selective attention hypothesizes that distractor interference is suppressed after perceptual processing (i.e., in the later stage of central processing at low perceptual load of the central task, but in the early stage of perceptual processing at high perceptual load. Consistently, studies on the neural correlates of attention have found a smaller distractor-related activation in the sensory cortex at high relative to low perceptual load. However, it is not clear whether the distractor-related activation in brain regions linked to later stages of central processing (e.g., in the frontostriatal circuits is also smaller at high rather than low perceptual load, as might be predicted based on the load theory.We studied 24 healthy participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI during a visual target identification task with two perceptual loads (low vs. high. Participants showed distractor-related increases in activation in the midbrain, striatum, occipital and medial and lateral prefrontal cortices at low load, but distractor-related decreases in activation in the midbrain ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra (VTA/SN, striatum, thalamus, and extensive sensory cortices at high load.Multiple levels of central processing involving midbrain and frontostriatal circuits participate in suppressing distractor interference at either low or high perceptual load. For suppressing distractor interference, the processing of sensory inputs in both early and late stages of central processing are enhanced at low load but inhibited at high load.
Perceptual load-dependent neural correlates of distractor interference inhibition.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Jiansong; Monterosso, John; Kober, Hedy; Balodis, Iris M; Potenza, Marc N

2011-01-18

The load theory of selective attention hypothesizes that distractor interference is suppressed after perceptual processing (i.e., in the later stage of central processing) at low perceptual load of the central task, but in the early stage of perceptual processing at high perceptual load. Consistently, studies on the neural correlates of attention have found a smaller distractor-related activation in the sensory cortex at high relative to low perceptual load. However, it is not clear whether the distractor-related activation in brain regions linked to later stages of central processing (e.g., in the frontostriatal circuits) is also smaller at high rather than low perceptual load, as might be predicted based on the load theory. We studied 24 healthy participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a visual target identification task with two perceptual loads (low vs. high). Participants showed distractor-related increases in activation in the midbrain, striatum, occipital and medial and lateral prefrontal cortices at low load, but distractor-related decreases in activation in the midbrain ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra (VTA/SN), striatum, thalamus, and extensive sensory cortices at high load. Multiple levels of central processing involving midbrain and frontostriatal circuits participate in suppressing distractor interference at either low or high perceptual load. For suppressing distractor interference, the processing of sensory inputs in both early and late stages of central processing are enhanced at low load but inhibited at high load.
Perceptual load corresponds with factors known to influence visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Roper, Zachary J J; Cosman, Joshua D; Vecera, Shaun P

2013-10-01

One account of the early versus late selection debate in attention proposes that perceptual load determines the locus of selection. Attention selects stimuli at a late processing level under low-load conditions but selects stimuli at an early level under high-load conditions. Despite the successes of perceptual load theory, a noncircular definition of perceptual load remains elusive. We investigated the factors that influence perceptual load by using manipulations that have been studied extensively in visual search, namely target-distractor similarity and distractor-distractor similarity. Consistent with previous work, search was most efficient when targets and distractors were dissimilar and the displays contained homogeneous distractors; search became less efficient when target-distractor similarity increased irrespective of display heterogeneity. Importantly, we used these same stimuli in a typical perceptual load task that measured attentional spillover to a task-irrelevant flanker. We found a strong correspondence between search efficiency and perceptual load; stimuli that generated efficient searches produced flanker interference effects, suggesting that such displays involved low perceptual load. Flanker interference effects were reduced in displays that produced less efficient searches. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that search difficulty, as measured by search intercept, has little bearing on perceptual load. We conclude that rather than be arbitrarily defined, perceptual load might be defined by well-characterized, continuous factors that influence visual search. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.
Superficial or deep implantation of motor nerve after denervation: an experimental study--superficial or deep implantation of motor nerve.

Science.gov (United States)

Askar, Ibrahím; Sabuncuoglu, Bízden Tavíl

2002-01-01

Neurorraphy, conventional nerve grafting technique, and artificial nerve conduits are not enough for repair in severe injuries of peripheral nerves, especially when there is separation of motor nerve from muscle tissue. In these nerve injuries, reinnervation is indicated for neurotization. The distal end of a peripheral nerve is divided into fascicles and implanted into the aneural zone of target muscle tissue. It is not known how deeply fascicles should be implanted into muscle tissue. A comparative study of superficial and deep implantation of separated motor nerve into muscle tissue is presented in the gastrocnemius muscle of rabbits. In this experimental study, 30 white New Zealand rabbits were used and divided into 3 groups of 10 rabbits each. In the first group (controls, group I), only surgical exposure of the gastrocnemius muscle and motor nerve (tibial nerve) was done without any injury to nerves. In the superficial implantation group (group II), tibial nerves were separated and divided into their own fascicles. These fascicles were implanted superficially into the lateral head of gastrocnemius muscle-aneural zone. In the deep implantation group (group III), the tibial nerves were separated and divided into their own fascicles. These fascicles were implanted around the center of the muscle mass, into the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle-aneural zone. Six months later, histopathological changes and functional recovery of the gastrocnemius muscle were investigated. Both experimental groups had less muscular weight than in the control group. It was found that functional recovery was achieved in both experimental groups, and was better in the superficial implantation group than the deep implantation group. EMG recordings revealed that polyphasic and late potentials were frequently seen in both experimental groups. Degeneration and regeneration of myofibrils were observed in both experimental groups. New motor end-plates were formed in a scattered
Chromatic Perceptual Learning but No Category Effects without Linguistic Input.

Science.gov (United States)

Grandison, Alexandra; Sowden, Paul T; Drivonikou, Vicky G; Notman, Leslie A; Alexander, Iona; Davies, Ian R L

2016-01-01

Perceptual learning involves an improvement in perceptual judgment with practice, which is often specific to stimulus or task factors. Perceptual learning has been shown on a range of visual tasks but very little research has explored chromatic perceptual learning. Here, we use two low level perceptual threshold tasks and a supra-threshold target detection task to assess chromatic perceptual learning and category effects. Experiment 1 investigates whether chromatic thresholds reduce as a result of training and at what level of analysis learning effects occur. Experiment 2 explores the effect of category training on chromatic thresholds, whether training of this nature is category specific and whether it can induce categorical responding. Experiment 3 investigates the effect of category training on a higher level, lateralized target detection task, previously found to be sensitive to category effects. The findings indicate that performance on a perceptual threshold task improves following training but improvements do not transfer across retinal location or hue. Therefore, chromatic perceptual learning is category specific and can occur at relatively early stages of visual analysis. Additionally, category training does not induce category effects on a low level perceptual threshold task, as indicated by comparable discrimination thresholds at the newly learned hue boundary and adjacent test points. However, category training does induce emerging category effects on a supra-threshold target detection task. Whilst chromatic perceptual learning is possible, learnt category effects appear to be a product of left hemisphere processing, and may require the input of higher level linguistic coding processes in order to manifest.
Perceptual Grouping via Untangling Gestalt Principles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qi, Yonggang; Guo, Jun; Li, Yi

2013-01-01

the importance of Gestalt rules by solving a learning to rank problem, and formulate a multi-label graph-cuts algo- rithm to group image primitives while taking into account the learned Gestalt confliction. Our experiment results confirm the existence of Gestalt confliction in perceptual grouping and demonstrate...... confliction, i.e., the relative importance of each rule compared with another, remains unsolved. In this paper, we investigate the problem of perceptual grouping by quantifying the confliction among three commonly used rules: similarity, continuity and proximity. More specifically, we propose to quantify...... an improved performance when such a conflic- tion is accounted for via the proposed grouping algorithm. Finally, a novel cross domain image classification method is proposed by exploiting perceptual grouping as representation....
Auditory perceptual load: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Sandra; Spence, Charles; Dalton, Polly

2017-09-01

Selective attention is a crucial mechanism in everyday life, allowing us to focus on a portion of incoming sensory information at the expense of other less relevant stimuli. The circumstances under which irrelevant stimuli are successfully ignored have been a topic of scientific interest for several decades now. Over the last 20 years, the perceptual load theory (e.g. Lavie, 1995) has provided one robust framework for understanding these effects within the visual modality. The suggestion is that successful selection depends on the perceptual demands imposed by the task-relevant information. However, less research has addressed the question of whether the same principles hold in audition and, to date, the existing literature provides a mixed picture. Here, we review the evidence for and against the applicability of perceptual load theory in hearing, concluding that this question still awaits resolution. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Gaze-contingent training enhances perceptual skill acquisition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mann, D.L.; Ryu, D.; Abernethy, B.A.; Poolton, J.M.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether decision-making skill in perceptual-cognitive tasks could be enhanced using a training technique that impaired selective areas of the visual field. Recreational basketball players performed perceptual training over 3 days while viewing with a
Associative (prosop)agnosia without (apparent) perceptual deficits: a case-study.

Science.gov (United States)

Anaki, David; Kaufman, Yakir; Freedman, Morris; Moscovitch, Morris

2007-04-09

In associative agnosia early perceptual processing of faces or objects are considered to be intact, while the ability to access stored semantic information about the individual face or object is impaired. Recent claims, however, have asserted that associative agnosia is also characterized by deficits at the perceptual level, which are too subtle to be detected by current neuropsychological tests. Thus, the impaired identification of famous faces or common objects in associative agnosia stems from difficulties in extracting the minute perceptual details required to identify a face or an object. In the present study, we report the case of a patient DBO with a left occipital infarct, who shows impaired object and famous face recognition. Despite his disability, he exhibits a face inversion effect, and is able to select a famous face from among non-famous distractors. In addition, his performance is normal in an immediate and delayed recognition memory for faces, whose external features were deleted. His deficits in face recognition are apparent only when he is required to name a famous face, or select two faces from among a triad of famous figures based on their semantic relationships (a task which does not require access to names). The nature of his deficits in object perception and recognition are similar to his impairments in the face domain. This pattern of behavior supports the notion that apperceptive and associative agnosia reflect distinct and dissociated deficits, which result from damage to different stages of the face and object recognition process.
Sexual affordances, perceptual-motor invariance extraction and intentional nonlinear dynamics: sexually deviant and non-deviant patterns in male subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Renaud, Patrice; Goyette, Mathieu; Chartier, Sylvain; Zhornitski, Simon; Trottier, Dominique; Rouleau, Joanne-L; Proulx, Jean; Fedoroff, Paul; Bradford, John-P; Dassylva, Benoit; Bouchard, Stephane

2010-10-01

Sexual arousal and gaze behavior dynamics are used to characterize deviant sexual interests in male subjects. Pedophile patients and non-deviant subjects are immersed with virtual characters depicting relevant sexual features. Gaze behavior dynamics as indexed from correlation dimensions (D2) appears to be fractal in nature and significantly different from colored noise (surrogate data tests and recurrence plot analyses were performed). This perceptual-motor fractal dynamics parallels sexual arousal and differs from pedophiles to non-deviant subjects when critical sexual information is processed. Results are interpreted in terms of sexual affordance, perceptual invariance extraction and intentional nonlinear dynamics.
HISTOPATHOLOGY OF MARGINAL SUPERFICIAL PERIODONTIUM AT MENOPAUSE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Georgescu

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Premises: Sexual hormones may affect the general health condition of women, as early as puberty, continuing during pregnancy and also after menopause. Variations of the hormonal levels may cause different – either local or general – pathological modifications. Sexual hormones may also affect periodontal status, favourizing gingival inflammations and reducing periodontal resistance to the action of the bacterial plaque. Scope: Establishment of the correlations between the debut or the manifestation of menopause and the modifications produced in the superficial periodontium. Materials and method: Clinical and paraclinical investigations were performed on female patients with ages between 45 and 66 years, involving macroscopic, microscopic and radiological recording of the aspect of the superificial periodontium (gingiva. Results: Analysis of the histological sections evidenced atrophic and involutive modifications in the marginal superficial periodontium of female patients at menopause. Conclusions: Sexual hormones intervene in the histological equilibrium of the marginal superficial periodontium, influencing the periodontal health status, which explains the correlation between the subjective symptomatology specific to menopause and the histopatological aspect at epithelial level.
Diagnosis and treatment of superficial esophageal cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Barret, Maximilien; Prat, Frédéric

2018-01-01

Endoscopy allows for the screening, early diagnosis, treatment and follow up of superficial esophageal cancer. Endoscopic submucosal dissection has become the gold standard for the resection of superficial squamous cell neoplasia. Combinations of endoscopic mucosal resection and radiofrequency ablation are the mainstay of the management of Barrett's associated neoplasia. However, protruded, non-lifting or large lesions may be better managed by endoscopic submucosal dissection. Novel ablation tools, such as argon plasma coagulation with submucosal lifting and cryoablation balloons, are being developed for the treatment of residual Barrett's esophagus, since iatrogenic strictures still hamper the development of extensive circumferential resections in the esophagus. Optimal surveillance modalities after endoscopic resection are still to be determined. The assessment of the risk of lymph-node metastases, as well as of the need for additional treatments based on qualitative and quantitative histological criteria, balanced to the patient's condition, requires a dedicated multidisciplinary team decision process. The need for trained endoscopists, expert pathologists and surgeons, and specialized multidisciplinary meetings underlines the role of expert centers in the management of superficial esophageal cancer.

Modelling the Perceptual Components of Loudspeaker Distortion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Sune L.; Agerkvist, Finn T.; MacDonald, Ewen

2016-01-01

While non-linear distortion in loudspeakers decreases audio quality, the perceptual consequences can vary substantially. This paper investigates the metric Rnonlin [1] which was developed to predict subjective measurements of sound quality in nonlinear systems. The generalisability of the metric...... the perceptual consequences of non-linear distortion....
A perceptual study of Scottish dialects

OpenAIRE

Tichenor, Sydney

2012-01-01

Perceptual dialectology is dedicated to the formal study of folk linguistic perceptions. Through an amalgamation of social psychology, ethnography, dialectology, sociolinguistics, cultural geography and myriad other fields, perceptual dialectology provides a methodology to gain insight to overt folk language attitudes, knowledge of regional distribution, and the importance of language variation and change (Preston 1989, 1999a). This study conducts the first investigation of folk percept...
Perceptual incongruence influences bistability and cortical activation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gijs Joost Brouwer

Full Text Available We employed a parametric psychophysical design in combination with functional imaging to examine the influence of metric changes in perceptual incongruence on perceptual alternation rates and cortical responses. Subjects viewed a bistable stimulus defined by incongruent depth cues; bistability resulted from incongruence between binocular disparity and monocular perspective cues that specify different slants (slant rivalry. Psychophysical results revealed that perceptual alternation rates were positively correlated with the degree of perceived incongruence. Functional imaging revealed systematic increases in activity that paralleled the psychophysical results within anterior intraparietal sulcus, prior to the onset of perceptual alternations. We suggest that this cortical activity predicts the frequency of subsequent alternations, implying a putative causal role for these areas in initiating bistable perception. In contrast, areas implicated in form and depth processing (LOC and V3A were sensitive to the degree of slant, but failed to show increases in activity when these cues were in conflict.
Prior expectations facilitate metacognition for perceptual decision.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherman, M T; Seth, A K; Barrett, A B; Kanai, R

2015-09-01

The influential framework of 'predictive processing' suggests that prior probabilistic expectations influence, or even constitute, perceptual contents. This notion is evidenced by the facilitation of low-level perceptual processing by expectations. However, whether expectations can facilitate high-level components of perception remains unclear. We addressed this question by considering the influence of expectations on perceptual metacognition. To isolate the effects of expectation from those of attention we used a novel factorial design: expectation was manipulated by changing the probability that a Gabor target would be presented; attention was manipulated by instructing participants to perform or ignore a concurrent visual search task. We found that, independently of attention, metacognition improved when yes/no responses were congruent with expectations of target presence/absence. Results were modeled under a novel Bayesian signal detection theoretic framework which integrates bottom-up signal propagation with top-down influences, to provide a unified description of the mechanisms underlying perceptual decision and metacognition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Local superficial hyperthermia in combination with low-dose radiation therapy for palliation of superficially localized metastases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Owczarek, G.; Miszczyk, L.

2005-01-01

Full text: The aim of this study is to evaluate the response of superficially located metastases and local toxicity to microwave hyperthermia combined with radiation therapy. From May 2003 through December 2004 58 patients (33 male, 25 female; mean age 60 years) with lymph nodes or skin metastases were treated with microwave superficial hyperthermia combined with low-dose radiation therapy. Hyperthermia was administered twice weekly with high frequency applicator (∼900 Mhz) with water bolus. The temperature was set to 43 o C for 45 minutes. Radiotherapy was performed daily with dose 2 Gy or 4 Gy per fraction, to a total dose 20 Gy. There were 47 patients with carcinoma, 4 with sarcoma, 7 with melanoma. Treated regions were: head and neck (37 patients), chest wall 8, abdomen wall and groins 4, upper and lower limb 2 and 8 patients respectively. Primary tumor sites were: head and neck region (9 patients), lung 15, alimentary tract 8, breast 5, soft tissue 8, urogenital 4 and 9 patients with primary tumor site unknown. The toxicity was evaluated using 6 step scale: 0-no skin reaction, 1-faint red mark, 2-distinct red mark, 3-blisters, 4-brown mark, 5-necrosis. Presence of pain and its intensity were also analyzed. Diameter of tumor after the treatment was observed. Complete response was achieved in 5 patients (8.5 %), and partial response in 29 patients (50 %), no response was observed in 12 patients (20 %) and progression of tumor in 7 patients (12 %). No skin reaction was observed in 3 patients, faint red mark in 14 patients, distinct red mark in 28 patients, blisters in 8 patients, brown mark in 4 patients and necrosis in 1 patient. The pain occurred in 9 patients but it was no the cause of stopping treatment. Local superficial hyperthermia combined with low-dose radiation therapy is an effective method of treatment in a proportion of patients with superficial metastases. This combination of treatment modalities is well tolerated and is useful for palliation
Neurological evidence linguistic processes precede perceptual simulation in conceptual processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Louwerse, Max; Hutchinson, Sterling

2012-01-01

There is increasing evidence from response time experiments that language statistics and perceptual simulations both play a role in conceptual processing. In an EEG experiment we compared neural activity in cortical regions commonly associated with linguistic processing and visual perceptual processing to determine to what extent symbolic and embodied accounts of cognition applied. Participants were asked to determine the semantic relationship of word pairs (e.g., sky - ground) or to determine their iconic relationship (i.e., if the presentation of the pair matched their expected physical relationship). A linguistic bias was found toward the semantic judgment task and a perceptual bias was found toward the iconicity judgment task. More importantly, conceptual processing involved activation in brain regions associated with both linguistic and perceptual processes. When comparing the relative activation of linguistic cortical regions with perceptual cortical regions, the effect sizes for linguistic cortical regions were larger than those for the perceptual cortical regions early in a trial with the reverse being true later in a trial. These results map upon findings from other experimental literature and provide further evidence that processing of concept words relies both on language statistics and on perceptual simulations, whereby linguistic processes precede perceptual simulation processes.
Load theory behind the wheel; perceptual and cognitive load effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Gillian; Greene, Ciara M

2017-09-01

Perceptual Load Theory has been proposed as a resolution to the longstanding early versus late selection debate in cognitive psychology. There is much evidence in support of Load Theory but very few applied studies, despite the potential for the model to shed light on everyday attention and distraction. Using a driving simulator, the effect of perceptual and cognitive load on drivers' visual search was assessed. The findings were largely in line with Load Theory, with reduced distractor processing under high perceptual load, but increased distractor processing under high cognitive load. The effect of load on driving behaviour was also analysed, with significant differences in driving behaviour under perceptual and cognitive load. In addition, the effect of perceptual load on drivers' levels of awareness was investigated. High perceptual load significantly increased inattentional blindness and deafness, for stimuli that were both relevant and irrelevant to driving. High perceptual load also increased RTs to hazards. The current study helps to advance Load Theory by illustrating its usefulness outside of traditional paradigms. There are also applied implications for driver safety and roadway design, as the current study suggests that perceptual and cognitive load are important factors in driver attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).
Superficial parotidectomy via facelift incision

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lohuis, Peter J. F. M.; Tan, M. Liane; Bonte, Katrien; van den Brekel, Michiel W. M.; Balm, Alfons J. M.; Vermeersch, Hubert B.

2009-01-01

The stigma of a visually prominent facial scar following parotid surgery can be distressing to a young patient. The surgical technique of parotidectomy via a facelift incision is described and evaluated. Thirty patients with a benign lesion of the parotid gland underwent a partial superficial
Physiological Laterality of Superficial Cerebral Veins on Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsushima, Satoshi; Shimizu, Tetsuya; Gomi, Taku; Fukuda, Kunihiko

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether laterality of the superficial cerebral veins can be seen on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) in patients with no intracranial lesions that affect venous visualization. We retrospectively evaluated 386 patients who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging including SWI in our institute. Patients with a lesion with the potential to affect venous visualization on SWI were excluded. Two neuroradiologists visually evaluated the findings and scored the visualization of the superficial cerebral veins. Of the 386 patients, 315 (81.6%) showed no obvious laterality on venous visualization, 64 (16.6%) showed left-side dominant laterality, and 7 (1.8%) showed right-side dominant laterality. Left-side dominant physiological laterality exists in the visualization of the superficial cerebral veins on SWI. Therefore, when recognizing left-side dominant laterality of the superficial cerebral veins on SWI, the radiologist must also consider the possibility of physiological laterality.
Perceptual grouping over time within and across auditory and tactile modalities.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I-Fan Lin

Full Text Available In auditory scene analysis, population separation and temporal coherence have been proposed to explain how auditory features are grouped together and streamed over time. The present study investigated whether these two theories can be applied to tactile streaming and whether temporal coherence theory can be applied to crossmodal streaming. The results show that synchrony detection between two tones/taps at different frequencies/locations became difficult when one of the tones/taps was embedded in a perceptual stream. While the taps applied to the same location were streamed over time, the taps applied to different locations were not. This observation suggests that tactile stream formation can be explained by population-separation theory. On the other hand, temporally coherent auditory stimuli at different frequencies were streamed over time, but temporally coherent tactile stimuli applied to different locations were not. When there was within-modality streaming, temporally coherent auditory stimuli and tactile stimuli were not streamed over time, either. This observation suggests the limitation of temporal coherence theory when it is applied to perceptual grouping over time.
Constraints on Perceptual Learning: Objects and Dimensions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bedford, Felice L.

1995-01-01

Addresses two questions that may be unique to perceptual learning: What are the circumstances that produce learning? and What is the content of learning? Suggests a critical principle for each question. Provides a discussion of perceptual learning theory, how learning occurs, and what gets learned. Includes a 121-item bibliography. (DR)
On Perceptual Distortion Minimization and Nonlinear Least-Squares Frequency Estimation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Mads Græsbøll; Jensen, Søren Holdt

2006-01-01

In this paper, we present a framework for perceptual error minimization and sinusoidal frequency estimation based on a new perceptual distortion measure, and we state its optimal solution. Using this framework, we relate a number of well-known practical methods for perceptual sinusoidal parameter...
Attention without awareness: Attentional modulation of perceptual grouping without awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Shih-Yu

2018-04-01

Perceptual grouping is the process through which the perceptual system combines local stimuli into a more global perceptual unit. Previous studies have shown attention to be a modulatory factor for perceptual grouping. However, these studies mainly used explicit measurements, and, thus, whether attention can modulate perceptual grouping without awareness is still relatively unexplored. To clarify the relationship between attention and perceptual grouping, the present study aims to explore how attention interacts with perceptual grouping without awareness. The task was to judge the relative lengths of two centrally presented horizontal bars while a railway-shaped pattern defined by color similarity was presented in the background. Although the observers were unaware of the railway-shaped pattern, their line-length judgment was biased by that pattern, which induced a Ponzo illusion, indicating grouping without awareness. More importantly, an attentional modulatory effect without awareness was manifested as evident by the observer's performance being more often biased when the railway-shaped pattern was formed by an attended color than when it was formed by an unattended one. Also, the attentional modulation effect was shown to be dynamic, being more pronounced with a short presentation time than a longer one. The results of the present study not only clarify the relationship between attention and perceptual grouping but also further contribute to our understanding of attention and awareness by corroborating the dissociation between attention and awareness.
Basic perceptual changes that alter meaning and neural correlates of recognition memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuanji eGao

2015-02-01

Full Text Available It is difficult to pinpoint the border between perceptual and conceptual processing, despite their treatment as distinct entities in many studies of recognition memory. For instance, alteration of simple perceptual characteristics of a stimulus can radically change meaning, such as the color of bread changing from white to green. We sought to better understand the role of perceptual and conceptual processing in memory by identifying the effects of changing a basic perceptual feature (color on behavioral and neural correlates of memory in circumstances when this change would be expected to either change the meaning of a stimulus or to have no effect on meaning (i.e., to influence conceptual processing or not. Abstract visual shapes (squiggles were colorized during study and presented during test in either the same color or a different color. Those squiggles that subjects found to resemble meaningful objects supported behavioral measures of conceptual priming, whereas meaningless squiggles did not. Further, changing color from study to test had a selective effect on behavioral correlates of priming for meaningful squiggles, indicating that color change altered conceptual processing. During a recognition memory test, color change altered event-related brain potential correlates of memory for meaningful squiggles but not for meaningless squiggles. Specifically, color change reduced the amplitude of frontally distributed N400 potentials (FN400, indicating that these potentials indicated conceptual processing during recognition memory that was sensitive to color change. In contrast, color change had no effect on FN400 correlates of recognition for meaningless squiggles, which were overall smaller in amplitude than for meaningful squiggles (further indicating that these potentials signal conceptual processing during recognition. Thus, merely changing the color of abstract visual shapes can alter their meaning, changing behavioral and neural correlates
Beta oscillations define discrete perceptual cycles in the somatosensory domain.

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Baumgarten, Thomas J; Schnitzler, Alfons; Lange, Joachim

2015-09-29

Whether seeing a movie, listening to a song, or feeling a breeze on the skin, we coherently experience these stimuli as continuous, seamless percepts. However, there are rare perceptual phenomena that argue against continuous perception but, instead, suggest discrete processing of sensory input. Empirical evidence supporting such a discrete mechanism, however, remains scarce and comes entirely from the visual domain. Here, we demonstrate compelling evidence for discrete perceptual sampling in the somatosensory domain. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and a tactile temporal discrimination task in humans, we find that oscillatory alpha- and low beta-band (8-20 Hz) cycles in primary somatosensory cortex represent neurophysiological correlates of discrete perceptual cycles. Our results agree with several theoretical concepts of discrete perceptual sampling and empirical evidence of perceptual cycles in the visual domain. Critically, these results show that discrete perceptual cycles are not domain-specific, and thus restricted to the visual domain, but extend to the somatosensory domain.
Computations in the deep vs superficial layers of the cerebral cortex.

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Rolls, Edmund T; Mills, W Patrick C

2017-11-01

A fundamental question is how the cerebral neocortex operates functionally, computationally. The cerebral neocortex with its superficial and deep layers and highly developed recurrent collateral systems that provide a basis for memory-related processing might perform somewhat different computations in the superficial and deep layers. Here we take into account the quantitative connectivity within and between laminae. Using integrate-and-fire neuronal network simulations that incorporate this connectivity, we first show that attractor networks implemented in the deep layers that are activated by the superficial layers could be partly independent in that the deep layers might have a different time course, which might because of adaptation be more transient and useful for outputs from the neocortex. In contrast the superficial layers could implement more prolonged firing, useful for slow learning and for short-term memory. Second, we show that a different type of computation could in principle be performed in the superficial and deep layers, by showing that the superficial layers could operate as a discrete attractor network useful for categorisation and feeding information forward up a cortical hierarchy, whereas the deep layers could operate as a continuous attractor network useful for providing a spatially and temporally smooth output to output systems in the brain. A key advance is that we draw attention to the functions of the recurrent collateral connections between cortical pyramidal cells, often omitted in canonical models of the neocortex, and address principles of operation of the neocortex by which the superficial and deep layers might be specialized for different types of attractor-related memory functions implemented by the recurrent collaterals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Finding out about filling-in: a guide to perceptual completion for visual science and the philosophy of perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Pessoa, L; Thompson, E; Noë, A

1998-12-01

In visual science the term filling-in is used in different ways, which often leads to confusion. This target article presents a taxonomy of perceptual completion phenomena to organize and clarify theoretical and empirical discussion. Examples of boundary completion (illusory contours) and featural completion (color, brightness, motion, texture, and depth) are examined, and single-cell studies relevant to filling-in are reviewed and assessed. Filling-in issues must be understood in relation to theoretical issues about neural-perceptual isomorphism and linking propositions. Six main conclusions are drawn: (1) visual filling-in comprises a multitude of different perceptual completion phenomena; (2) certain forms of visual completion seem to involve spatially propagating neural activity (neural filling-in) and so, contrary to Dennett's (1991; 1992) recent discussion of filling-in, cannot be described as results of the brain's "ignoring an absence" or "jumping to a conclusion"; (3) in certain cases perceptual completion seems to have measurable effects that depend on neural signals representing a presence rather than ignoring an absence; (4) neural filling-in does not imply either "analytic isomorphism" or "Cartesian materialism," and thus the notion of the bridge locus--a particular neural stage that forms the immediate substrate of perceptual experience--is problematic and should be abandoned; (5) to reject the representational conception of vision in favor of an "enactive" or "animate" conception reduces the importance of filling-in as a theoretical category in the explanation of vision; and (6) the evaluation of perceptual content should not be determined by "subpersonal" considerations about internal processing, but rather by considerations about the task of vision at the level of the animal or person interacting with the world.
Effect of practice on perceptual load

OpenAIRE

Mejia-Ramirez, Manuel

2013-01-01

Within attention studies, Lavie's load theory (Lavie & Tsal, 1994; Lavie, Hirst, de Fockert, & Viding, 2004) presented an account that could settle the question whether attention selects stimuli to be processed at an early or late stage of cognitive processing. This theory relied on the concepts of "perceptual load" and "attentional capacity", proposing that attentional resources are automatically allocated to stimuli, but when the perceptual load of the stimuli exceeds person's capacity, tas...
Can free-viewing perceptual asymmetries be explained by scanning, pre-motor or attentional biases?

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholls, Michael E R; Roberts, Georgina R

2002-04-01

Judgments of relative magnitude between the left and right sides of a stimulus are generally weighted toward the features contained on the left side. This leftward perceptual bias could be the result of, (a) left-to-right scanning biases, (b) pre-motor activation of the right hemisphere, or (c) a left hemispatial attentional bias. The relative merits of these explanations of perceptual asymmetry were investigated. In Experiment 1, English and Hebrew readers made luminance judgements for two left/right mirror-reversed luminance gradients (greyscales task). Despite different reading/scanning habits, both groups exhibited a leftward perceptual bias. English and Hebrew readers also performed a line bisection task. Scanning biases were controlled by asking participants to follow a marker as it moved left-to-right or right-to-left and then stop it as it reached the midpoint of the line. Despite controlling scanning, a leftward bias was observed in both groups. In Experiment 2, peripheral spatial cues were presented prior to the greyscales stimuli. English readers showed a reduction in the leftward bias for right-sided cues as compared to left-sided and neutral cues. Right-side cues presumably overcame a pre-existing leftward attentional bias. In both experiments, pre-motor activation was controlled using bimanual responses. Despite this control, a leftward bias was observed throughout the study. The data support the attentional bias account of leftward perceptual biases over the scanning and pre-motor activation accounts. Whether or not unilateral hemispheric activation provides an adequate account of this attentional bias is discussed.
Frontoparietal cortex mediates perceptual transitions in bistable perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Weilnhammer, Veith A; Ludwig, Karin; Hesselmann, Guido; Sterzer, Philipp

2013-10-02

During bistable vision, perception oscillates between two mutually exclusive percepts despite constant sensory input. Greater BOLD responses in frontoparietal cortex have been shown to be associated with endogenous perceptual transitions compared with "replay" transitions designed to closely match bistability in both perceptual quality and timing. It has remained controversial, however, whether this enhanced activity reflects causal influences of these regions on processing at the sensory level or, alternatively, an effect of stimulus differences that result in, for example, longer durations of perceptual transitions in bistable perception compared with replay conditions. Using a rotating Lissajous figure in an fMRI experiment on 15 human participants, we controlled for potential confounds of differences in transition duration and confirmed previous findings of greater activity in frontoparietal areas for transitions during bistable perception. In addition, we applied dynamic causal modeling to identify the neural model that best explains the observed BOLD signals in terms of effective connectivity. We found that enhanced activity for perceptual transitions is associated with a modulation of top-down connectivity from frontal to visual cortex, thus arguing for a crucial role of frontoparietal cortex in perceptual transitions during bistable perception.

Long-term evolution of superficial optic disc drusen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Lasse Malmqvist; Lund-Andersen, Henrik; Hamann, Steffen

2017-01-01

with hereditary ODD were included. Results: Mean age at initial and follow-up examination was, respectively, 16.8 and 73.3 years. The median follow-up time was 56 years. A minimal or non-existing change in superficial ODD anatomy (size and number) was seen in 10 of 12 eyes. There was a tendency towards more......Purpose: Optic disc drusen (ODD) is hyaline deposits in the optic nerve head seen in 1-2% of the population. Long-term evolution of ODD anatomy and visual field defects in ODD patients is a key factor for learning more about pathophysiology and prognosis of the condition. With a median follow......-up period of 56 years, this is the first study that evaluates superficial optic disc anatomy and visual fields in patients with ODD over a life span. Methods: Observational case series investigating progression of superficial optic disc anatomy and visual fields in ODD patients. Eight patients...
Triggers of fear: perceptual cues versus conceptual information in spider phobia.

Science.gov (United States)

Peperkorn, Henrik M; Alpers, Georg W; Mühlberger, Andreas

2014-07-01

Fear reactions in spider-phobic patients can be activated by specific perceptual cues or by conceptual fear-related information. Matching perceptual fear cues and fear-related information were expected to result in maximal fear responses, perceptual fear cues alone in less fear, and information alone in the weakest responses. We used virtual reality to manipulate the available cues and information. Forty-eight phobic patients and 48 healthy participants were repeatedly exposed to either a perceptual cue, information, or a combination of both. In conditions with a fear-relevant perceptual cue, phobic patients reported increased fear compared to the condition with information only. Across exposures trials, these reactions diminished. Skin conductance in phobic patients was significantly higher in the combined than in the cue or the information condition. Perceptual cues are essential for phobic fear reactions in spider phobia. In combination with fear-relevant information, perceptual cues activate an intense and persistent fear reaction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Reliability in perceptual analysis of voice quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Bele, Irene Velsvik

2005-12-01

This study focuses on speaking voice quality in male teachers (n = 35) and male actors (n = 36), who represent untrained and trained voice users, because we wanted to investigate normal and supranormal voices. In this study, both substantial and methodologic aspects were considered. It includes a method for perceptual voice evaluation, and a basic issue was rater reliability. A listening group of 10 listeners, 7 experienced speech-language therapists, and 3 speech-language therapist students evaluated the voices by 15 vocal characteristics using VA scales. Two sets of voice signals were investigated: text reading (2 loudness levels) and sustained vowel (3 levels). The results indicated a high interrater reliability for most perceptual characteristics. Connected speech was evaluated more reliably, especially at the normal level, but both types of voice signals were evaluated reliably, although the reliability for connected speech was somewhat higher than for vowels. Experienced listeners tended to be more consistent in their ratings than did the student raters. Some vocal characteristics achieved acceptable reliability even with a smaller panel of listeners. The perceptual characteristics grouped in 4 factors reflected perceptual dimensions.
What factors control superficial lava dome explosivity?

Science.gov (United States)

Boudon, Georges; Balcone-Boissard, Hélène; Villemant, Benoît; Morgan, Daniel J

2015-09-30

Dome-forming eruption is a frequent eruptive style and a major hazard on numerous volcanoes worldwide. Lava domes are built by slow extrusion of degassed, viscous magma and may be destroyed by gravitational collapse or explosion. The triggering of lava dome explosions is poorly understood: here we propose a new model of superficial lava-dome explosivity based upon a textural and geochemical study (vesicularity, microcrystallinity, cristobalite distribution, residual water contents, crystal transit times) of clasts produced by key eruptions. Superficial explosion of a growing lava dome may be promoted through porosity reduction caused by both vesicle flattening due to gas escape and syn-eruptive cristobalite precipitation. Both processes generate an impermeable and rigid carapace allowing overpressurisation of the inner parts of the lava dome by the rapid input of vesiculated magma batches. The relative thickness of the cristobalite-rich carapace is an inverse function of the external lava dome surface area. Explosive activity is thus more likely to occur at the onset of lava dome extrusion, in agreement with observations, as the likelihood of superficial lava dome explosions depends inversely on lava dome volume. This new result is of interest for the whole volcanological community and for risk management.
Perceptual Grouping of Closed Contours Is Disrupted by the Interpretation of the Scene Layout.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Junjun; Wan, Chaoyang; Jin, Zhenlan; Li, Ling

2017-01-01

Closure is one of the grouping principles in perceptual organization. Studies have shown that closure can be affected by several factors, specifically by low-level image features. However, the effects of high-level non-image factors on grouping by closure are unknown. In two experiments we investigated how closure is affected when depth information is introduced to the 2D closed contours, whilst the other 2D features remain intact. The first experiment showed that the grouping of closed contours was disrupted by the manipulation in 3D layout. The second experiment showed that thus disruption resulted in the impairment of searching efficiency. These findings suggest that closure is not only determined by the image features, but also affected by the interpretation of the contextual scene layout.
Feature-based attentional modulation of orientation perception in somatosensation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meike Annika Schweisfurth

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In a reaction time study of human tactile orientation detection the effects of spatial attention and feature-based attention were investigated. Subjects had to give speeded responses to target orientations (parallel and orthogonal to the finger axis in a random stream of oblique tactile distractor orientations presented to their index and ring fingers. Before each block of trials, subjects received a tactile cue at one finger. By manipulating the validity of this cue with respect to its location and orientation (feature, we provided an incentive to subjects to attend spatially to the cued location and only there to the cued orientation. Subjects showed quicker responses to parallel compared to orthogonal targets, pointing to an orientation anisotropy in sensory processing. Also, faster reaction times were observed in location-matched trials, i.e. when targets appeared on the cued finger, representing a perceptual benefit of spatial attention. Most importantly, reaction times were shorter to orientations matching the cue, both at the cued and at the uncued location, documenting a global enhancement of tactile sensation by feature-based attention. This is the first report of a perceptual benefit of feature-based attention outside the spatial focus of attention in somatosensory perception. The similarity to effects of feature-based attention in visual perception supports the notion of matching attentional mechanisms across sensory domains.
Perceptual transparency from image deformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawabe, Takahiro; Maruya, Kazushi; Nishida, Shin'ya

2015-08-18

Human vision has a remarkable ability to perceive two layers at the same retinal locations, a transparent layer in front of a background surface. Critical image cues to perceptual transparency, studied extensively in the past, are changes in luminance or color that could be caused by light absorptions and reflections by the front layer, but such image changes may not be clearly visible when the front layer consists of a pure transparent material such as water. Our daily experiences with transparent materials of this kind suggest that an alternative potential cue of visual transparency is image deformations of a background pattern caused by light refraction. Although previous studies have indicated that these image deformations, at least static ones, play little role in perceptual transparency, here we show that dynamic image deformations of the background pattern, which could be produced by light refraction on a moving liquid's surface, can produce a vivid impression of a transparent liquid layer without the aid of any other visual cues as to the presence of a transparent layer. Furthermore, a transparent liquid layer perceptually emerges even from a randomly generated dynamic image deformation as long as it is similar to real liquid deformations in its spatiotemporal frequency profile. Our findings indicate that the brain can perceptually infer the presence of "invisible" transparent liquids by analyzing the spatiotemporal structure of dynamic image deformation, for which it uses a relatively simple computation that does not require high-level knowledge about the detailed physics of liquid deformation.
The influence of schizotypal traits on attention under high perceptual load.

Science.gov (United States)

Stotesbury, Hanne; Gaigg, Sebastian B; Kirhan, Saim; Haenschel, Corinna

2018-03-01

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD) are known to be characterised by abnormalities in attentional processes, but there are inconsistencies in the literature that remain unresolved. This article considers whether perceptual resource limitations play a role in moderating attentional abnormalities in SSD. According to perceptual load theory, perceptual resource limitations can lead to attenuated or superior performance on dual-task paradigms depending on whether participants are required to process, or attempt to ignore, secondary stimuli. If SSD is associated with perceptual resource limitations, and if it represents the extreme end of an otherwise normally distributed neuropsychological phenotype, schizotypal traits in the general population should lead to disproportionate performance costs on dual-task paradigms as a function of the perceptual task demands. To test this prediction, schizotypal traits were quantified via the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) in 74 healthy volunteers, who also completed a dual-task signal detection paradigm that required participants to detect central and peripheral stimuli across conditions that varied in the overall number of stimuli presented. The results confirmed decreasing performance as the perceptual load of the task increased. More importantly, significant correlations between SPQ scores and task performance confirmed that increased schizotypal traits, particularly in the cognitive-perceptual domain, are associated with greater performance decrements under increasing perceptual load. These results confirm that attentional difficulties associated with SSD extend sub-clinically into the general population and suggest that cognitive-perceptual schizotypal traits may represent a risk factor for difficulties in the regulation of attention under increasing perceptual load.
The influence of schizotypal traits on attention under high perceptual load

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanne Stotesbury

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD are known to be characterised by abnormalities in attentional processes, but there are inconsistencies in the literature that remain unresolved. This article considers whether perceptual resource limitations play a role in moderating attentional abnormalities in SSD. According to perceptual load theory, perceptual resource limitations can lead to attenuated or superior performance on dual-task paradigms depending on whether participants are required to process, or attempt to ignore, secondary stimuli. If SSD is associated with perceptual resource limitations, and if it represents the extreme end of an otherwise normally distributed neuropsychological phenotype, schizotypal traits in the general population should lead to disproportionate performance costs on dual-task paradigms as a function of the perceptual task demands. To test this prediction, schizotypal traits were quantified via the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ in 74 healthy volunteers, who also completed a dual-task signal detection paradigm that required participants to detect central and peripheral stimuli across conditions that varied in the overall number of stimuli presented. The results confirmed decreasing performance as the perceptual load of the task increased. More importantly, significant correlations between SPQ scores and task performance confirmed that increased schizotypal traits, particularly in the cognitive-perceptual domain, are associated with greater performance decrements under increasing perceptual load. These results confirm that attentional difficulties associated with SSD extend sub-clinically into the general population and suggest that cognitive-perceptual schizotypal traits may represent a risk factor for difficulties in the regulation of attention under increasing perceptual load.
Superficie Específica y Estado Vital de la Materia

OpenAIRE

J. Hernando Ordoñez

1992-01-01

Se propone reemplazar el término de materia viva por el de estado vital de la materia por considerarlo adecuado, pues la materia es la misma, lo que cambia es su estado. Se estudia la relación entre la superficie específica y el estado vital de la materia. Constante del estado vital y el valor crítico de la superficie específica. Qué es la fuerza de inducción vital? Diferenciación funcional de las células. Cómo regula la unidad biológica su superficie específica? La materia que piens...
Structured perceptual input imposes an egocentric frame of reference-pointing, imagery, and spatial self-consciousness.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcel, Anthony; Dobel, Christian

2005-01-01

Perceptual input imposes and maintains an egocentric frame of reference, which enables orientation. When blindfolded, people tended to mistake the assumed intrinsic axes of symmetry of their immediate environment (a room) for their own egocentric relation to features of the room. When asked to point to the door and window, known to be at mid-points of facing (or adjacent) walls, they pointed with their arms at 180 degrees (or 90 degrees) angles, irrespective of where they thought they were in the room. People did the same when requested to imagine the situation. They justified their responses (inappropriately) by logical necessity or a structural description of the room rather than (appropriately) by relative location of themselves and the reference points. In eight experiments, we explored the effect on this in perception and imagery of: perceptual input (without perceptibility of the target reference points); imaging oneself versus another person; aids to explicit spatial self-consciousness; order of questions about self-location; and the relation of targets to the axes of symmetry of the room. The results indicate that, if one is deprived of structured perceptual input, as well as losing one's bearings, (a) one is likely to lose one's egocentric frame of reference itself, and (b) instead of pointing to reference points, one demonstrates their structural relation by adopting the intrinsic axes of the environment as one's own. This is prevented by providing noninformative perceptual input or by inducing subjects to imagine themselves from the outside, which makes explicit the fact of their being located relative to the world. The role of perceptual contact with a structured world is discussed in relation to sensory deprivation and imagery, appeal is made to Gibson's theory of joint egoreception and exteroception, and the data are related to recent theories of spatial memory and navigation.
Roles of PAD4 and NETosis in Experimental Atherosclerosis and Arterial Injury: Implications for Superficial Erosion.

Science.gov (United States)

Franck, Grégory; Mawson, Thomas L; Folco, Eduardo J; Molinaro, Roberto; Ruvkun, Victoria; Engelbertsen, Daniel; Liu, Xin; Tesmenitsky, Yevgenia; Shvartz, Eugenia; Sukhova, Galina K; Michel, Jean-Baptiste; Nicoletti, Antonino; Lichtman, Andrew; Wagner, Denisa; Croce, Kevin J; Libby, Peter

2018-06-22

Neutrophils likely contribute to the thrombotic complications of human atheromata. In particular, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) could exacerbate local inflammation and amplify and propagate arterial intimal injury and thrombosis. PAD4 (peptidyl arginine deiminase 4) participates in NET formation, but an understanding of this enzyme's role in atherothrombosis remains scant. This study tested the hypothesis that PAD4 and NETs influence experimental atherogenesis and in processes implicated in superficial erosion, a form of plaque complication we previously associated with NETs. Bone marrow chimeric Ldlr deficient mice reconstituted with either wild-type or PAD4-deficient cells underwent studies that assessed atheroma formation or procedures designed to probe mechanisms related to superficial erosion. PAD4 deficiency neither retarded fatty streak formation nor reduced plaque size or inflammation in bone marrow chimeric mice that consumed an atherogenic diet. In contrast, either a PAD4 deficiency in bone marrow-derived cells or administration of DNaseI to disrupt NETs decreased the extent of arterial intimal injury in mice with arterial lesions tailored to recapitulate characteristics of human atheroma complicated by erosion. These results indicate that PAD4 from bone marrow-derived cells and NETs do not influence chronic experimental atherogenesis, but participate causally in acute thrombotic complications of intimal lesions that recapitulate features of superficial erosion. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.
MRI features of soft-tissue lumps and bumps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhuang, K.D.; Tandon, A.A.; Ho, B.C.S.; Chong, B.K.

2014-01-01

Superficial soft-tissue lesions are frequently encountered by radiologists in everyday practice. Characterization of these soft-tissue lesions remains problematic, despite advances in imaging. By systematically using clinical history, anatomical location, and signal intensity characteristics on MRI images, one can determine the diagnosis for the subset of determinate lesions that have characteristic clinical and imaging features as well as narrow the differential diagnoses for lesions with non-specific or indeterminate characteristics. In this review, a spectrum of histologically proven benign and malignant superficial soft-tissue lesions from a single institution will be presented. In addition, a few tumour-like conditions will be included as they can be encountered during imaging of soft-tissue masses
SUPERFICIAL CERVICAL PLEXUS BLOCK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Komang Mega Puspadisari

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Superficial cervical plexus block is one of the regional anesthesia in neck were limited to thesuperficial fascia. Anesthesia is used to relieve pain caused either during or after the surgery iscompleted. This technique can be done by landmark or with ultrasound guiding. The midpointof posterior border of the Sternocleidomastoid was identified and the prosedure done on thatplace or on the level of cartilage cricoid.
Technical and perceptual issues on head-related transfer functions sets for use in binaural synthesis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toledo, Daniela

of binaural synthesis in providing a realistic and/or convincing virtual sonic experience relies largely on technical and perceptual issues inherent to the HRTFs and their use, particularly on how well the spectral features of the HRTFs used match those of the listener. This PhD thesis focused on identifying...... the spectral features that cue sound localization in the mid-sagittal plane. Listening tests were conducted from which groups of individual and non-individual HRTFs that evoked the same direction were obtained. Analysis of these HRTFs suggested that the relevant spectral cues covered a broad range...
Superficial Granulomatous Pyoderma Gangrenosum of the Penis: A Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shyamala S. Gopi

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Classic type of pyoderma gangrenosum (PG is an uncommon ulceronecrotic cutaneous disease of uncertain aetiology characterised by broad zones of confluent ulceration with violaceous undermined margins. Some 50% of cases are associated with systemic diseases. The superficial granulomatous variant of pyoderma gangrenosum (SGPG of the external genitalia is extremely rare Patients with this condition develop single or multiple ulcerated skin lesions often with sinus tract formation. The majority of these lesions were found on the trunk and limbs. SGPG is less likely to be associated with underlying disease processes than classic PG. We present a 58 year-old with recalcitrant penile ulceration demonstrated to be SGPG on biopsy. Although rare and poorly recognised, the histological features are sufficiently typical to allow the correct diagnosis to be established.
Feature confirmation in object perception: Feature integration theory 26 years on from the Treisman Bartlett lecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Humphreys, Glyn W

2016-10-01

The Treisman Bartlett lecture, reported in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology in 1988, provided a major overview of the feature integration theory of attention. This has continued to be a dominant account of human visual attention to this day. The current paper provides a summary of the work reported in the lecture and an update on critical aspects of the theory as applied to visual object perception. The paper highlights the emergence of findings that pose significant challenges to the theory and which suggest that revisions are required that allow for (a) several rather than a single form of feature integration, (b) some forms of feature integration to operate preattentively, (c) stored knowledge about single objects and interactions between objects to modulate perceptual integration, (d) the application of feature-based inhibition to object files where visual features are specified, which generates feature-based spreading suppression and scene segmentation, and (e) a role for attention in feature confirmation rather than feature integration in visual selection. A feature confirmation account of attention in object perception is outlined.
Visual perceptual abilities of Chinese-speaking and English-speaking children.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Mun Yee; Leung, Frederick Koon Shing

2012-04-01

This paper reports an investigation of Chinese-speaking and English-speaking children's general visual perceptual abilities. The Developmental Test of Visual Perception was administered to 41 native Chinese-speaking children of mean age 5 yr. 4 mo. in Hong Kong and 35 English-speaking children of mean age 5 yr. 2 mo. in Melbourne. Of interest were the two interrelated components of visual perceptual abilities, namely, motor-reduced visual perceptual and visual-motor integration perceptual abilities, which require either verbal or motoric responses in completing visual tasks. Chinese-speaking children significantly outperformed the English-speaking children on general visual perceptual abilities. When comparing the results of each of the two different components, the Chinese-speaking students' performance on visual-motor integration was far better than that of their counterparts (ES = 2.70), while the two groups of students performed similarly on motor-reduced visual perceptual abilities. Cultural factors such as written language format may be contributing to the enhanced performance of Chinese-speaking children's visual-motor integration abilities, but there may be validity questions in the Chinese version.
Understanding perceptual boundaries in laparoscopic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamata, Pablo; Gomez, Enrique J; Hernández, Félix Lamata; Oltra Pastor, Alfonso; Sanchez-Margallo, Francisco Miquel; Del Pozo Guerrero, Francisco

2008-03-01

Human perceptual capabilities related to the laparoscopic interaction paradigm are not well known. Its study is important for the design of virtual reality simulators, and for the specification of augmented reality applications that overcome current limitations and provide a supersensing to the surgeon. As part of this work, this article addresses the study of laparoscopic pulling forces. Two definitions are proposed to focalize the problem: the perceptual fidelity boundary, limit of human perceptual capabilities, and the Utile fidelity boundary, that encapsulates the perceived aspects actually used by surgeons to guide an operation. The study is then aimed to define the perceptual fidelity boundary of laparoscopic pulling forces. This is approached with an experimental design in which surgeons assess the resistance against pulling of four different tissues, which are characterized with both in vivo interaction forces and ex vivo tissue biomechanical properties. A logarithmic law of tissue consistency perception is found comparing subjective valorizations with objective parameters. A model of this perception is developed identifying what the main parameters are: the grade of fixation of the organ, the tissue stiffness, the amount of tissue bitten, and the organ mass being pulled. These results are a clear requirement analysis for the force feedback algorithm of a virtual reality laparoscopic simulator. Finally, some discussion is raised about the suitability of augmented reality applications around this surgical gesture.
The Speech multi features fusion perceptual hash algorithm based on tensor decomposition

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Y. B.; Fan, M. H.; Zhang, Q. Y.

2018-03-01

With constant progress in modern speech communication technologies, the speech data is prone to be attacked by the noise or maliciously tampered. In order to make the speech perception hash algorithm has strong robustness and high efficiency, this paper put forward a speech perception hash algorithm based on the tensor decomposition and multi features is proposed. This algorithm analyses the speech perception feature acquires each speech component wavelet packet decomposition. LPCC, LSP and ISP feature of each speech component are extracted to constitute the speech feature tensor. Speech authentication is done by generating the hash values through feature matrix quantification which use mid-value. Experimental results showing that the proposed algorithm is robust for content to maintain operations compared with similar algorithms. It is able to resist the attack of the common background noise. Also, the algorithm is highly efficiency in terms of arithmetic, and is able to meet the real-time requirements of speech communication and complete the speech authentication quickly.

Perceptual load vs. dilution: the roles of attentional focus, stimulus category, and target predictability

OpenAIRE

Chen, Zhe; Cave, Kyle R.

2013-01-01

Many studies have shown that increasing the number of neutral stimuli in a display decreases distractor interference. This result has been interpreted within two different frameworks; a perceptual load account, based on a reduction in spare resources, and a dilution account, based on a degradation in distractor representation and/or an increase in crosstalk between the distractor and the neutral stimuli that contain visually similar features. In four experiments, we systematically manipulated...
Conceptual and methodological concerns in the theory of perceptual load.

Science.gov (United States)

Benoni, Hanna; Tsal, Yehoshua

2013-01-01

The present paper provides a short critical review of the theory of perceptual load. It closely examines the basic tenets and assumptions of the theory and identifies major conceptual and methodological problems that have been largely ignored in the literature. The discussion focuses on problems in the definition of the concept of perceptual load, on the circularity in the characterization and manipulation of perceptual load and the confusion between the concept of perceptual load and its operationalization. The paper also selectively reviews evidence supporting the theory as well as inconsistent evidence which proposed alternative dominant factors influencing the efficacy of attentional selection.
Feature Types and Object Categories: Is Sensorimotoric Knowledge Different for Living and Nonliving Things?

Science.gov (United States)

Ankerstein, Carrie A.; Varley, Rosemary A.; Cowell, Patricia E.

2012-01-01

Some models of semantic memory claim that items from living and nonliving domains have different feature-type profiles. Data from feature generation and perceptual modality rating tasks were compared to evaluate this claim. Results from two living (animals, fruits/vegetables) and two nonliving (tools, vehicles) categories showed that…
Particle swarm optimization based feature enhancement and feature selection for improved emotion recognition in speech and glottal signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Muthusamy, Hariharan; Polat, Kemal; Yaacob, Sazali

2015-01-01

In the recent years, many research works have been published using speech related features for speech emotion recognition, however, recent studies show that there is a strong correlation between emotional states and glottal features. In this work, Mel-frequency cepstralcoefficients (MFCCs), linear predictive cepstral coefficients (LPCCs), perceptual linear predictive (PLP) features, gammatone filter outputs, timbral texture features, stationary wavelet transform based timbral texture features and relative wavelet packet energy and entropy features were extracted from the emotional speech (ES) signals and its glottal waveforms(GW). Particle swarm optimization based clustering (PSOC) and wrapper based particle swarm optimization (WPSO) were proposed to enhance the discerning ability of the features and to select the discriminating features respectively. Three different emotional speech databases were utilized to gauge the proposed method. Extreme learning machine (ELM) was employed to classify the different types of emotions. Different experiments were conducted and the results show that the proposed method significantly improves the speech emotion recognition performance compared to previous works published in the literature.
The Superficial Dermis May Initiate Keloid Formation: Histological Analysis of the Keloid Dermis at Different Depths

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hu Jiao

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Several studies have reported on certain aspects of the characteristics of different sites within a keloid lesion, but detailed studies on the keloid dermis at different depths within a keloid lesion are scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the histology of the keloid dermis at different depths. This study included 19 keloid tissue samples that were collected from 19 patients and 19 normal skin samples, which were harvested from subjects without keloids or hypertrophic scar. Samples were studied by light microscopy using routine hematoxylin and eosin histochemical staining, and immunohistochemistry to detect CD20-positive B-lymphocytes and CD3-positive T-lymphocytes. Sirius Red histochemical staining was used to determine the type of collagen in keloid tissue and normal skin samples. The migratory properties of fibroblasts within the keloid dermis at different depths was compared, using an in vitro migration assay. The findings of this study showed that although the papillary and reticular dermis could be clearly distinguished in normal skin, three tissue layers were identified in the keloid dermis. The superficial dermis of keloid was characterized by active fibroblasts and lymphocytes; the middle dermis contained dense extracellular matrix (ECM with large numbers fibroblasts, and the deep dermis was poorly cellular and characterized by hyalinized collagen bundles. In the keloid samples, from the superficial to the deep dermis, type I collagen increased and type III collagen decreased, and fibroblasts from the superficial dermis of the keloid were found to migrate more rapidly. In conclusion, the findings of this study showed that different depths within the keloid dermis displayed different biological features. The superficial dermis may initiate keloid formation, in which layer intralesional injection of pharmaceuticals and other treatments should be performed for keloid.
Expectations Do Not Alter Early Sensory Processing during Perceptual Decision-Making.

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Rungratsameetaweemana, Nuttida; Itthipuripat, Sirawaj; Salazar, Annalisa; Serences, John T

2018-06-13

Two factors play important roles in shaping perception: the allocation of selective attention to behaviorally relevant sensory features, and prior expectations about regularities in the environment. Signal detection theory proposes distinct roles of attention and expectation on decision-making such that attention modulates early sensory processing, whereas expectation influences the selection and execution of motor responses. Challenging this classic framework, recent studies suggest that expectations about sensory regularities enhance the encoding and accumulation of sensory evidence during decision-making. However, it is possible, that these findings reflect well documented attentional modulations in visual cortex. Here, we tested this framework in a group of male and female human participants by examining how expectations about stimulus features (orientation and color) and expectations about motor responses impacted electroencephalography (EEG) markers of early sensory processing and the accumulation of sensory evidence during decision-making (the early visual negative potential and the centro-parietal positive potential, respectively). We first demonstrate that these markers are sensitive to changes in the amount of sensory evidence in the display. Then we show, counter to recent findings, that neither marker is modulated by either feature or motor expectations, despite a robust effect of expectations on behavior. Instead, violating expectations about likely sensory features and motor responses impacts posterior alpha and frontal theta oscillations, signals thought to index overall processing time and cognitive conflict. These findings are inconsistent with recent theoretical accounts and suggest instead that expectations primarily influence decisions by modulating post-perceptual stages of information processing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Expectations about likely features or motor responses play an important role in shaping behavior. Classic theoretical
Perceptual Load Affects Eyewitness Accuracy & Susceptibility to Leading Questions

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Gillian Murphy

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Load Theory (Lavie, 1995; 2005 states that the level of perceptual load in a task (i.e. the amount of information involved in processing task-relevant stimuli determines the efficiency of selective attention. There is evidence that perceptual load affects distractor processing, with increased inattentional blindness under high load. Given that high load can result in individuals failing to report seeing obvious objects, it is conceivable that load may also impair memory for the scene. The current study is the first to assess the effect of perceptual load on eyewitness memory. Across three experiments (two video-based and one in a driving simulator, the effect of perceptual load on eyewitness memory was assessed. The results showed that eyewitnesses were less accurate under high load, in particular for peripheral details. For example, memory for the central character in the video was not affected by load but memory for a witness who passed by the window at the edge of the scene was significantly worse under high load. High load memories were also more open to suggestion, showing increased susceptibility to leading questions. High visual perceptual load also affected recall for auditory information, illustrating a possible cross-modal perceptual load effect on memory accuracy. These results have implications for eyewitness memory researchers and forensic professionals.
Mechanism of Perceptual Attention

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Lu, Zhong-Lin

2000-01-01

.... Attention may affect the perceived clarity of visual displays and improve performance. In this project, a powerful external noise method was developed to identify and characterize the effect of attention on perceptual performance in visual tasks...
Mechanisms of Perceptual Attention

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Dosher, Barbara

2000-01-01

.... Attention may affect the perceived clarity of visual displays and improve performance. In this project, a powerful external noise method was developed to identify and characterize the effect of attention on perceptual performance in visual tasks...
Action video game play facilitates the development of better perceptual templates

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Bejjanki, Vikranth R.; Zhang, Ruyuan; Li, Renjie; Pouget, Alexandre; Green, C. Shawn; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Bavelier, Daphne

2014-01-01

The field of perceptual learning has identified changes in perceptual templates as a powerful mechanism mediating the learning of statistical regularities in our environment. By measuring threshold-vs.-contrast curves using an orientation identification task under varying levels of external noise, the perceptual template model (PTM) allows one to disentangle various sources of signal-to-noise changes that can alter performance. We use the PTM approach to elucidate the mechanism that underlies the wide range of improvements noted after action video game play. We show that action video game players make use of improved perceptual templates compared with nonvideo game players, and we confirm a causal role for action video game play in inducing such improvements through a 50-h training study. Then, by adapting a recent neural model to this task, we demonstrate how such improved perceptual templates can arise from reweighting the connectivity between visual areas. Finally, we establish that action gamers do not enter the perceptual task with improved perceptual templates. Instead, although performance in action gamers is initially indistinguishable from that of nongamers, action gamers more rapidly learn the proper template as they experience the task. Taken together, our results establish for the first time to our knowledge the development of enhanced perceptual templates following action game play. Because such an improvement can facilitate the inference of the proper generative model for the task at hand, unlike perceptual learning that is quite specific, it thus elucidates a general learning mechanism that can account for the various behavioral benefits noted after action game play. PMID:25385590
Action video game play facilitates the development of better perceptual templates.

Science.gov (United States)

Bejjanki, Vikranth R; Zhang, Ruyuan; Li, Renjie; Pouget, Alexandre; Green, C Shawn; Lu, Zhong-Lin; Bavelier, Daphne

2014-11-25

The field of perceptual learning has identified changes in perceptual templates as a powerful mechanism mediating the learning of statistical regularities in our environment. By measuring threshold-vs.-contrast curves using an orientation identification task under varying levels of external noise, the perceptual template model (PTM) allows one to disentangle various sources of signal-to-noise changes that can alter performance. We use the PTM approach to elucidate the mechanism that underlies the wide range of improvements noted after action video game play. We show that action video game players make use of improved perceptual templates compared with nonvideo game players, and we confirm a causal role for action video game play in inducing such improvements through a 50-h training study. Then, by adapting a recent neural model to this task, we demonstrate how such improved perceptual templates can arise from reweighting the connectivity between visual areas. Finally, we establish that action gamers do not enter the perceptual task with improved perceptual templates. Instead, although performance in action gamers is initially indistinguishable from that of nongamers, action gamers more rapidly learn the proper template as they experience the task. Taken together, our results establish for the first time to our knowledge the development of enhanced perceptual templates following action game play. Because such an improvement can facilitate the inference of the proper generative model for the task at hand, unlike perceptual learning that is quite specific, it thus elucidates a general learning mechanism that can account for the various behavioral benefits noted after action game play.
DETERMINATION OF SUPERFICIAL ABSORBED DOSE FROM EXTERNAL EXPOSURE OF WEAKLY PENETRATING RADIATIONS

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

陈丽姝

1994-01-01

The methods of determining the superficial absorbed dose distributions in a water phantom by means of the experiments and available theories have been reported.The distributions of beta dose were measured by an extrapolation ionization chamber at definite depthes corresponding to some superficial organs and tissues such as the radiosensitive layer of the skin,cornea,sclera,anterior chamber and lens of eyeball.The ratios among superficial absorbed dose D(0.07) and average absorbed doses at the depthes 1,2,3,4,5 and 6mm are also obtained with Cross's methods.They can be used for confining the deterministic effects of some superficial tissues and organs such as the skin and the components of eyeball for weakly penetrating radiations.
The Role of Perceptual Load in Object Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Lavie, Nilli; Lin, Zhicheng; Zokaei, Nahid; Thoma, Volker

2009-01-01

Predictions from perceptual load theory (Lavie, 1995, 2005) regarding object recognition across the same or different viewpoints were tested. Results showed that high perceptual load reduces distracter recognition levels despite always presenting distracter objects from the same view. They also showed that the levels of distracter recognition were…
Superficial Priming in Episodic Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Dopkins, Stephen; Sargent, Jesse; Ngo, Catherine T.

2010-01-01

We explored the effect of superficial priming in episodic recognition and found it to be different from the effect of semantic priming in episodic recognition. Participants made recognition judgments to pairs of items, with each pair consisting of a prime item and a test item. Correct positive responses to the test item were impeded if the prime…
Deep Feature Consistent Variational Autoencoder

OpenAIRE

Hou, Xianxu; Shen, Linlin; Sun, Ke; Qiu, Guoping

2016-01-01

We present a novel method for constructing Variational Autoencoder (VAE). Instead of using pixel-by-pixel loss, we enforce deep feature consistency between the input and the output of a VAE, which ensures the VAE's output to preserve the spatial correlation characteristics of the input, thus leading the output to have a more natural visual appearance and better perceptual quality. Based on recent deep learning works such as style transfer, we employ a pre-trained deep convolutional neural net...
Beta oscillations reflect supramodal information during perceptual judgment.

Science.gov (United States)

Haegens, Saskia; Vergara, José; Rossi-Pool, Román; Lemus, Luis; Romo, Ranulfo

2017-12-26

Previous work on perceptual decision making in the sensorimotor system has shown population dynamics in the beta band, corresponding to the encoding of stimulus properties and the final decision outcome. Here, we asked how oscillatory dynamics in the medial premotor cortex (MPC) contribute to supramodal perceptual decision making. We recorded local field potentials (LFPs) and spikes in two monkeys trained to perform a tactile-acoustic frequency discrimination task, including both unimodal and crossmodal conditions. We studied the role of oscillatory activity as a function of stimulus properties (frequency and sensory modality), as well as decision outcome. We found that beta-band power correlated with relevant stimulus properties: there was a significant modulation by stimulus frequency during the working-memory (WM) retention interval, as well as modulation by stimulus modality-the latter was observed only in the case of a purely unimodal task, where modality information was relevant to prepare for the upcoming second stimulus. Furthermore, we found a significant modulation of beta power during the comparison and decision period, which was predictive of decision outcome. Finally, beta-band spike-field coherence (SFC) matched these LFP observations. In conclusion, we demonstrate that beta power in MPC is reflective of stimulus features in a supramodal, context-dependent manner, and additionally reflects the decision outcome. We propose that these beta modulations are a signature of the recruitment of functional neuronal ensembles, which encode task-relevant information.
Extraction of auditory features and elicitation of attributes for the assessment of multichannel reproduced sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Choisel, Sylvain; Wickelmaier, Florian Maria

2006-01-01

), subjects were asked to directly assign verbal labels to the features when encountering them, and to subsequently rate the sounds on the scales thus obtained. The second method required the subjects to consistently use the perceptually relevant features in triadic comparisons, without having to assign them...
Pigmented basal cell carcinoma mimicking a superficial spreading melanoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Hasbún Acuña

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Resumen El carcinoma basocelular es el cáncer de piel más frecuente, especialmente en personas de edad avanzada. El carcinoma basocelular pigmentado es una variante poco común que se ha descrito en la literatura como una lesión nodular hiperpigmentada. En raras ocasiones puede presentarse en forma de una extensa placa pigmentada, la cual puede ser clínicamente indistinguible del melanoma maligno de extensión superficial y de la enfermedad de Bowen. La dermatoscopía tiene una alta sensibilidad en el diagnóstico del carcinoma basocelular, cuando se utilizan los criterios de Menzies, aunque el diagnóstico final es histopatológico. El objetivo del presente trabajo es reportar y analizar el caso de una paciente con un extenso carcinoma basocelular superficial pigmentado, que simula un melanoma maligno de extensión superficial.
Conceptual and Methodological Concerns in the Theory of Perceptual Load

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanna eBenoni

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The present paper provides a short critical review of the theory of perceptual load. It closely examines the basic tenets and assumptions of the theory and identifies major conceptual and methodological problems that have been largely ignored in the literature. The discussion focuses on problems in the definition of the concept of perceptual load, on the circularity in the characterization and manipulation of perceptual load and the confusion between the concept of perceptual load and its operationalization. The paper also selectively reviews evidence supporting the theory as well as inconsistent evidence which proposed alternative dominant factors influencing the efficacy of attentional selection.
The Role of Perceptual Load in Inattentional Blindness

Science.gov (United States)

Cartwright-Finch, Ula; Lavie, Nilli

2007-01-01

Perceptual load theory offers a resolution to the long-standing early vs. late selection debate over whether task-irrelevant stimuli are perceived, suggesting that irrelevant perception depends upon the perceptual load of task-relevant processing. However, previous evidence for this theory has relied on RTs and neuroimaging. Here we tested the…

Attentional sets influence perceptual load effects, but not dilution effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Benoni, Hanna; Zivony, Alon; Tsal, Yehoshua

2014-01-01

Perceptual load theory [Lavie, N. (1995). Perceptual load as a necessary condition for selective attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21, 451-468.; Lavie, N., & Tsal, Y. (1994) Perceptual load as a major determinant of the locus of selection in visual attention. Perception & Psychophysics, 56, 183-197.] proposes that interference from distractors can only be avoided in situations of high perceptual load. This theory has been supported by blocked design manipulations separating low load (when the target appears alone) and high load (when the target is embedded among neutral letters). Tsal and Benoni [(2010a). Diluting the burden of load: Perceptual load effects are simply dilution effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36, 1645-1656.; Benoni, H., & Tsal, Y. (2010). Where have we gone wrong? Perceptual load does not affect selective attention. Vision Research, 50, 1292-1298.] have recently shown that these manipulations confound perceptual load with "dilution" (the mere presence of additional heterogeneous items in high-load situations). Theeuwes, Kramer, and Belopolsky [(2004). Attentional set interacts with perceptual load in visual search. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11, 697-702.] independently questioned load theory by suggesting that attentional sets might also affect distractor interference. When high load and low load were intermixed, and participants could not prepare for the presentation that followed, both the low-load and high-load trials showed distractor interference. This result may also challenge the dilution account, which proposes a stimulus-driven mechanism. In the current study, we presented subjects with both fixed and mixed blocks, including a mix of dilution trials with low-load trials and with high-load trials. We thus separated the effect of dilution from load and tested the influence of attentional sets on each component. The results revealed that whereas
Who can you trust? Behavioral and neural differences between perceptual and memory-based influences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D Rudoy

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Decisions about whether to trust someone can be influenced by competing sources of information, such as analysis of facial features versus remembering specific information about the person. We hypothesized that such sources can differentially influence trustworthiness judgments depending on the circumstances in which judgments are made. In our experiments, subjects first learned face-word associations. Stimuli were trustworthy and untrustworthy faces selected on the basis of consensus judgments and personality attributes that carried either the same valence (consistent with face or the opposite valence (inconsistent with face. Subsequently, subjects rated the trustworthiness of each face. Both learned and perceptual information influenced ratings, but learned information was less influential under speeded than under non-speeded conditions. EEG data further revealed neural evidence of the processing of these two competing sources. Perceptual influences were apparent earlier than memory influences, substantiating the conclusion that time pressure can selectively disrupt memory retrieval relevant to trustworthiness attributions.
Effects of regular aerobic exercise on visual perceptual learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Connell, Charlotte J W; Thompson, Benjamin; Green, Hayden; Sullivan, Rachel K; Gant, Nicholas

2017-12-02

This study investigated the influence of five days of moderate intensity aerobic exercise on the acquisition and consolidation of visual perceptual learning using a motion direction discrimination (MDD) task. The timing of exercise relative to learning was manipulated by administering exercise either before or after perceptual training. Within a matched-subjects design, twenty-seven healthy participants (n = 9 per group) completed five consecutive days of perceptual training on a MDD task under one of three interventions: no exercise, exercise before the MDD task, or exercise after the MDD task. MDD task accuracy improved in all groups over the five-day period, but there was a trend for impaired learning when exercise was performed before visual perceptual training. MDD task accuracy (mean ± SD) increased in exercise before by 4.5 ± 6.5%; exercise after by 11.8 ± 6.4%; and no exercise by 11.3 ± 7.2%. All intervention groups displayed similar MDD threshold reductions for the trained and untrained motion axes after training. These findings suggest that moderate daily exercise does not enhance the rate of visual perceptual learning for an MDD task or the transfer of learning to an untrained motion axis. Furthermore, exercise performed immediately prior to a visual perceptual learning task may impair learning. Further research with larger groups is required in order to better understand these effects. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Perceptual Biases in Relation to Paranormal and Conspiracy Beliefs.

Science.gov (United States)

van Elk, Michiel

2015-01-01

Previous studies have shown that one's prior beliefs have a strong effect on perceptual decision-making and attentional processing. The present study extends these findings by investigating how individual differences in paranormal and conspiracy beliefs are related to perceptual and attentional biases. Two field studies were conducted in which visitors of a paranormal conducted a perceptual decision making task (i.e. the face/house categorization task; Experiment 1) or a visual attention task (i.e. the global/local processing task; Experiment 2). In the first experiment it was found that skeptics compared to believers more often incorrectly categorized ambiguous face stimuli as representing a house, indicating that disbelief rather than belief in the paranormal is driving the bias observed for the categorization of ambiguous stimuli. In the second experiment, it was found that skeptics showed a classical 'global-to-local' interference effect, whereas believers in conspiracy theories were characterized by a stronger 'local-to-global interference effect'. The present study shows that individual differences in paranormal and conspiracy beliefs are associated with perceptual and attentional biases, thereby extending the growing body of work in this field indicating effects of cultural learning on basic perceptual processes.
Perceptual Biases in Relation to Paranormal and Conspiracy Beliefs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michiel van Elk

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that one's prior beliefs have a strong effect on perceptual decision-making and attentional processing. The present study extends these findings by investigating how individual differences in paranormal and conspiracy beliefs are related to perceptual and attentional biases. Two field studies were conducted in which visitors of a paranormal conducted a perceptual decision making task (i.e. the face/house categorization task; Experiment 1 or a visual attention task (i.e. the global/local processing task; Experiment 2. In the first experiment it was found that skeptics compared to believers more often incorrectly categorized ambiguous face stimuli as representing a house, indicating that disbelief rather than belief in the paranormal is driving the bias observed for the categorization of ambiguous stimuli. In the second experiment, it was found that skeptics showed a classical 'global-to-local' interference effect, whereas believers in conspiracy theories were characterized by a stronger 'local-to-global interference effect'. The present study shows that individual differences in paranormal and conspiracy beliefs are associated with perceptual and attentional biases, thereby extending the growing body of work in this field indicating effects of cultural learning on basic perceptual processes.
Biased and unbiased perceptual decision-making on vocal emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Dricu, Mihai; Ceravolo, Leonardo; Grandjean, Didier; Frühholz, Sascha

2017-11-24

Perceptual decision-making on emotions involves gathering sensory information about the affective state of another person and forming a decision on the likelihood of a particular state. These perceptual decisions can be of varying complexity as determined by different contexts. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a region of interest approach to investigate the brain activation and functional connectivity behind two forms of perceptual decision-making. More complex unbiased decisions on affective voices recruited an extended bilateral network consisting of the posterior inferior frontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex, the amygdala, and voice-sensitive areas in the auditory cortex. Less complex biased decisions on affective voices distinctly recruited the right mid inferior frontal cortex, pointing to a functional distinction in this region following decisional requirements. Furthermore, task-induced neural connectivity revealed stronger connections between these frontal, auditory, and limbic regions during unbiased relative to biased decision-making on affective voices. Together, the data shows that different types of perceptual decision-making on auditory emotions have distinct patterns of activations and functional coupling that follow the decisional strategies and cognitive mechanisms involved during these perceptual decisions.
Cognitive-perceptual examination of remediation approaches to hypokinetic dysarthria.

Science.gov (United States)

McAuliffe, Megan J; Kerr, Sarah E; Gibson, Elizabeth M R; Anderson, Tim; LaShell, Patrick J

2014-08-01

To determine how increased vocal loudness and reduced speech rate affect listeners' cognitive-perceptual processing of hypokinetic dysarthric speech associated with Parkinson's disease. Fifty-one healthy listener participants completed a speech perception experiment. Listeners repeated phrases produced by 5 individuals with dysarthria across habitual, loud, and slow speaking modes. Listeners were allocated to habitual ( n = 17), loud ( n = 17), or slow ( n = 17) experimental conditions. Transcripts derived from the phrase repetition task were coded for overall accuracy (i.e., intelligibility), and perceptual error analyses examined how these conditions affected listeners' phonemic mapping (i.e., syllable resemblance) and lexical segmentation (i.e., lexical boundary error analysis). Both speech conditions provided obvious perceptual benefits to listeners. Overall, transcript accuracy was highest in the slow condition. In the loud condition, however, improvement was evidenced across the experiment. An error analysis suggested that listeners in the loud condition prioritized acoustic-phonetic cues in their attempts to resolve the degraded signal, whereas those in the slow condition appeared to preferentially weight lexical stress cues. Increased loudness and reduced rate exhibited differential effects on listeners' perceptual processing of dysarthric speech. The current study highlights the insights that may be gained from a cognitive-perceptual approach.
Extraction of auditory features and elicitation of attributes for the assessment of multi-channel reproduced sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Choisel, Sylvain; Wickelmaier, Florian Maria

2005-01-01

), subjects were asked to directly assign verbal labels to the features when encountering them and to subsequently rate the sounds on the scales thus obtained. The second method requires the subjects to consistently identify the perceptually relevant features before assigning them a verbal label. Under...
Extraction of auditory features and elicitation of attributes for the assessment of multi-channel reproduced sound

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Choisel, Sylvain; Wickelmaier, Florian

2005-01-01

), subjects were asked to directly assign verbal labels to the features when encountering them, and to subsequently rate the sounds on the scales thus obtained. The second method requires the subjects to consistently identify the perceptually relevant features before assigning them a verbal label. Under...
Perceptual learning in children with visual impairment improves near visual acuity.

Science.gov (United States)

Huurneman, Bianca; Boonstra, F Nienke; Cox, Ralf F A; van Rens, Ger; Cillessen, Antonius H N

2013-09-17

This study investigated whether visual perceptual learning can improve near visual acuity and reduce foveal crowding effects in four- to nine-year-old children with visual impairment. Participants were 45 children with visual impairment and 29 children with normal vision. Children with visual impairment were divided into three groups: a magnifier group (n = 12), a crowded perceptual learning group (n = 18), and an uncrowded perceptual learning group (n = 15). Children with normal vision also were divided in three groups, but were measured only at baseline. Dependent variables were single near visual acuity (NVA), crowded NVA, LH line 50% crowding NVA, number of trials, accuracy, performance time, amount of small errors, and amount of large errors. Children with visual impairment trained during six weeks, two times per week, for 30 minutes (12 training sessions). After training, children showed significant improvement of NVA in addition to specific improvements on the training task. The crowded perceptual learning group showed the largest acuity improvements (1.7 logMAR lines on the crowded chart, P children in the crowded perceptual learning group showed improvements on all NVA charts. Children with visual impairment benefit from perceptual training. While task-specific improvements were observed in all training groups, transfer to crowded NVA was largest in the crowded perceptual learning group. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide evidence for the improvement of NVA by perceptual learning in children with visual impairment. (http://www.trialregister.nl number, NTR2537.).
Learning-Based Just-Noticeable-Quantization- Distortion Modeling for Perceptual Video Coding.

Science.gov (United States)

Ki, Sehwan; Bae, Sung-Ho; Kim, Munchurl; Ko, Hyunsuk

2018-07-01

Conventional predictive video coding-based approaches are reaching the limit of their potential coding efficiency improvements, because of severely increasing computation complexity. As an alternative approach, perceptual video coding (PVC) has attempted to achieve high coding efficiency by eliminating perceptual redundancy, using just-noticeable-distortion (JND) directed PVC. The previous JNDs were modeled by adding white Gaussian noise or specific signal patterns into the original images, which were not appropriate in finding JND thresholds due to distortion with energy reduction. In this paper, we present a novel discrete cosine transform-based energy-reduced JND model, called ERJND, that is more suitable for JND-based PVC schemes. Then, the proposed ERJND model is extended to two learning-based just-noticeable-quantization-distortion (JNQD) models as preprocessing that can be applied for perceptual video coding. The two JNQD models can automatically adjust JND levels based on given quantization step sizes. One of the two JNQD models, called LR-JNQD, is based on linear regression and determines the model parameter for JNQD based on extracted handcraft features. The other JNQD model is based on a convolution neural network (CNN), called CNN-JNQD. To our best knowledge, our paper is the first approach to automatically adjust JND levels according to quantization step sizes for preprocessing the input to video encoders. In experiments, both the LR-JNQD and CNN-JNQD models were applied to high efficiency video coding (HEVC) and yielded maximum (average) bitrate reductions of 38.51% (10.38%) and 67.88% (24.91%), respectively, with little subjective video quality degradation, compared with the input without preprocessing applied.
Interpolating Spline Curve-Based Perceptual Encryption for 3D Printing Models

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Giao N. Pham

2018-02-01

Full Text Available With the development of 3D printing technology, 3D printing has recently been applied to many areas of life including healthcare and the automotive industry. Due to the benefit of 3D printing, 3D printing models are often attacked by hackers and distributed without agreement from the original providers. Furthermore, certain special models and anti-weapon models in 3D printing must be protected against unauthorized users. Therefore, in order to prevent attacks and illegal copying and to ensure that all access is authorized, 3D printing models should be encrypted before being transmitted and stored. A novel perceptual encryption algorithm for 3D printing models for secure storage and transmission is presented in this paper. A facet of 3D printing model is extracted to interpolate a spline curve of degree 2 in three-dimensional space that is determined by three control points, the curvature coefficients of degree 2, and an interpolating vector. Three control points, the curvature coefficients, and interpolating vector of the spline curve of degree 2 are encrypted by a secret key. The encrypted features of the spline curve are then used to obtain the encrypted 3D printing model by inverse interpolation and geometric distortion. The results of experiments and evaluations prove that the entire 3D triangle model is altered and deformed after the perceptual encryption process. The proposed algorithm is responsive to the various formats of 3D printing models. The results of the perceptual encryption process is superior to those of previous methods. The proposed algorithm also provides a better method and more security than previous methods.
Visible digital watermarking system using perceptual models

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Qiang; Huang, Thomas S.

2001-03-01

This paper presents a visible watermarking system using perceptual models. %how and why A watermark image is overlaid translucently onto a primary image, for the purposes of immediate claim of copyright, instantaneous recognition of owner or creator, or deterrence to piracy of digital images or video. %perceptual The watermark is modulated by exploiting combined DCT-domain and DWT-domain perceptual models. % so that the watermark is visually uniform. The resulting watermarked image is visually pleasing and unobtrusive. The location, size and strength of the watermark vary randomly with the underlying image. The randomization makes the automatic removal of the watermark difficult even though the algorithm is known publicly but the key to the random sequence generator. The experiments demonstrate that the watermarked images have pleasant visual effect and strong robustness. The watermarking system can be used in copyright notification and protection.
Conceptual Content and Unattended Visual Features

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Francisco Pereira

2009-08-01

Full Text Available McDowell (1994 proposed a philosophical theory about perceptual content −call it “conceptualism”− that states that in every case the content of a visual experience necessarily involves concepts that fully specify every single feature consciously and simultaneously available during the experience. In this paper I will question conceptualism, arguing that some visual experiences carry information about so many objects, properties and relations at the same time that it is unlikely for subjects to possess and implement concepts for every feature represented simultaneously by the experience at that time. If this is the case, then McDowell’s conceptualism is insufficiently grounded.
A new method for mapping perceptual biases across visual space.

Science.gov (United States)

Finlayson, Nonie J; Papageorgiou, Andriani; Schwarzkopf, D Samuel

2017-08-01

How we perceive the environment is not stable and seamless. Recent studies found that how a person qualitatively experiences even simple visual stimuli varies dramatically across different locations in the visual field. Here we use a method we developed recently that we call multiple alternatives perceptual search (MAPS) for efficiently mapping such perceptual biases across several locations. This procedure reliably quantifies the spatial pattern of perceptual biases and also of uncertainty and choice. We show that these measurements are strongly correlated with those from traditional psychophysical methods and that exogenous attention can skew biases without affecting overall task performance. Taken together, MAPS is an efficient method to measure how an individual's perceptual experience varies across space.
Superficial x-ray in-vivo dosimetry with MOSFET detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheung, T.; Yu, P.K.N.; Butson, M.J.; Cancer Services, Wollongong, NSW

2004-01-01

Full text: This note investigates in-vivo dosimetry using a Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) for radiotherapy treatment at superficial and orthovoltage x-ray energies. This was performed within one fraction of the patient's treatment. Standard measurements along with energy response of the detector are given. Results showed that the MOSFET measurements in-vivo agreed with calculated results on average within ± 5.6% over all superficial and orthovoltage energies. These variations were slightly larger than TLD results with variations between measured and calculated results being ± 5.0% for the same patient measurements. The MOSFET device provides adequate in-vivo dosimetry for superficial and orthovoltage energy treatments with the accuracy of the measurements seeming to be relatively on par with TLD in our case. The MOSFET does have the advantage of returning a relatively immediate dosimetric result after irradiation. Copyright (2004) Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine
Stimulus recognition occurs under high perceptual load: Evidence from correlated flankers.

Science.gov (United States)

Cosman, Joshua D; Mordkoff, J Toby; Vecera, Shaun P

2016-12-01

A dominant account of selective attention, perceptual load theory, proposes that when attentional resources are exhausted, task-irrelevant information receives little attention and goes unrecognized. However, the flanker effect-typically used to assay stimulus identification-requires an arbitrary mapping between a stimulus and a response. We looked for failures of flanker identification by using a more-sensitive measure that does not require arbitrary stimulus-response mappings: the correlated flankers effect. We found that flanking items that were task-irrelevant but that correlated with target identity produced a correlated flanker effect. Participants were faster on trials in which the irrelevant flanker had previously correlated with the target than when it did not. Of importance, this correlated flanker effect appeared regardless of perceptual load, occurring even in high-load displays that should have abolished flanker identification. Findings from a standard flanker task replicated the basic perceptual load effect, with flankers not affecting response times under high perceptual load. Our results indicate that task-irrelevant information can be processed to a high level (identification), even under high perceptual load. This challenges a strong account of high perceptual load effects that hypothesizes complete failures of stimulus identification under high perceptual load. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).
Perceptual Load Affects Eyewitness Accuracy and Susceptibility to Leading Questions.

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Murphy, Gillian; Greene, Ciara M

2016-01-01

Load Theory (Lavie, 1995, 2005) states that the level of perceptual load in a task (i.e., the amount of information involved in processing task-relevant stimuli) determines the efficiency of selective attention. There is evidence that perceptual load affects distractor processing, with increased inattentional blindness under high load. Given that high load can result in individuals failing to report seeing obvious objects, it is conceivable that load may also impair memory for the scene. The current study is the first to assess the effect of perceptual load on eyewitness memory. Across three experiments (two video-based and one in a driving simulator), the effect of perceptual load on eyewitness memory was assessed. The results showed that eyewitnesses were less accurate under high load, in particular for peripheral details. For example, memory for the central character in the video was not affected by load but memory for a witness who passed by the window at the edge of the scene was significantly worse under high load. High load memories were also more open to suggestion, showing increased susceptibility to leading questions. High visual perceptual load also affected recall for auditory information, illustrating a possible cross-modal perceptual load effect on memory accuracy. These results have implications for eyewitness memory researchers and forensic professionals.
Clinicomycological Characterization of Superficial Mycoses from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Khadka, Sundar; Sherchand, Jeevan Bahadur; Pokharel, Dinesh Binod; Pokhrel, Bharat Mani; Mishra, Shyam Kumar; Dhital, Subhash; Rijal, Basista

2016-01-01

Background . Superficial mycosis is a common fungal infection worldwide, mainly caused by dermatophytes. However, the prevalence of species varies geographically. In addition, fungal treatment is best guided according to species isolated. This study was carried out to determine the clinical as well as mycological profile of superficial mycoses in a tertiary care hospital, Nepal. Methods . This was a prospective case-control laboratory based study conducted over a period of six months from January to June 2014 at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Nepal. A total of 200 specimens were collected from the patients suspected of superficial mycoses. The specimens were macroscopically as well as microscopically examined. The growth was observed up to 4 weeks. Results. Out of total 200 specimens from the patients suspected of superficial mycoses, tinea corporis 50 (25%) was most common clinical types. KOH mount was positive in 89 (44.5%) and culture was positive in 111 (55.5%). Trichophyton mentagrophytes 44 (39.6%) was the most common isolate. Conclusions. The diagnostic yields of KOH mount and culture were found to be complementary to each other. Thus both the methods added with clinical findings are equally important to establish superficial mycosis.
Clinicomycological Characterization of Superficial Mycoses from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Nepal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sundar Khadka

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Superficial mycosis is a common fungal infection worldwide, mainly caused by dermatophytes. However, the prevalence of species varies geographically. In addition, fungal treatment is best guided according to species isolated. This study was carried out to determine the clinical as well as mycological profile of superficial mycoses in a tertiary care hospital, Nepal. Methods. This was a prospective case-control laboratory based study conducted over a period of six months from January to June 2014 at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Nepal. A total of 200 specimens were collected from the patients suspected of superficial mycoses. The specimens were macroscopically as well as microscopically examined. The growth was observed up to 4 weeks. Results. Out of total 200 specimens from the patients suspected of superficial mycoses, tinea corporis 50 (25% was most common clinical types. KOH mount was positive in 89 (44.5% and culture was positive in 111 (55.5%. Trichophyton mentagrophytes 44 (39.6% was the most common isolate. Conclusions. The diagnostic yields of KOH mount and culture were found to be complementary to each other. Thus both the methods added with clinical findings are equally important to establish superficial mycosis.

Trauma ocupacional por corpo estranho corneano superficial Occupational trauma due to superficial corneal foreign body

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Vanessa Miroski Gerente

2008-04-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Avaliar a epidemiologia do trauma ocular por corpo estranho superficial de córnea. MÉTODOS: Os pacientes atendidos no Pronto-Socorro da Universidade Federal de São Paulo entre abril e junho de 2005 que apresentaram corpo estranho superficial de córnea foram entrevistados. Foram avaliados: sexo, idade, profissão, registro legal do emprego, uso, disponibilidade e tipo de equipamentos de proteção utilizados e a fiscalização do seu uso. O conhecimento das complicações deste tipo de acidente também foi avaliado. Os resultados foram analisados com teste do qui quadrado ou teste de Fisher. RESULTADOS: Foram entrevistados 123 pacientes. Apenas 3 eram do sexo feminino e a idade média foi de 36 anos. A maioria destes traumas ocorreu no ambiente de trabalho (86,2% e 58,4% não possuíam registro legal do emprego. As profissões mais freqüentemente envolvidas foram serralheiro, pedreiro e metalúrgico. Em 79,8% dos locais de trabalho havia equipamentos de proteção e 85,3% dos pacientes eram orientados a usá-los. Em 52,4% dos locais sua utilização era fiscalizada, mas apenas 34,2% usavam no momento do trauma. A utilização foi mais freqüente (p=0,008 e fiscalização mais presente (p=0,0415 entre pacientes com registro legal de emprego. Questionados sobre os riscos, 68,9% dos pacientes tinham consciência das complicações graves deste tipo de acidente. CONCLUSÃO: A maioria dos pacientes tem conhecimento sobre a gravidade do trauma ocular e este tipo de lesão ocorre mesmo em locais com equipamentos de proteção disponíveis, alguns deles até durante o seu uso. Os dados sugerem que enfoque maior da prevenção deve ser na fiscalização e utilização de equipamentos adequados.PURPOSE: To evaluate the epidemiology of superficial corneal foreign body. METHODS: Patients who were seen at the Emergency Service of the Federal University of São Paulo, from April/05 to June/05, were screened and those with superficial corneal
Acoustic and Perceptual Measurement of Expressive Prosody in High-Functioning Autism: Increased Pitch Range and What it Means to Listeners

Science.gov (United States)

Nadig, Aparna; Shaw, Holly

2012-01-01

Are there consistent markers of atypical prosody in speakers with high functioning autism (HFA) compared to typically-developing speakers? We examined: (1) acoustic measurements of pitch range, mean pitch and speech rate in conversation, (2) perceptual ratings of conversation for these features and overall prosody, and (3) acoustic measurements of…
Perceptual biases in relation to paranormal and conspiracy beliefs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Elk, M.

2015-01-01

Previous studies have shown that one’s prior beliefs have a strong effect on perceptual decision-making and attentional processing. The present study extends these findings by investigating how individual differences in paranormal and conspiracy beliefs are related to perceptual and attentional
Limited Cognitive Resources Explain a Trade-Off between Perceptual and Metacognitive Vigilance.

Science.gov (United States)

Maniscalco, Brian; McCurdy, Li Yan; Odegaard, Brian; Lau, Hakwan

2017-02-01

Why do experimenters give subjects short breaks in long behavioral experiments? Whereas previous studies suggest it is difficult to maintain attention and vigilance over long periods of time, it is unclear precisely what mechanisms benefit from rest after short experimental blocks. Here, we evaluate decline in both perceptual performance and metacognitive sensitivity (i.e., how well confidence ratings track perceptual decision accuracy) over time and investigate whether characteristics of prefrontal cortical areas correlate with these measures. Whereas a single-process signal detection model predicts that these two forms of fatigue should be strongly positively correlated, a dual-process model predicts that rates of decline may dissociate. Here, we show that these measures consistently exhibited negative or near-zero correlations, as if engaged in a trade-off relationship, suggesting that different mechanisms contribute to perceptual and metacognitive decisions. Despite this dissociation, the two mechanisms likely depend on common resources, which could explain their trade-off relationship. Based on structural MRI brain images of individual human subjects, we assessed gray matter volume in the frontal polar area, a region that has been linked to visual metacognition. Variability of frontal polar volume correlated with individual differences in behavior, indicating the region may play a role in supplying common resources for both perceptual and metacognitive vigilance. Additional experiments revealed that reduced metacognitive demand led to superior perceptual vigilance, providing further support for this hypothesis. Overall, results indicate that during breaks between short blocks, it is the higher-level perceptual decision mechanisms, rather than lower-level sensory machinery, that benefit most from rest. Perceptual task performance declines over time (the so-called vigilance decrement), but the relationship between vigilance in perception and metacognition has
Can Attention be Divided Between Perceptual Groups?

Science.gov (United States)

McCann, Robert S.; Foyle, David C.; Johnston, James C.; Hart, Sandra G. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

Previous work using Head-Up Displays (HUDs) suggests that the visual system parses the HUD and the outside world into distinct perceptual groups, with attention deployed sequentially to first one group and then the other. New experiments show that both groups can be processed in parallel in a divided attention search task, even though subjects have just processed a stimulus in one perceptual group or the other. Implications for models of visual attention will be discussed.
Perceptual and Cognitive Impairments and Driving

Science.gov (United States)

Korner-Bitensky, Nicol; Coopersmith, Henry; Mayo, Nancy; Leblanc, Ginette; Kaizer, Franceen

1990-01-01

Perceptual and cognitive disorders that frequently accompany stroke and head injury influence an individual's ability to drive a motor vehicle. Canadian physicians are legally responsible for identifying patients who are potentially unsafe to drive and, if they fail to do so, may be held liable in a civil action suit. The authors review the guidelines for physicians evaluating a patient's fitness to drive after brain injury. They also examine the actions a physician should take when a patient with perceptual and cognitive problems wants to drive. Ultimately, by taking these actions, physicians will help to prevent driving accidents. PMID:21234047
Perceptual-motor functioning in children with phenylketonuria.

Science.gov (United States)

Koff, E; Boyle, P; Pueschel, S M

1977-10-01

Children with treated phenylketonuria (PKU) have been described as being at high risk for perceptual-motor dysfunction. In this study, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Bender Gestalt test were administered to 19 school age children with treated PKU and of average intelligence who have been off diet from five months to six years four months. Perceptual-motor performance was evaluated, and school functioning was rated by classroom teachers. Substantial impairment of perceptual-motor functioning as measured by the Bender Gestalt test and lower WISC performance IQs than verbal IQs were observed in children of average intelligence. Quality of dietary control was found to be associated with performance on the Bender Gestalt test. These findings suggest the possibility of a specific deficit that could seriously interfere with academic progress, but which is not signalled by obvious impairment of overall intellectual functioning.
The correlation study of radiological findings with pathological classification of superficial depressed (IIc type) early gastric cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Linxiang; Deng Bingxing; Liu Yujin; Iinuma, G.; Moriyama, N.

2007-01-01

Objective: To investigate the relations between radiological findings and pathological classification of superficial depressed (II c type) early gastric cancer. Methods: Radiological features in subtonic double contrast barium examination and the endoscopic pictures of early gastric cancer compared with the global pathological specimens and micro-pathological features were prospectively studied. Combined with the gastric endoscopic pictures, the sharpness of margin of the lesions, the changes of converging mucosal folds and the changes of the depressed surface on the film of double contrast barium examination were analyzed. The correlation between the radiological features and histological classification of gastric cancer including well differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma (tub1), moderately differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma (tub2), poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (por) and signet-ring cell carcinoma (sig) were studied. Results: In 102 cases of II c type early gastric cancer, there were tub1 27 cases, tub2 11, por 26 and sig 38 cases histologically. The margin of the depressed lesions of tubl (24 cases) and tub2 (9 cases) cancers were mostly unsharply demarcated or with fine spicular border, while the margin of lesions of por(15 cases) and sig(31 cases) were mostly clearly and sharply demarcated, with statistical significance (P<0.01). The depressed surface of tub1 and tub2 lesions (17 cases) revealed little unevenness, sometimes with evenly granulations, single nodule and scar-like depression, while that of por and sig lesions (41 cases) manifested as nodules of varying sizes, with statistical significance (P<0.01). Conclusion: The radiological findings of superficial depressed early gastric cancer in different histological types were different, the possible histological type could be speculated according to the radiological findings of the lesions. (authors)
Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) Treatment Planning for Superficial Tumors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zacarias, Albert S.; Brown, Mellonie F.; Mills, Michael D.

2010-01-01

The physician's planning objective is often a uniform dose distribution throughout the planning target volume (PTV), including superficial PTVs on or near the surface of a patient's body. Varian's Eclipse treatment planning system uses a progressive resolution optimizer (PRO), version 8.2.23, for RapidArc dynamic multileaf collimator volumetric modulated arc therapy planning. Because the PRO is a fast optimizer, optimization convergence errors (OCEs) produce dose nonuniformity in the superficial area of the PTV. We present a postsurgical cranial case demonstrating the recursive method our clinic uses to produce RapidArc treatment plans. The initial RapidArc treatment plan generated using one 360 o arc resulted in substantial dose nonuniformity in the superficial section of the PTV. We demonstrate the use of multiple arcs to produce improved dose uniformity in this region. We also compare the results of this superficial dose compensation method to the results of a recursive method of dose correction that we developed in-house to correct optimization convergence errors in static intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment plans. The results show that up to 4 arcs may be necessary to provide uniform dose to the surface of the PTV with the current version of the PRO.
Human visual perceptual organization beats thinking on speed.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Helm, Peter A

2017-05-01

What is the degree to which knowledge influences visual perceptual processes? This question, which is central to the seeing-versus-thinking debate in cognitive science, is often discussed using examples claimed to be proof of one stance or another. It has, however, also been muddled by the usage of different and unclear definitions of perception. Here, for the well-defined process of perceptual organization, I argue that including speed (or efficiency) into the equation opens a new perspective on the limits of top-down influences of thinking on seeing. While the input of the perceptual organization process may be modifiable and its output enrichable, the process itself seems so fast (or efficient) that thinking hardly has time to intrude and is effective mostly after the fact.
Superficial siderosis of the central nervous system - A case report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mannalini, S.

1997-01-01

There is little information on superficial siderosis of the central nervous system (CNS) in the literature, mainly due to the rarity of the disease, the difficulties in diagnosis (autopsy pre magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) and the long latency of the symptoms. With the advent of MRI, for the first time we are able to make a positive in vivo diagnosis. But this comes at a time of less disease incidence, and little clinical awareness. MRI is able to make the diagnosis because of the strong paramagnetic effect of haemosiderin, the blood by-product that is deposited on the brain surface in superficial siderosis of the CNS. The ability of the brain to biosynthesize ferritin in response to prolonged contact with haemosiderin is thought to be the most important factor in the pathogenesis of superficial siderosis. (author)
Volumetric and superficial characterization of carbon activated; Caracterizacion volumetrica y superficial de carbon activado

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carrera G, L.M.; Garcia S, I.; Jimenez B, J.; Solache R, M.; Lopez M, B.; Bulbulian G, S.; Olguin G, M.T. [Departamento de Quimica, Gerencia de Ciencias Basicas, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, A.P. 18-1027, 11801 Mexico D.F. (Mexico)

2000-07-01

The activated carbon is the resultant material of the calcination process of natural carbonated materials as coconut shells or olive little bones. It is an excellent adsorbent of diluted substances, so much in colloidal form, as in particles form. Those substances are attracted and retained by the carbon surface. In this work is make the volumetric and superficial characterization of activated carbon treated thermically (300 Centigrade) in function of the grain size average. (Author)
Effect of perceptual load on conceptual processing: an extension of Vermeulen's theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Jiushu; Wang, Ruiming; Sun, Xun; Chang, Song

2013-10-01

The effect of color and shape load on conceptual processing was studied. Perceptual load effects have been found in visual and auditory conceptual processing, supporting the theory of embodied cognition. However, whether different types of visual concepts, such as color and shape, share the same perceptual load effects is unknown. In the current experiment, 32 participants were administered simultaneous perceptual and conceptual tasks to assess the relation between perceptual load and conceptual processing. Keeping color load in mind obstructed color conceptual processing. Hence, perceptual processing and conceptual load shared the same resources, suggesting embodied cognition. Color conceptual processing was not affected by shape pictures, indicating that different types of properties within vision were separate.
First-Hand Accounts of Sensory Perceptual Experiences in Autism: A Qualitative Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Robert S. P.; Quigney, Ciara; Huws, Jaci C.

2003-01-01

Five first-hand Web page accounts of unusual sensory perceptual experiences written by persons with high-functioning autism were selected for qualitative analysis. Four core categories emerged: turbulent sensory perceptual experiences; coping mechanisms; enjoyable sensory perceptual experiences; and awareness of being different, suggesting they…
Consensus paper: the role of the cerebellum in perceptual processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Baumann, Oliver; Borra, Ronald J; Bower, James M; Cullen, Kathleen E; Habas, Christophe; Ivry, Richard B; Leggio, Maria; Mattingley, Jason B; Molinari, Marco; Moulton, Eric A; Paulin, Michael G; Pavlova, Marina A; Schmahmann, Jeremy D; Sokolov, Arseny A

2015-04-01

Various lines of evidence accumulated over the past 30 years indicate that the cerebellum, long recognized as essential for motor control, also has considerable influence on perceptual processes. In this paper, we bring together experts from psychology and neuroscience, with the aim of providing a succinct but comprehensive overview of key findings related to the involvement of the cerebellum in sensory perception. The contributions cover such topics as anatomical and functional connectivity, evolutionary and comparative perspectives, visual and auditory processing, biological motion perception, nociception, self-motion, timing, predictive processing, and perceptual sequencing. While no single explanation has yet emerged concerning the role of the cerebellum in perceptual processes, this consensus paper summarizes the impressive empirical evidence on this problem and highlights diversities as well as commonalities between existing hypotheses. In addition to work with healthy individuals and patients with cerebellar disorders, it is also apparent that several neurological conditions in which perceptual disturbances occur, including autism and schizophrenia, are associated with cerebellar pathology. A better understanding of the involvement of the cerebellum in perceptual processes will thus likely be important for identifying and treating perceptual deficits that may at present go unnoticed and untreated. This paper provides a useful framework for further debate and empirical investigations into the influence of the cerebellum on sensory perception.
Selective Attention to Perceptual Dimensions and Switching between Dimensions

Science.gov (United States)

Meiran, Nachshon; Dimov, Eduard; Ganel, Tzvi

2013-01-01

In the present experiments, the question being addressed was whether switching attention between perceptual dimensions and selective attention to dimensions are processes that compete over a common resource? Attention to perceptual dimensions is usually studied by requiring participants to ignore a never-relevant dimension. Selection failure…
Can human eyes prevent perceptual narrowing for monkey faces in human infants?

Science.gov (United States)

Damon, Fabrice; Bayet, Laurie; Quinn, Paul C; Hillairet de Boisferon, Anne; Méary, David; Dupierrix, Eve; Lee, Kang; Pascalis, Olivier

2015-07-01

Perceptual narrowing has been observed in human infants for monkey faces: 6-month-olds can discriminate between them, whereas older infants from 9 months of age display difficulty discriminating between them. The difficulty infants from 9 months have processing monkey faces has not been clearly identified. It could be due to the structural characteristics of monkey faces, particularly the key facial features that differ from human faces. The current study aimed to investigate whether the information conveyed by the eyes is of importance. We examined whether the presence of Caucasian human eyes in monkey faces allows recognition to be maintained in 6-month-olds and facilitates recognition in 9- and 12-month-olds. Our results revealed that the presence of human eyes in monkey faces maintains recognition for those faces at 6 months of age and partially facilitates recognition of those faces at 9 months of age, but not at 12 months of age. The findings are interpreted in the context of perceptual narrowing and suggest that the attenuation of processing of other-species faces is not reversed by the presence of human eyes. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Multivoxel neurofeedback selectively modulates confidence without changing perceptual performance

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Cortese, Aurelio; Amano, Kaoru; Koizumi, Ai; Kawato, Mitsuo; Lau, Hakwan

2016-01-01

A central controversy in metacognition studies concerns whether subjective confidence directly reflects the reliability of perceptual or cognitive processes, as suggested by normative models based on the assumption that neural computations are generally optimal. This view enjoys popularity in the computational and animal literatures, but it has also been suggested that confidence may depend on a late-stage estimation dissociable from perceptual processes. Yet, at least in humans, experimental tools have lacked the power to resolve these issues convincingly. Here, we overcome this difficulty by using the recently developed method of decoded neurofeedback (DecNef) to systematically manipulate multivoxel correlates of confidence in a frontoparietal network. Here we report that bi-directional changes in confidence do not affect perceptual accuracy. Further psychophysical analyses rule out accounts based on simple shifts in reporting strategy. Our results provide clear neuroscientific evidence for the systematic dissociation between confidence and perceptual performance, and thereby challenge current theoretical thinking. PMID:27976739
Perceptual processing during trauma, priming and the development of intrusive memories

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Sündermann, Oliver; Hauschildt, Marit; Ehlers, Anke

2013-01-01

Background Intrusive reexperiencing in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly triggered by stimuli with perceptual similarity to those present during the trauma. Information processing theories suggest that perceptual processing during the trauma and enhanced perceptual priming contribute to the easy triggering of intrusive memories by these cues. Methods Healthy volunteers (N = 51) watched neutral and trauma picture stories on a computer screen. Neutral objects that were unrelated to the content of the stories briefly appeared in the interval between the pictures. Dissociation and data-driven processing (as indicators of perceptual processing) and state anxiety during the stories were assessed with self-report questionnaires. After filler tasks, participants completed a blurred object identification task to assess priming and a recognition memory task. Intrusive memories were assessed with telephone interviews 2 weeks and 3 months later. Results Neutral objects were more strongly primed if they occurred in the context of trauma stories than if they occurred during neutral stories, although the effect size was only moderate (ηp2=.08) and only significant when trauma stories were presented first. Regardless of story order, enhanced perceptual priming predicted intrusive memories at 2-week follow-up (N = 51), but not at 3 months (n = 40). Data-driven processing, dissociation and anxiety increases during the trauma stories also predicted intrusive memories. Enhanced perceptual priming and data-driven processing were associated with lower verbal intelligence. Limitations It is unclear to what extent these findings generalize to real-life traumatic events and whether they are specific to negative emotional events. Conclusions The results provide some support for the role of perceptual processing and perceptual priming in reexperiencing symptoms. PMID:23207970
The Spatial Focus of Attention Is Controlled at Perceptual and Cognitive Levels

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Caparos, Serge; Linnell, Karina J.

2010-01-01

Selective attention has been hypothesized to reduce distractor interference at both perceptual and postperceptual levels (Lavie, 2005), respectively, by focusing perceptual resources on the attended location and by blocking at postperceptual levels distractors that survive perceptual selection. This study measured the impact of load on these…

Perceptual Specificity Effects in Rereading: Evidence from Eye Movements

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Sheridan, Heather; Reingold, Eyal M.

2012-01-01

The present experiments examined perceptual specificity effects using a rereading paradigm. Eye movements were monitored while participants read the same target word twice, in two different low-constraint sentence frames. The congruency of perceptual processing was manipulated by either presenting the target word in the same distortion typography…
Perceptual maps: the good, the bad and the ugly

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.C. Gower (John); P.J.F. Groenen (Patrick); M. van de Velden (Michel); K. Vines (Karen)

2010-01-01

textabstractPerceptual maps are often used in marketing to visually study relations between two or more attributes. However, in many perceptual maps published in the recent literature it remains unclear what is being shown and how the relations between the points in the map can be interpreted or
Constructing knowledge through perceptual processes in making craft-art

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Milla Ojala

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The focus of the study is on the knowledge that is constructed through perceptual processes during craft making in the context of the Finnish Basic Education in the Arts (BEA system. Craft studies in the BEA are defined as craft-art. The research method used is the grounded theory. The data consists of seven interviews and participant observations. Participants in the study are adolescents who study craft-art in the BEA system in Visual Art School, Aimo in Hämeenlinna. The aim of the article is to present, define and reflect on the concepts, properties and dimensions concerning perceptual processes that are discovered in this stage of the study following grounded theory procedures. The perceptual processes are an essential means of constructing knowledge in craft-art. Consequently, one aim of the study is to discuss how these processes are connected to various types of knowledge. The perceptual processes are described by seven concepts: imitative, anticipative, evaluative, experimental, emotional, temporal and bodily perceptions. They indicate on a conceptual level the characteristic of knowledge constructed through perceptual processes in craft-art. Further, theconcepts have several properties that can vary dimensionally between two qualities. The properties are activity, function and position. The dimensions of the properties vary from active to passive, formal to informal and internal to external. In conclusion, the concepts can describe a large range of incidents in different situations. They also seem to describe well the practice of craft-art and there are several connections with pre-existing concepts of knowledge.Keywords: Craft, Knowledge, Perceptual process, Basic Education in the Arts, Grounded Theory
The perceptual processing capacity of summary statistics between and within feature dimensions

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Attarha, Mouna; Moore, Cathleen M.

2015-01-01

The simultaneous–sequential method was used to test the processing capacity of statistical summary representations both within and between feature dimensions. Sixteen gratings varied with respect to their size and orientation. In Experiment 1, the gratings were equally divided into four separate smaller sets, one of which with a mean size that was larger or smaller than the other three sets, and one of which with a mean orientation that was tilted more leftward or rightward. The task was to report the mean size and orientation of the oddball sets. This therefore required four summary representations for size and another four for orientation. The sets were presented at the same time in the simultaneous condition or across two temporal frames in the sequential condition. Experiment 1 showed evidence of a sequential advantage, suggesting that the system may be limited with respect to establishing multiple within-feature summaries. Experiment 2 eliminates the possibility that some aspect of the task, other than averaging, was contributing to this observed limitation. In Experiment 3, the same 16 gratings appeared as one large superset, and therefore the task only required one summary representation for size and another one for orientation. Equal simultaneous–sequential performance indicated that between-feature summaries are capacity free. These findings challenge the view that within-feature summaries drive a global sense of visual continuity across areas of the peripheral visual field, and suggest a shift in focus to seeking an understanding of how between-feature summaries in one area of the environment control behavior. PMID:26360153
Biomass torrefaction characteristics in inert and oxidative atmospheres at various superficial velocities.

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Chen, Wei-Hsin; Lu, Ke-Miao; Liu, Shih-Hsien; Tsai, Chi-Ming; Lee, Wen-Jhy; Lin, Ta-Chang

2013-10-01

The reaction characteristics of four biomass materials (i.e. oil palm fiber, coconut fiber, eucalyptus, and Cryptomeria japonica) with non-oxidative and oxidative torrefaction at various superficial velocities are investigated where nitrogen and air are used as carrier gases. Three torrefaction temperatures of 250, 300, and 350 °C are considered. At a given temperature, the solid yield of biomass is not affected by N2 superficial velocity, revealing that the thermal degradation is controlled by heat and mass transfer in biomass. Increasing air superficial velocity decreases the solid yield, especially in oil palm fiber and coconut fiber, implying that the torrefaction reaction of biomass is dominated by surface oxidation. There exists an upper limit of air superficial velocity in the decrement of solid yield, suggesting that beyond this limit the thermal degradation of biomass is no longer governed by surface oxidation, but rather is controlled by internal mass transport. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Perceptual distortion analysis of color image VQ-based coding

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Charrier, Christophe; Knoblauch, Kenneth; Cherifi, Hocine

1997-04-01

It is generally accepted that a RGB color image can be easily encoded by using a gray-scale compression technique on each of the three color planes. Such an approach, however, fails to take into account correlations existing between color planes and perceptual factors. We evaluated several linear and non-linear color spaces, some introduced by the CIE, compressed with the vector quantization technique for minimum perceptual distortion. To study these distortions, we measured contrast and luminance of the video framebuffer, to precisely control color. We then obtained psychophysical judgements to measure how well these methods work to minimize perceptual distortion in a variety of color space.
Perceptual Learning: 12-Month-Olds' Discrimination of Monkey Faces

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Fair, Joseph; Flom, Ross; Jones, Jacob; Martin, Justin

2012-01-01

Six-month-olds reliably discriminate different monkey and human faces whereas 9-month-olds only discriminate different human faces. It is often falsely assumed that perceptual narrowing reflects a permanent change in perceptual abilities. In 3 experiments, ninety-six 12-month-olds' discrimination of unfamiliar monkey faces was examined. Following…
Perceptual consciousness overflows cognitive access.

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Block, Ned

2011-12-01

One of the most important issues concerning the foundations of conscious perception centers on the question of whether perceptual consciousness is rich or sparse. The overflow argument uses a form of 'iconic memory' to argue that perceptual consciousness is richer (i.e., has a higher capacity) than cognitive access: when observing a complex scene we are conscious of more than we can report or think about. Recently, the overflow argument has been challenged both empirically and conceptually. This paper reviews the controversy, arguing that proponents of sparse perception are committed to the postulation of (i) a peculiar kind of generic conscious representation that has no independent rationale and (ii) an unmotivated form of unconscious representation that in some cases conflicts with what we know about unconscious representation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Age-related declines of stability in visual perceptual learning.

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Chang, Li-Hung; Shibata, Kazuhisa; Andersen, George J; Sasaki, Yuka; Watanabe, Takeo

2014-12-15

One of the biggest questions in learning is how a system can resolve the plasticity and stability dilemma. Specifically, the learning system needs to have not only a high capability of learning new items (plasticity) but also a high stability to retain important items or processing in the system by preventing unimportant or irrelevant information from being learned. This dilemma should hold true for visual perceptual learning (VPL), which is defined as a long-term increase in performance on a visual task as a result of visual experience. Although it is well known that aging influences learning, the effect of aging on the stability and plasticity of the visual system is unclear. To address the question, we asked older and younger adults to perform a task while a task-irrelevant feature was merely exposed. We found that older individuals learned the task-irrelevant features that younger individuals did not learn, both the features that were sufficiently strong for younger individuals to suppress and the features that were too weak for younger individuals to learn. At the same time, there was no plasticity reduction in older individuals within the task tested. These results suggest that the older visual system is less stable to unimportant information than the younger visual system. A learning problem with older individuals may be due to a decrease in stability rather than a decrease in plasticity, at least in VPL. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Out of mind, out of sight: perceptual consequences of memory suppression.

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Kim, Kyungmi; Yi, Do-Joon

2013-04-01

In the present study, the effect of memory suppression on subsequent perceptual processing of visual objects was examined within a modified think/no-think paradigm. Suppressing memories of visual objects significantly impaired subsequent perceptual identification of those objects when they were briefly encountered (Experiment 1) and when they were presented in noise (Experiment 2), relative to performance on baseline items for which participants did not undergo suppression training. However, in Experiment 3, when perceptual identification was performed on mirror-reversed images of to-be-suppressed objects, no impairment was observed. These findings, analogous to those showing forgetting of suppressed words in long-term memory, suggest that suppressing memories of visual objects might be mediated by direct inhibition of perceptual representations, which, in turn, impairs later perception of them. This study provides strong support for the role of inhibitory mechanisms in memory control and suggests a tight link between higher-order cognitive operations and perceptual processing.
Perceptual basis of evolving Western musical styles.

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Rodriguez Zivic, Pablo H; Shifres, Favio; Cecchi, Guillermo A

2013-06-11

The brain processes temporal statistics to predict future events and to categorize perceptual objects. These statistics, called expectancies, are found in music perception, and they span a variety of different features and time scales. Specifically, there is evidence that music perception involves strong expectancies regarding the distribution of a melodic interval, namely, the distance between two consecutive notes within the context of another. The recent availability of a large Western music dataset, consisting of the historical record condensed as melodic interval counts, has opened new possibilities for data-driven analysis of musical perception. In this context, we present an analytical approach that, based on cognitive theories of music expectation and machine learning techniques, recovers a set of factors that accurately identifies historical trends and stylistic transitions between the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Post-Romantic periods. We also offer a plausible musicological and cognitive interpretation of these factors, allowing us to propose them as data-driven principles of melodic expectation.
Linking Ecological and Perceptual Assessments for Environmental Management: a Coral Reef Case Study

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Elizabeth A. Dinsdale

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Integrating information from a range of community members in environmental management provides a more complete assessment of the problem and a diversification of management options, but is difficult to achieve. To investigate the relationship between different environmental interpretations, I compared three distinct measures of anchor damage on coral reefs: ecological measures, perceptual meanings, and subjective health judgments. The ecological measures identified an increase in the number of overturned corals and a reduction in coral cover, the perceptual meanings identified a loss of visual quality, and the health judgments identified a reduction in the health of the coral reef sites associated with high levels of anchoring. Combining the perceptual meanings and health judgments identified that the judgment of environmental health was a key feature that both scientific and lay participants used to describe the environment. Some participants in the survey were familiar with the coral reef environment, and others were not. However, they provided consistent judgment of a healthy coral reef, suggesting that these judgments were not linked to present-day experiences. By combining subjective judgments and ecological measures, the point at which the environment is deemed to lose visual quality was identified; for these coral reefs, if the level of damage rose above 10.3% and the cover of branching corals dropped below 17.1%, the reefs were described as unhealthy. Therefore, by combining the information, a management agency can involve the community in identifying when remedial action is required or when management policies are effectively maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
Autism-specific covariation in perceptual performances: "g" or "p" factor?

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Meilleur, Andrée-Anne S; Berthiaume, Claude; Bertone, Armando; Mottron, Laurent

2014-01-01

Autistic perception is characterized by atypical and sometimes exceptional performance in several low- (e.g., discrimination) and mid-level (e.g., pattern matching) tasks in both visual and auditory domains. A factor that specifically affects perceptive abilities in autistic individuals should manifest as an autism-specific association between perceptual tasks. The first purpose of this study was to explore how perceptual performances are associated within or across processing levels and/or modalities. The second purpose was to determine if general intelligence, the major factor that accounts for covariation in task performances in non-autistic individuals, equally controls perceptual abilities in autistic individuals. We asked 46 autistic individuals and 46 typically developing controls to perform four tasks measuring low- or mid-level visual or auditory processing. Intelligence was measured with the Wechsler's Intelligence Scale (FSIQ) and Raven Progressive Matrices (RPM). We conducted linear regression models to compare task performances between groups and patterns of covariation between tasks. The addition of either Wechsler's FSIQ or RPM in the regression models controlled for the effects of intelligence. In typically developing individuals, most perceptual tasks were associated with intelligence measured either by RPM or Wechsler FSIQ. The residual covariation between unimodal tasks, i.e. covariation not explained by intelligence, could be explained by a modality-specific factor. In the autistic group, residual covariation revealed the presence of a plurimodal factor specific to autism. Autistic individuals show exceptional performance in some perceptual tasks. Here, we demonstrate the existence of specific, plurimodal covariation that does not dependent on general intelligence (or "g" factor). Instead, this residual covariation is accounted for by a common perceptual process (or "p" factor), which may drive perceptual abilities differently in autistic and
Autism-specific covariation in perceptual performances: "g" or "p" factor?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrée-Anne S Meilleur

Full Text Available Autistic perception is characterized by atypical and sometimes exceptional performance in several low- (e.g., discrimination and mid-level (e.g., pattern matching tasks in both visual and auditory domains. A factor that specifically affects perceptive abilities in autistic individuals should manifest as an autism-specific association between perceptual tasks. The first purpose of this study was to explore how perceptual performances are associated within or across processing levels and/or modalities. The second purpose was to determine if general intelligence, the major factor that accounts for covariation in task performances in non-autistic individuals, equally controls perceptual abilities in autistic individuals.We asked 46 autistic individuals and 46 typically developing controls to perform four tasks measuring low- or mid-level visual or auditory processing. Intelligence was measured with the Wechsler's Intelligence Scale (FSIQ and Raven Progressive Matrices (RPM. We conducted linear regression models to compare task performances between groups and patterns of covariation between tasks. The addition of either Wechsler's FSIQ or RPM in the regression models controlled for the effects of intelligence.In typically developing individuals, most perceptual tasks were associated with intelligence measured either by RPM or Wechsler FSIQ. The residual covariation between unimodal tasks, i.e. covariation not explained by intelligence, could be explained by a modality-specific factor. In the autistic group, residual covariation revealed the presence of a plurimodal factor specific to autism.Autistic individuals show exceptional performance in some perceptual tasks. Here, we demonstrate the existence of specific, plurimodal covariation that does not dependent on general intelligence (or "g" factor. Instead, this residual covariation is accounted for by a common perceptual process (or "p" factor, which may drive perceptual abilities differently in
Aneurysm of the superficial femoral artery in an infant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watanabe, M.; Komuro, H.; Matoba, K.; Kaneko, M. [Dept. of Paediatric Surgery, Inst. of Clinical Medicine, Univ. of Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Niitsu, M.; Itai, Y. [Dept. of Radiology, Inst. of Clinical Medicine, Univ. of Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan)

2003-04-01

An isolated arterial aneurysm in childhood is extremely rare. We report a 1-year-old girl with an aneurysm of the right superficial femoral artery, presenting as an asymptomatic mass of the thigh. The aneurysm involved the whole superficial femoral artery (9 cm in length), and surgical treatment would have required replacement of the affected artery. Conservative treatment was chosen, influenced by the patient's rapid growth at that time. Non-invasive, 3-D contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was useful as an alternative to conventional angiography for detailed evaluation of the femoral arteries, including the aneurysm. (orig.)
Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity

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Marieke eJepma

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Curiosity is one of the most basic biological drives in both animals and humans, and has been identified as a key motive for learning and discovery. Despite the importance of curiosity and related behaviors, the topic has been largely neglected in human neuroscience; hence little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying curiosity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to investigate what happens in our brain during the induction and subsequent relief of perceptual curiosity. Our core findings were that (i the induction of perceptual curiosity, through the presentation of ambiguous visual input, activated the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex, brain regions sensitive to conflict and arousal; (ii the relief of perceptual curiosity, through visual disambiguation, activated regions of the striatum that have been related to reward processing; and (iii the relief of perceptual curiosity was associated with hippocampal activation and enhanced incidental memory. These findings provide the first demonstration of the neural basis of human perceptual curiosity. Our results provide neurobiological support for a classic psychological theory of curiosity, which holds that curiosity is an aversive condition of increased arousal whose termination is rewarding and facilitates memory.
Perceptual and Cognitive Load Interact to Control the Spatial Focus of Attention

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Linnell, Karina J.; Caparos, Serge

2011-01-01

Caparos and Linnell (2009, 2010) used a variable-separation flanker paradigm to show that (a) when cognitive load is low, increasing perceptual load causes spatial attention to focus and (b) when perceptual load is high, decreasing cognitive load causes spatial attention to focus. Here, we tested whether the effects of perceptual and cognitive…
Multisensory Cues Capture Spatial Attention Regardless of Perceptual Load

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Santangelo, Valerio; Spence, Charles

2007-01-01

We compared the ability of auditory, visual, and audiovisual (bimodal) exogenous cues to capture visuo-spatial attention under conditions of no load versus high perceptual load. Participants had to discriminate the elevation (up vs. down) of visual targets preceded by either unimodal or bimodal cues under conditions of high perceptual load (in…
Bayesian Face Recognition and Perceptual Narrowing in Face-Space

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Balas, Benjamin

2012-01-01

During the first year of life, infants' face recognition abilities are subject to "perceptual narrowing", the end result of which is that observers lose the ability to distinguish previously discriminable faces (e.g. other-race faces) from one another. Perceptual narrowing has been reported for faces of different species and different races, in…
Two Crosslinking Technologies for Superficial Reticular Dermis Injection: A Comparative Ultrasound and Histologic Study

OpenAIRE

Micheels, Patrick; Besse, Stéphanie; Sarazin, Didier

2017-01-01

Background: Few hyaluronic acid fillers have been developed for superficial injection. Objective: To compare the diffusion and integration properties of cohesive polydensified matrix and Vycross® technology hyaluronic acid fillers with lidocaine following injection into the superficial reticular dermis. Methods and materials: Two subjects received two injections each of cohesive polydensified matrix and Vycross® hyaluronic acid (0.2mL/site) in the superficial reticular dermis of the buttock u...

Cultural differences in perceptual reorganization in US and Pirahã adults.

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Jennifer M D Yoon

Full Text Available Visual illusions and other perceptual phenomena can be used as tools to uncover the otherwise hidden constructive processes that give rise to perception. Although many perceptual processes are assumed to be universal, variable susceptibility to certain illusions and perceptual effects across populations suggests a role for factors that vary culturally. One striking phenomenon is seen with two-tone images-photos reduced to two tones: black and white. Deficient recognition is observed in young children under conditions that trigger automatic recognition in adults. Here we show a similar lack of cue-triggered perceptual reorganization in the Pirahã, a hunter-gatherer tribe with limited exposure to modern visual media, suggesting such recognition is experience- and culture-specific.
Continuous spatial representations in the olfactory bulb may reflect perceptual categories

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Benjamin eAuffarth

2011-10-01

Full Text Available In sensory processing of odors, the olfactory bulb is an important relay station, where odor representations are noise-filtered, sharpened, and possibly re-organized. An organization by perceptual qualities has been found previously in the piriform cortex, however several recent studies indicate that the olfactory bulb code reflects behaviorally relevant dimensions spatially as well as at the population level. We apply a statistical analysis on 2-deoxyglucose images, taken over the entire bulb of glomerular layer of the rat, in order to see how the recognition of odors in the nose is translated into a map of odor quality in the brain. We first confirm previous studies that the first principal component could be related to pleasantness, however the next higher principal components are not directly clear. We then find mostly continuous spatial representations for perceptual categories. We compare the space spanned by spatial and population codes to human reports of perceptual similarity between odors and our results suggest that perceptual categories could be already embedded in glomerular activations and that spatial representations give a better match than population codes. This suggests that human and rat perceptual dimensions of odorant coding are related and indicates that perceptual qualities could be represented as continuous spatial codes of the olfactory bulb glomerulus population.
Perceptual-cognitive skill and the in situ performance of soccer players.

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van Maarseveen, Mariëtte J J; Oudejans, Raôul R D; Mann, David L; Savelsbergh, Geert J P

2018-02-01

Many studies have shown that experts possess better perceptual-cognitive skills than novices (e.g., in anticipation, decision making, pattern recall), but it remains unclear whether a relationship exists between performance on those tests of perceptual-cognitive skill and actual on-field performance. In this study, we assessed the in situ performance of skilled soccer players and related the outcomes to measures of anticipation, decision making, and pattern recall. In addition, we examined gaze behaviour when performing the perceptual-cognitive tests to better understand whether the underlying processes were related when those perceptual-cognitive tasks were performed. The results revealed that on-field performance could not be predicted on the basis of performance on the perceptual-cognitive tests. Moreover, there were no strong correlations between the level of performance on the different tests. The analysis of gaze behaviour revealed differences in search rate, fixation duration, fixation order, gaze entropy, and percentage viewing time when performing the test of pattern recall, suggesting that it is driven by different processes to those used for anticipation and decision making. Altogether, the results suggest that the perceptual-cognitive tests may not be as strong determinants of actual performance as may have previously been assumed.
Synchronous and asynchronous perceptual bindings of colour and motion following identical stimulations.

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McIntyre, Morgan E; Arnold, Derek H

2018-05-01

When a moving surface alternates in colour and direction, perceptual couplings of colour and motion can differ from their physical correspondence. Periods of motion tend to be perceptually bound with physically delayed colours - a colour/motion perceptual asynchrony. This can be eliminated by motion transparency. Here we show that the colour/motion perceptual asynchrony is not invariably eliminated by motion transparency. Nor is it an inevitable consequence given a particular physical input. Instead, it can emerge when moving surfaces are perceived as alternating in direction, even if those surfaces seem transparent, and it is eliminated when surfaces are perceived as moving invariably. For a given observer either situation can result from exposure to a common input. Our findings suggest that neural events that promote the perception of motion reversals are causal of the colour/motion perceptual asynchrony. Moreover, they suggest that motion transparency and coherence can be signalled simultaneously by subpopulations of direction-selective neurons, with this conflict instantaneously resolved by a competitive winner-takes-all interaction, which can instantiate or eliminate colour/motion perceptual asynchrony. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Mode transition and change in variable use in perceptual learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hajnal, A; Grocki, M; Jacobs, DM; Zaal, FTJM; Michaels, CF

2006-01-01

Runeson, Justin, and Olsson (2000) proposed (a) that perceptual learning entails a transition from an inferential to a direct-perceptual mode of apprehension, and (b) that relative confidence-the difference between estimated and actual performance-indicates whether apprehension is inferential or
Mode transition and change in variable use in perceptual learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hajnal, A.; Grocki, M.; Jacobs, D.M.; Zaal, F.T.J.M.; Michaels, C.F.

2006-01-01

Runeson, Juslin, and Olsson (2000) proposed (a) that perceptual learning entails a transition from an inferential to a direct-perceptual mode of apprehension, and (b) that relative confidence - the difference between estimated and actual performance - indicates whether apprehension is inferential or
Perceptual Mapping: A Methodology in the Assessment of Environmental Perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sergent, Marie T.; Sedlacek, William E.

1989-01-01

Describes perceptual mapping, a newly developed method for assessing perceptions of campus environments. Describes evaluation of a student union by students using this method. Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this perceptual mapping method for assessing college environments. (Author/ABL)
Chromomycosis presenting as soft-tissue mass: report of a case with MRI features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bahk, Won-Jong; Chang, Eun-Deok; Chun, Kyung-Ah; Lee, An-Hi; Park, Jung-Mi; Bahk, Yong-Whee

2009-01-01

Chromomycosis is primarily a skin disease that superficially presents as slowly growing, verrucous lesions, often warty or cauliflower-like in appearance. It may occasionally create a flat, plaque-like lesion in the skin but deep-seated tumorous presentation has not previously been reported. As the lesion is limited to the cutaneous and superficial subcutaneous tissues, hitherto reported cases have been described from the view point of dermatology and, so, without MRI study. We report a patient with pathologically proven chromomycosis that produced a subcutaneous mass in the dorsum of the hand with an emphasis on MRI features. (orig.)
Chromomycosis presenting as soft-tissue mass: report of a case with MRI features

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bahk, Won-Jong [Uijongbu St. Mary' s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Gyunggido (Korea); Chang, Eun-Deok; Chun, Kyung-Ah; Lee, An-Hi; Park, Jung-Mi [The Catholic University of Korea School of Medicine, Musculoskeletal Oncology Group, Gyunggido (Korea); Bahk, Yong-Whee [SungAe General Hospital, PET CT Center, Seoul (Korea)

2009-02-15

Chromomycosis is primarily a skin disease that superficially presents as slowly growing, verrucous lesions, often warty or cauliflower-like in appearance. It may occasionally create a flat, plaque-like lesion in the skin but deep-seated tumorous presentation has not previously been reported. As the lesion is limited to the cutaneous and superficial subcutaneous tissues, hitherto reported cases have been described from the view point of dermatology and, so, without MRI study. We report a patient with pathologically proven chromomycosis that produced a subcutaneous mass in the dorsum of the hand with an emphasis on MRI features. (orig.)
Malignant transformation of superficial peritoneal endometriosis lesion.

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Marchand, Eva; Hequet, Delphine; Thoury, Anne; Barranger, Emmanuel

2013-08-26

A 63-year-old woman with no medical history underwent an abdominal surgery with hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for a 10 cm peritoneal cyst with increased cancer antigene-125. A large suspicious tumour of the Douglas space, with contact to the uterus and the rectal wall was described. The rest of the exploration was normal, specially the rest of the peritoneum. Histopathology revealed a malignant transformation of a superficial peritoneal endometriosis. Secondary surgery was thus completed by laparoscopy with bilateral pelvic and para-aortic lymph node dissections, omentectomy and multiple peritoneal biopsies. All staging samples were free of cancer; therefore no complementary therapy was administered. After 18 months of follow-up, consisting of clinical examination and pelvis magnetic resonance imaging every 6 months, we did not observe any recurrence. Malignant transformation of superficial peritoneal endometriosis is a rare disease and surgical management seems to be the main treatment.
Top-down (Prior Knowledge) and Bottom-up (Perceptual Modality) Influences on Spontaneous Interpersonal Synchronization.

Science.gov (United States)

Gipson, Christina L; Gorman, Jamie C; Hessler, Eric E

2016-04-01

Coordination with others is such a fundamental part of human activity that it can happen unintentionally. This unintentional coordination can manifest as synchronization and is observed in physical and human systems alike. We investigated the role of top-down influences (prior knowledge of the perceptual modality their partner is using) and bottom-up factors (perceptual modality combination) on spontaneous interpersonal synchronization. We examine this phenomena with respect to two different theoretical perspectives that differently emphasize top-down and bottom-up factors in interpersonal synchronization: joint-action/shared cognition theories and ecological-interactive theories. In an empirical study twelve dyads performed a finger oscillation task while attending to each other's movements through either visual, auditory, or visual and auditory perceptual modalities. Half of the participants were given prior knowledge of their partner's perceptual capabilities for coordinating across these different perceptual modality combinations. We found that the effect of top-down influence depends on the perceptual modality combination between two individuals. When people used the same perceptual modalities, top-down influence resulted in less synchronization and when people used different perceptual modalities, top-down influence resulted in more synchronization. Furthermore, persistence in the change in behavior as a result of having perceptual information about each other ('social memory') was stronger when this top-down influence was present.
Castelli di carta. La piega per la costruzione di superfici articolate

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Andrea Casale

2012-06-01

Full Text Available L’antica arte del piegare la carta, l’Origami, sta vivendo un rinnovato interesse che coinvolge molti aspetti della ricerca. Con il termine origami, si intende lo studio del modo di piegare il foglio di carta per imporgli una specifica forma. La superficie tassellata per mezzo di specifiche pieghe, si propone come un nuovo soggetto di studio: la superficie piegata articolata. La forma congiunta al movimento, assume un particolare interesse nella contemporanea ricerca geometrica e architettonica. Il panorama contemporaneo, propone opere di architettura “responsiva”, capaci di modificare le proprie caratteristiche per adeguarsi a nuove condizioni. La superficie piegata articolata sembra particolarmente adatta a descrivere questo modo d’intendere l’architettura, reagendo a diverse volontà e di conseguenza modificando la propria conformazione attraverso un attento controllo progettuale della forma.
Valoración de la superficie del dializador en la hemodiafiltración on-line. Elección objetiva de la superficie del dializador

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Francisco Maduell

2015-05-01

Conclusión: El incremento del 40% y el 80% de la superficie conlleva un aumento del volumen convectivo de un 6 y un 16% respectivamente, aunque se evidenció una reducción en su máximo rendimiento, mostrando mínimas diferencias tanto en el volumen convectivo como en la capacidad depurativa cuando el CUF era superior a 45 ml/h/mmHg. Es recomendable optimizar el rendimiento de los dializadores a la mínima superficie posible adecuando la prescripción de tratamiento.
Superficial fungal infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Robert A

Superficial fungal infections arise from a pathogen that is restricted to the stratum corneum, with little or no tissue reaction. In this Seminar, three types of infection will be covered: tinea versicolor, piedra, and tinea nigra. Tinea versicolor is common worldwide and is caused by Malassezia spp, which are human saprophytes that sometimes switch from yeast to pathogenic mycelial form. Malassezia furfur, Malassezia globosa, and Malassezia sympodialis are most closely linked to tinea versicolor. White and black piedra are both common in tropical regions of the world; white piedra is also endemic in temperate climates. Black piedra is caused by Piedraia hortae; white piedra is due to pathogenic species of the Trichosporon genus. Tinea nigra is also common in tropical areas and has been confused with melanoma.
The Competitive Influences of Perceptual Load and Working Memory Guidance on Selective Attention.

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Jinfeng Tan

Full Text Available The perceptual load theory in selective attention literature proposes that the interference from task-irrelevant distractor is eliminated when perceptual capacity is fully consumed by task-relevant information. However, the biased competition model suggests that the contents of working memory (WM can guide attentional selection automatically, even when this guidance is detrimental to visual search. An intriguing but unsolved question is what will happen when selective attention is influenced by both perceptual load and WM guidance. To study this issue, behavioral performances and event-related potentials (ERPs were recorded when participants were presented with a cue to either identify or hold in memory and had to perform a visual search task subsequently, under conditions of low or high perceptual load. Behavioural data showed that high perceptual load eliminated the attentional capture by WM. The ERP results revealed an obvious WM guidance effect in P1 component with invalid trials eliciting larger P1 than neutral trials, regardless of the level of perceptual load. The interaction between perceptual load and WM guidance was significant for the posterior N1 component. The memory guidance effect on N1 was eliminated by high perceptual load. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA showed that the WM guidance effect and the perceptual load effect on attention can be localized into the occipital area and parietal lobe, respectively. Merely identifying the cue produced no effect on the P1 or N1 component. These results suggest that in selective attention, the information held in WM could capture attention at the early stage of visual processing in the occipital cortex. Interestingly, this initial capture of attention by WM could be modulated by the level of perceptual load and the parietal lobe mediates target selection at the discrimination stage.
The Competitive Influences of Perceptual Load and Working Memory Guidance on Selective Attention.

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Tan, Jinfeng; Zhao, Yuanfang; Wang, Lijun; Tian, Xia; Cui, Yan; Yang, Qian; Pan, Weigang; Zhao, Xiaoyue; Chen, Antao

2015-01-01

The perceptual load theory in selective attention literature proposes that the interference from task-irrelevant distractor is eliminated when perceptual capacity is fully consumed by task-relevant information. However, the biased competition model suggests that the contents of working memory (WM) can guide attentional selection automatically, even when this guidance is detrimental to visual search. An intriguing but unsolved question is what will happen when selective attention is influenced by both perceptual load and WM guidance. To study this issue, behavioral performances and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded when participants were presented with a cue to either identify or hold in memory and had to perform a visual search task subsequently, under conditions of low or high perceptual load. Behavioural data showed that high perceptual load eliminated the attentional capture by WM. The ERP results revealed an obvious WM guidance effect in P1 component with invalid trials eliciting larger P1 than neutral trials, regardless of the level of perceptual load. The interaction between perceptual load and WM guidance was significant for the posterior N1 component. The memory guidance effect on N1 was eliminated by high perceptual load. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) showed that the WM guidance effect and the perceptual load effect on attention can be localized into the occipital area and parietal lobe, respectively. Merely identifying the cue produced no effect on the P1 or N1 component. These results suggest that in selective attention, the information held in WM could capture attention at the early stage of visual processing in the occipital cortex. Interestingly, this initial capture of attention by WM could be modulated by the level of perceptual load and the parietal lobe mediates target selection at the discrimination stage.
Steady-state signatures of visual perceptual load, multimodal distractor filtering, and neural competition.

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Parks, Nathan A; Hilimire, Matthew R; Corballis, Paul M

2011-05-01

The perceptual load theory of attention posits that attentional selection occurs early in processing when a task is perceptually demanding but occurs late in processing otherwise. We used a frequency-tagged steady-state evoked potential paradigm to investigate the modality specificity of perceptual load-induced distractor filtering and the nature of neural-competitive interactions between task and distractor stimuli. EEG data were recorded while participants monitored a stream of stimuli occurring in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) for the appearance of previously assigned targets. Perceptual load was manipulated by assigning targets that were identifiable by color alone (low load) or by the conjunction of color and orientation (high load). The RSVP task was performed alone and in the presence of task-irrelevant visual and auditory distractors. The RSVP stimuli, visual distractors, and auditory distractors were "tagged" by modulating each at a unique frequency (2.5, 8.5, and 40.0 Hz, respectively), which allowed each to be analyzed separately in the frequency domain. We report three important findings regarding the neural mechanisms of perceptual load. First, we replicated previous findings of within-modality distractor filtering and demonstrated a reduction in visual distractor signals with high perceptual load. Second, auditory steady-state distractor signals were unaffected by manipulations of visual perceptual load, consistent with the idea that perceptual load-induced distractor filtering is modality specific. Third, analysis of task-related signals revealed that visual distractors competed with task stimuli for representation and that increased perceptual load appeared to resolve this competition in favor of the task stimulus.
Exploring "fringe" consciousness: the subjective experience of perceptual fluency and its objective bases.

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Reber, Rolf; Wurtz, Pascal; Zimmermann, Thomas D

2004-03-01

Perceptual fluency is the subjective experience of ease with which an incoming stimulus is processed. Although perceptual fluency is assessed by speed of processing, it remains unclear how objective speed is related to subjective experiences of fluency. We present evidence that speed at different stages of the perceptual process contributes to perceptual fluency. In an experiment, figure-ground contrast influenced detection of briefly presented words, but not their identification at longer exposure durations. Conversely, font in which the word was written influenced identification, but not detection. Both contrast and font influenced subjective fluency. These findings suggest that speed of processing at different stages condensed into a unified subjective experience of perceptual fluency.
Experiments on the superficial irradiation of spherical vegetables and fruits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kalman, B.; Kiraly, Z.

1974-01-01

A revolving facility was made for the homogeneous superficial irradiation of spherical vegetables and fruits (apricot, peach, tomato, apple, etc.) with fast electrons. After the building of the technological apparatus described in detail, dosimetrical measurements were carried out by a Van de Graff generator of 2 MV and it was proved, that the superficial irradiation had a smaller effect on the quality of the fresh fruits, than of the stored ones. The developed apparatus can be altered according to the ripe-rate of the products. (K.A.)
The Neural Circuitry of Expertise: Perceptual Learning and Social Cognition

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Michael eHarre

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Amongst the most significant questions we are confronted with today include the integration of the brain's micro-circuitry, our ability to build the complex social networks that underpin society and how our society impacts on our ecological environment. In trying to unravel these issues one place to begin is at the level of the individual: to consider how we accumulate information about our environment, how this information leads to decisions and how our individual decisions in turn create our social environment. While this is an enormous task, we may already have at hand many of the tools we need. This article is intended to review some of the recent results in neuro-cognitive research and show how they can be extended to two very specific types of expertise: perceptual expertise and social cognition. These two cognitive skills span a vast range of our genetic heritage. Perceptual expertise developed very early in our evolutionary history and is likely a highly developed part of all mammals' cognitive ability. On the other hand social cognition is most highly developed in humans in that we are able to maintain larger and more stable long term social connections with more behaviourally diverse individuals than any other species. To illustrate these ideas I will discuss board games as a toy model of social interactions as they include many of the relevant concepts: perceptual learning, decision-making, long term planning and understanding the mental states of other people. Using techniques that have been developed in mathematical psychology, I show that we can represent some of the key features of expertise using stochastic differential equations. Such models demonstrate how an expert's long exposure to a particular context influences the information they accumulate in order to make a decision.These processes are not confined to board games, we are all experts in our daily lives through long exposure to the many regularities of daily tasks and

Newborns' Face Recognition: Role of Inner and Outer Facial Features

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Turati, Chiara; Macchi Cassia, Viola; Simion, Francesca; Leo, Irene

2006-01-01

Existing data indicate that newborns are able to recognize individual faces, but little is known about what perceptual cues drive this ability. The current study showed that either the inner or outer features of the face can act as sufficient cues for newborns' face recognition (Experiment 1), but the outer part of the face enjoys an advantage…
Before you see it, you see its parts: evidence for feature encoding and integration in preschool children and adults.

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Thompson, L A; Massaro, D W

1989-07-01

Preschool children and adults were compared in two experiments examining the basic issue of whether perceptual representations of objects are built-up from independent features along the dimensions of size and brightness. Experiment 1 was a visual search experiment. Subjects searched for targets which differed from distractors either by a single feature or by a conjunction of features. Results from preschoolers were comparable to those from adults, and were consistent with Treisman and Gelade's (1980, Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97-136) feature-integration theory of attention. Their theory states that independent features are encoded in parallel and are later combined with a spatial attention mechanism. However, children's significantly steeper conjunctive search slope indicated a slower speed of feature integration. In Experiment 2, four mathematical models of pattern recognition were tested against classification task data. The findings from both age groups were again consistent with a model assuming that size and brightness features are initially registered, and then integrated. Moreover, the data from Experiment 2 imply that perceptual growth entails small changes in the discriminability of featural representations; however, both experiments show that the operations performed on these representations are the same developmentally.
Shape-specific perceptual learning in a figure-ground segregation task.

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Yi, Do-Joon; Olson, Ingrid R; Chun, Marvin M

2006-03-01

What does perceptual experience contribute to figure-ground segregation? To study this question, we trained observers to search for symmetric dot patterns embedded in random dot backgrounds. Training improved shape segmentation, but learning did not completely transfer either to untrained locations or to untrained shapes. Such partial specificity persisted for a month after training. Interestingly, training on shapes in empty backgrounds did not help segmentation of the trained shapes in noisy backgrounds. Our results suggest that perceptual training increases the involvement of early sensory neurons in the segmentation of trained shapes, and that successful segmentation requires perceptual skills beyond shape recognition alone.
Five aspects of maximizing objectivity from perceptual evaluations of loudspeakers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Volk, Christer Peter; Bech, Søren; Pedersen, Torben H.

2015-01-01

of data from the listening evaluations. This paper addresses the following subset of aspects for increasing the objectivity of data from listening tests: The choice of perceptual attributes, relevance of perceptual attributes, choice of loudness equalisation strategy, optimum listening room specifications......A literature study was conducted focusing on maximizing objectivity of results from listening evaluations aimed at establishing the relationship between physical and perceptual measurements of loudspeakers. The purpose of the study was to identify and examine factors influencing the objectivity......, as well as loudspeaker listening in-situ vs. listening to recordings of loudspeakers over headphones....
Short-term perceptual learning in visual conjunction search.

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Su, Yuling; Lai, Yunpeng; Huang, Wanyi; Tan, Wei; Qu, Zhe; Ding, Yulong

2014-08-01

Although some studies showed that training can improve the ability of cross-dimension conjunction search, less is known about the underlying mechanism. Specifically, it remains unclear whether training of visual conjunction search can successfully bind different features of separated dimensions into a new function unit at early stages of visual processing. In the present study, we utilized stimulus specificity and generalization to provide a new approach to investigate the mechanisms underlying perceptual learning (PL) in visual conjunction search. Five experiments consistently showed that after 40 to 50 min of training of color-shape/orientation conjunction search, the ability to search for a certain conjunction target improved significantly and the learning effects did not transfer to a new target that differed from the trained target in both color and shape/orientation features. However, the learning effects were not strictly specific. In color-shape conjunction search, although the learning effect could not transfer to a same-shape different-color target, it almost completely transferred to a same-color different-shape target. In color-orientation conjunction search, the learning effect partly transferred to a new target that shared same color or same orientation with the trained target. Moreover, the sum of transfer effects for the same color target and the same orientation target in color-orientation conjunction search was algebraically equivalent to the learning effect for trained target, showing an additive transfer effect. The different transfer patterns in color-shape and color-orientation conjunction search learning might reflect the different complexity and discriminability between feature dimensions. These results suggested a feature-based attention enhancement mechanism rather than a unitization mechanism underlying the short-term PL of color-shape/orientation conjunction search.
The effectiveness of multimedia visual perceptual training groups for the preschool children with developmental delay.

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Chen, Yi-Nan; Lin, Chin-Kai; Wei, Ta-Sen; Liu, Chi-Hsin; Wuang, Yee-Pay

2013-12-01

This study compared the effectiveness of three approaches to improving visual perception among preschool children 4-6 years old with developmental delays: multimedia visual perceptual group training, multimedia visual perceptual individual training, and paper visual perceptual group training. A control group received no special training. This study employed a pretest-posttest control group of true experimental design. A total of 64 children 4-6 years old with developmental delays were randomized into four groups: (1) multimedia visual perceptual group training (15 subjects); (2) multimedia visual perceptual individual training group (15 subjects); paper visual perceptual group training (19 subjects); and (4) a control group (15 subjects) with no visual perceptual training. Forty minute training sessions were conducted once a week for 14 weeks. The Test of Visual Perception Skills, third edition, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Paired-samples t-test showed significant differences pre- and post-test among the three groups, but no significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test scores among the control group. ANOVA results showed significant differences in improvement levels among the four study groups. Scheffe post hoc test results showed significant differences between: group 1 and group 2; group 1 and group 3; group 1 and the control group; and group 2 and the control group. No significant differences were reported between group 2 and group 3, and group 3 and the control group. The results showed all three therapeutic programs produced significant differences between pretest and posttest scores. The training effect on the multimedia visual perceptual group program and the individual program was greater than the developmental effect Both the multimedia visual perceptual group training program and the multimedia visual perceptual individual training program produced significant effects on visual perception. The
Spinal meningeal melanocytoma and hydrocephalus and intracranial superficial siderosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, A.; Ratnagopal, P.; Puvanendran, K.; Teo, J.G.C.

2001-01-01

Meningeal melanocytomas are uncommon tumours of the central nervous system; fewer than 50 cases have been reported in the English literature. We review the unique clinical presentation, radiological appearance and histological features of a rare case of meningeal melanocytoma. The patient was a 50-year-old man with a history of hypertension who presented with complaints of severe headache, nausea, vomiting and blurry vision for 2 days. Clinical examination revealed no hyperpigmentation marks and he had no history of regressed skin melanocytic lesions. Apart from mild terminal neck stiffness, his general medical examination was unremarkable. On funduscopic examination he had marked bilateral papilloedema and the blind spots were enlarged bilaterally. His neurological examination was otherwise unremarkable. A magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI) of the brain showed hydrocephalus. On the precontrast T 2 -weighted images, there was hyperintensity of the meninges with little change after administration of gadolinium, which was suggestive of blood. On the T 2 -weighted sequences, there was evidence of hypo-i intensity on the surface of the pons and medulla, which was indicative of superficial siderosis
Ambiguity Tolerance and Perceptual Learning Styles of Chinese EFL Learners

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Li, Haishan; He, Qingshun

2016-01-01

Ambiguity tolerance and perceptual learning styles are the two influential elements showing individual differences in EFL learning. This research is intended to explore the relationship between Chinese EFL learners' ambiguity tolerance and their preferred perceptual learning styles. The findings include (1) the learners are sensitive to English…
Evaluating optimal superficial limb perfusion at different angles using non-invasive micro-lightguide spectrophotometry.

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Darmanin, Geraldine; Jaggard, Matthew; Hettiaratchy, Shehan; Nanchahal, Jagdeep; Jain, Abhilash

2013-06-01

It is common practice to elevate the limbs postoperatively to reduce oedema and hence optimise perfusion and facilitate rehabilitation. However, elevation may be counterproductive as it reduces the mean perfusion pressure. There are no clear data on the optimal position of the limbs even in normal subjects. The optimal position of limbs was investigated in 25 healthy subjects using a non-invasive micro-lightguide spectrophotometry system "O2C", which indirectly measures skin and superficial tissue perfusion through blood flow, oxygen saturation and relative haemoglobin concentration. We found a reduction in skin and superficial tissue blood flow of 17% (p=0.0001) on arm elevation (180° shoulder flexion) as compared to heart level and an increase in skin and superficial tissue blood flow of 25% (p=0.02) on forearm elevation of 45°. Lower limb skin and superficial tissue blood flow decreased by 15% (p=0.004) on elevation to 47 cm and by 70% on dependency (p=0.0001) compared to heart level. However, on elevation of the lower limb there was also a 28% reduction in superficial venous pooling (p=0.0001) compared to heart level. In the normal limb, the position for optimal superficial perfusion of the upper limb is with the arm placed at heart level and forearm at 45°. In the lower limb the optimal position for superficial perfusion would be at heart level. However, some degree of elevation may be useful if there is an element of venous congestion. Copyright © 2013 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Enhanced perceptual functioning in autism: an update, and eight principles of autistic perception.

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Mottron, Laurent; Dawson, Michelle; Soulières, Isabelle; Hubert, Benedicte; Burack, Jake

2006-01-01

We propose an "Enhanced Perceptual Functioning" model encompassing the main differences between autistic and non-autistic social and non-social perceptual processing: locally oriented visual and auditory perception, enhanced low-level discrimination, use of a more posterior network in "complex" visual tasks, enhanced perception of first order static stimuli, diminished perception of complex movement, autonomy of low-level information processing toward higher-order operations, and differential relation between perception and general intelligence. Increased perceptual expertise may be implicated in the choice of special ability in savant autistics, and in the variability of apparent presentations within PDD (autism with and without typical speech, Asperger syndrome) in non-savant autistics. The overfunctioning of brain regions typically involved in primary perceptual functions may explain the autistic perceptual endophenotype.
Multisensory perceptual learning is dependent upon task difficulty.

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De Niear, Matthew A; Koo, Bonhwang; Wallace, Mark T

2016-11-01

There has been a growing interest in developing behavioral tasks to enhance temporal acuity as recent findings have demonstrated changes in temporal processing in a number of clinical conditions. Prior research has demonstrated that perceptual training can enhance temporal acuity both within and across different sensory modalities. Although certain forms of unisensory perceptual learning have been shown to be dependent upon task difficulty, this relationship has not been explored for multisensory learning. The present study sought to determine the effects of task difficulty on multisensory perceptual learning. Prior to and following a single training session, participants completed a simultaneity judgment (SJ) task, which required them to judge whether a visual stimulus (flash) and auditory stimulus (beep) presented in synchrony or at various stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) occurred synchronously or asynchronously. During the training session, participants completed the same SJ task but received feedback regarding the accuracy of their responses. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three levels of difficulty during training: easy, moderate, and hard, which were distinguished based on the SOAs used during training. We report that only the most difficult (i.e., hard) training protocol enhanced temporal acuity. We conclude that perceptual training protocols for enhancing multisensory temporal acuity may be optimized by employing audiovisual stimuli for which it is difficult to discriminate temporal synchrony from asynchrony.
Perceptual Color Characterization of Cameras

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Javier Vazquez-Corral

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Color camera characterization, mapping outputs from the camera sensors to an independent color space, such as \\(XYZ\\, is an important step in the camera processing pipeline. Until now, this procedure has been primarily solved by using a \\(3 \\times 3\\ matrix obtained via a least-squares optimization. In this paper, we propose to use the spherical sampling method, recently published by Finlayson al., to perform a perceptual color characterization. In particular, we search for the \\(3 \\times 3\\ matrix that minimizes three different perceptual errors, one pixel based and two spatially based. For the pixel-based case, we minimize the CIE \\(\\Delta E\\ error, while for the spatial-based case, we minimize both the S-CIELAB error and the CID error measure. Our results demonstrate an improvement of approximately 3for the \\(\\Delta E\\ error, 7& for the S-CIELAB error and 13% for the CID error measures.
Large-scale network dynamics of beta-band oscillations underlie auditory perceptual decision-making

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Mohsen Alavash

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Perceptual decisions vary in the speed at which we make them. Evidence suggests that translating sensory information into perceptual decisions relies on distributed interacting neural populations, with decision speed hinging on power modulations of the neural oscillations. Yet the dependence of perceptual decisions on the large-scale network organization of coupled neural oscillations has remained elusive. We measured magnetoencephalographic signals in human listeners who judged acoustic stimuli composed of carefully titrated clouds of tone sweeps. These stimuli were used in two task contexts, in which the participants judged the overall pitch or direction of the tone sweeps. We traced the large-scale network dynamics of the source-projected neural oscillations on a trial-by-trial basis using power-envelope correlations and graph-theoretical network discovery. In both tasks, faster decisions were predicted by higher segregation and lower integration of coupled beta-band (∼16–28 Hz oscillations. We also uncovered the brain network states that promoted faster decisions in either lower-order auditory or higher-order control brain areas. Specifically, decision speed in judging the tone sweep direction critically relied on the nodal network configurations of anterior temporal, cingulate, and middle frontal cortices. Our findings suggest that global network communication during perceptual decision-making is implemented in the human brain by large-scale couplings between beta-band neural oscillations. The speed at which we make perceptual decisions varies. This translation of sensory information into perceptual decisions hinges on dynamic changes in neural oscillatory activity. However, the large-scale neural-network embodiment supporting perceptual decision-making is unclear. We addressed this question by experimenting two auditory perceptual decision-making situations. Using graph-theoretical network discovery, we traced the large-scale network
Perceptual learning modifies the functional specializations of visual cortical areas.

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Chen, Nihong; Cai, Peng; Zhou, Tiangang; Thompson, Benjamin; Fang, Fang

2016-05-17

Training can improve performance of perceptual tasks. This phenomenon, known as perceptual learning, is strongest for the trained task and stimulus, leading to a widely accepted assumption that the associated neuronal plasticity is restricted to brain circuits that mediate performance of the trained task. Nevertheless, learning does transfer to other tasks and stimuli, implying the presence of more widespread plasticity. Here, we trained human subjects to discriminate the direction of coherent motion stimuli. The behavioral learning effect substantially transferred to noisy motion stimuli. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the transfer of learning. The TMS experiment revealed dissociable, causal contributions of V3A (one of the visual areas in the extrastriate visual cortex) and MT+ (middle temporal/medial superior temporal cortex) to coherent and noisy motion processing. Surprisingly, the contribution of MT+ to noisy motion processing was replaced by V3A after perceptual training. The fMRI experiment complemented and corroborated the TMS finding. Multivariate pattern analysis showed that, before training, among visual cortical areas, coherent and noisy motion was decoded most accurately in V3A and MT+, respectively. After training, both kinds of motion were decoded most accurately in V3A. Our findings demonstrate that the effects of perceptual learning extend far beyond the retuning of specific neural populations for the trained stimuli. Learning could dramatically modify the inherent functional specializations of visual cortical areas and dynamically reweight their contributions to perceptual decisions based on their representational qualities. These neural changes might serve as the neural substrate for the transfer of perceptual learning.
When Does Modality Matter? Perceptual versus Conceptual Fluency-Based Illusions in Recognition Memory

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Miller, Jeremy K.; Lloyd, Marianne E.; Westerman, Deanne L.

2008-01-01

Previous research has shown that illusions of recognition memory based on enhanced perceptual fluency are sensitive to the perceptual match between the study and test phases of an experiment. The results of the current study strengthen that conclusion, as they show that participants will not interpret enhanced perceptual fluency as a sign of…
MRI, MDCT features, and clinical outcome of extremity leiomyosarcomas: experience in 47 patients

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Gordon, Robert W.; Shinagare, Atul B. [Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA (United States); Tirumani, Sree Harsha; Jagannathan, Jyothi P.; Ramaiya, Nikhil H. [Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA (United States); Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Department of Imaging, Boston, MA (United States); Kurra, Vikram [Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Department of Imaging, Boston, MA (United States); Hornick, Jason L. [Brigham and Women' s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Pathology, Boston, MA (United States)

2014-05-15

To describe MRI, MDCT features, and clinical outcome of extremity leiomyosarcomas (LMS). In this IRB-approved, HIPAA-compliant retrospective study, we included 47 patients (23 women, 24 men; mean age: 55.3 years, range: 17-85 years) with pathologically confirmed extremity LMS seen at our adult tertiary cancer center between 2000 and 2012. MRI/MDCT of primary tumors in 23 patients and follow-up in all patients were reviewed by two radiologists in consensus. Clinical data were extracted from electronic medical records. Primary tumors were distributed in bones (6 out of 47), deep soft tissues (24 out of 47), and superficial soft tissues (17 out of 47). On imaging (bone = 4, deep soft tissue = 11, superficial soft tissue = 8), compared with skeletal muscle, they were T1 iso-hypointense and T2 hyperintense. Bone LMS were metaphyseal tumors with cortical destruction (3 out of 4). Deep soft-tissue LMS were large with hemorrhage (7 out of 11) and necrosis (10 out of 11). Superficial soft-tissue LMS were relatively smaller, homogeneously enhancing (6 out of 8) tumors. Distant metastases developed in 32 out of 47 patients (bone LMS [6 out of 6], deep soft-tissue LMS [18 out of 24], superficial soft-tissue LMS [8 out of 17]), commonly to lung (29 out of 47) and bone (14 out of 47). At the time of writing, 22 out of 36 patients (bone LMS [4 out of 6], deep soft-tissue LMS [15 out of 24], superficial soft-tissue LMS [4 out of 17]) have died. There was no statistically significant correlation between metastatic disease and tumor size or grade. Extremity LMS arise in bones and in the deep and superficial soft tissues, frequently metastasize to the lungs, and have a poor prognosis. Superficial LMS tend to have a better prognosis than bone or deep soft-tissue LMS. (orig.)
MRI, MDCT features, and clinical outcome of extremity leiomyosarcomas: experience in 47 patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gordon, Robert W.; Shinagare, Atul B.; Tirumani, Sree Harsha; Jagannathan, Jyothi P.; Ramaiya, Nikhil H.; Kurra, Vikram; Hornick, Jason L.

2014-01-01

To describe MRI, MDCT features, and clinical outcome of extremity leiomyosarcomas (LMS). In this IRB-approved, HIPAA-compliant retrospective study, we included 47 patients (23 women, 24 men; mean age: 55.3 years, range: 17-85 years) with pathologically confirmed extremity LMS seen at our adult tertiary cancer center between 2000 and 2012. MRI/MDCT of primary tumors in 23 patients and follow-up in all patients were reviewed by two radiologists in consensus. Clinical data were extracted from electronic medical records. Primary tumors were distributed in bones (6 out of 47), deep soft tissues (24 out of 47), and superficial soft tissues (17 out of 47). On imaging (bone = 4, deep soft tissue = 11, superficial soft tissue = 8), compared with skeletal muscle, they were T1 iso-hypointense and T2 hyperintense. Bone LMS were metaphyseal tumors with cortical destruction (3 out of 4). Deep soft-tissue LMS were large with hemorrhage (7 out of 11) and necrosis (10 out of 11). Superficial soft-tissue LMS were relatively smaller, homogeneously enhancing (6 out of 8) tumors. Distant metastases developed in 32 out of 47 patients (bone LMS [6 out of 6], deep soft-tissue LMS [18 out of 24], superficial soft-tissue LMS [8 out of 17]), commonly to lung (29 out of 47) and bone (14 out of 47). At the time of writing, 22 out of 36 patients (bone LMS [4 out of 6], deep soft-tissue LMS [15 out of 24], superficial soft-tissue LMS [4 out of 17]) have died. There was no statistically significant correlation between metastatic disease and tumor size or grade. Extremity LMS arise in bones and in the deep and superficial soft tissues, frequently metastasize to the lungs, and have a poor prognosis. Superficial LMS tend to have a better prognosis than bone or deep soft-tissue LMS. (orig.)
Unaffected perceptual thresholds for biological and non-biological form-from-motion perception in autism spectrum conditions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayse Pinar Saygin

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Perception of biological motion is linked to the action perception system in the human brain, abnormalities within which have been suggested to underlie impairments in social domains observed in autism spectrum conditions (ASC. However, the literature on biological motion perception in ASC is heterogeneous and it is unclear whether deficits are specific to biological motion, or might generalize to form-from-motion perception.We compared psychophysical thresholds for both biological and non-biological form-from-motion perception in adults with ASC and controls. Participants viewed point-light displays depicting a walking person (Biological Motion, a translating rectangle (Structured Object or a translating unfamiliar shape (Unstructured Object. The figures were embedded in noise dots that moved similarly and the task was to determine direction of movement. The number of noise dots varied on each trial and perceptual thresholds were estimated adaptively. We found no evidence for an impairment in biological or non-biological object motion perception in individuals with ASC. Perceptual thresholds in the three conditions were almost identical between the ASC and control groups.Impairments in biological motion and non-biological form-from-motion perception are not across the board in ASC, and are only found for some stimuli and tasks. We discuss our results in relation to other findings in the literature, the heterogeneity of which likely relates to the different tasks performed. It appears that individuals with ASC are unaffected in perceptual processing of form-from-motion, but may exhibit impairments in higher order judgments such as emotion processing. It is important to identify more specifically which processes of motion perception are impacted in ASC before a link can be made between perceptual deficits and the higher-level features of the disorder.
Perceptual organization in computer vision - A review and a proposal for a classificatory structure

Science.gov (United States)

Sarkar, Sudeep; Boyer, Kim L.

1993-01-01

The evolution of perceptual organization in biological vision, and its necessity in advanced computer vision systems, arises from the characteristic that perception, the extraction of meaning from sensory input, is an intelligent process. This is particularly so for high order organisms and, analogically, for more sophisticated computational models. The role of perceptual organization in computer vision systems is explored. This is done from four vantage points. First, a brief history of perceptual organization research in both humans and computer vision is offered. Next, a classificatory structure in which to cast perceptual organization research to clarify both the nomenclature and the relationships among the many contributions is proposed. Thirdly, the perceptual organization work in computer vision in the context of this classificatory structure is reviewed. Finally, the array of computational techniques applied to perceptual organization problems in computer vision is surveyed.
Additivity of Feature-based and Symmetry-based Grouping Effects in Multiple Object Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chundi eWang

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Multiple object tracking (MOT is an attentional process wherein people track several moving targets among several distractors. Symmetry, an important indicator of regularity, is a general spatial pattern observed in natural and artificial scenes. According to the laws of perceptual organization proposed by Gestalt psychologists, regularity is a principle of perceptual grouping, such as similarity and closure. A great deal of research reported that feature-based similarity grouping (e.g., grouping based on color, size, or shape among targets in MOT tasks can improve tracking performance. However, no additive feature-based grouping effects have been reported where the tracking objects had two or more features. Additive effect refers to a greater grouping effect produced by grouping based on multiple cues instead of one cue. Can spatial symmetry produce a similar grouping effect similar to that of feature similarity in MOT tasks? Are the grouping effects based on symmetry and feature similarity additive? This study includes four experiments to address these questions. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated the automatic symmetry-based grouping effects. More importantly, an additive grouping effect of symmetry and feature similarity was observed in Experiments 3 and 4. Our findings indicate that symmetry can produce an enhanced grouping effect in MOT and facilitate the grouping effect based on color or shape similarity. The where and what pathways might have played an important role in the additive grouping effect.

MOSFET dosimetry in-vivo at superficial and orthovoltage x-ray energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheung, T.; Yu, P.K.N.; Butson, M.J.; Illawarra Cancer Care Centre, Wollongong, NSW

2003-01-01

This note investigates in-vivo dosimetry using a Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) for radiotherapy treatment at superficial and orthovoltage x-ray energies. This was performed within one fraction of the patients treatment. Standard measurements along with energy response of the detector are given. Results showed that the MOSFET measurements in-vivo agreed with calculated results on average within ± 5.6% over all superficial and orthovoltage energies. These variations were slightly larger than TLD results with variations between measured and calculated results being ± 5.0% for the same patient measurements. The MOSFET device provides adequate in-vivo dosimetry for superficial and orthovoltage energy treatments with the accuracy of the measurements seeming to be relatively on par with TLD in our case. The MOSFET does have the advantage of returning a relatively immediate dosimetric result after irradiation. Copyright (2003) Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine
Use of superficial peroneal nerve graft for treating peripheral nerve injuries

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Samuel Ribak

2016-02-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical results from treating chronic peripheral nerve injuries using the superficial peroneal nerve as a graft donor source. METHODS: This was a study on eleven patients with peripheral nerve injuries in the upper limbs that were treated with grafts from the sensitive branch of the superficial peroneal nerve. The mean time interval between the dates of the injury and surgery was 93 days. The ulnar nerve was injured in eight cases and the median nerve in six. There were three cases of injury to both nerves. In the surgery, a longitudinal incision was made on the anterolateral face of the ankle, thus viewing the superficial peroneal nerve, which was located anteriorly to the extensor digitorum longus muscle. Proximally, the deep fascia between the extensor digitorum longus and the peroneal longus muscles was dissected. Next, the motor branch of the short peroneal muscle (one of the branches of the superficial peroneal nerve was identified. The proximal limit of the sensitive branch was found at this point. RESULTS: The average space between the nerve stumps was 3.8 cm. The average length of the grafts was 16.44 cm. The number of segments used was two to four cables. In evaluating the recovery of sensitivity, 27.2% evolved to S2+, 54.5% to S3 and 18.1% to S3+. Regarding motor recovery, 72.7% presented grade 4 and 27.2% grade 3. There was no motor deficit in the donor area. A sensitive deficit in the lateral dorsal region of the ankle and the dorsal region of the foot was observed. None of the patients presented complaints in relation to walking. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the superficial peroneal nerve as a graft source for treating peripheral nerve injuries is safe and provides good clinical results similar to those from other nerve graft sources.
Perceptual learning effect on decision and confidence thresholds.

Science.gov (United States)

Solovey, Guillermo; Shalom, Diego; Pérez-Schuster, Verónica; Sigman, Mariano

2016-10-01

Practice can enhance of perceptual sensitivity, a well-known phenomenon called perceptual learning. However, the effect of practice on subjective perception has received little attention. We approach this problem from a visual psychophysics and computational modeling perspective. In a sequence of visual search experiments, subjects significantly increased the ability to detect a "trained target". Before and after training, subjects performed two psychophysical protocols that parametrically vary the visibility of the "trained target": an attentional blink and a visual masking task. We found that confidence increased after learning only in the attentional blink task. Despite large differences in some observables and task settings, we identify common mechanisms for decision-making and confidence. Specifically, our behavioral results and computational model suggest that perceptual ability is independent of processing time, indicating that changes in early cortical representations are effective, and learning changes decision criteria to convey choice and confidence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Comparing the landscape level perceptual abilities of forest sciurids in fragmented agricultural landscapes*

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick A. Zollner

2000-01-01

Perceptual range is the maximum distance from which an animal can perceive the presence of remote landscape elements such as patches of habitat. Such perceptual abilities are of interest because they influence the probability that an animal will successfully disperse to a new patch in a landscape. Furthermore, understanding how perceptual range differs between species...
Superficies in the form of the right to superpose

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Simona CHIRICĂ

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to present the current legal framework related to the superficies right in the form of the right to superpose, and especially to draw the attention and put certain question marks regarding the actuality or even the urgency of the need for regulation regarding the right to superpose. First, as a preliminary aspect, in order to emphasize the historical evolution of the superficies right, we will briefly present the development of this concept starting from the Roman law up to the present date. Second, by analysing the relevant legislation, the doctrine and the jurisprudence, the authors set themselves to present the main methods for constituting the superficies right. Third, the characteristics related to the right to superpose will be correlatively laid out. Fourth, the possibility to obtain a building permit on the basis of the right to superpose will also be analysed. Fifth, the recently entered-into-force legislative framework regarding the registration of the right to superpose and of the building thus erected is presented. Last but not least, the conclusions of this paper are presented, highlighting the necessity for more clearly defined rules regulating the legal status of the right to superpose, in order to avoid any confusions and inconsistencies in practice.
Perceptual Organization of Visual Structure Requires a Flexible Learning Mechanism

Science.gov (United States)

Aslin, Richard N.

2011-01-01

Bhatt and Quinn (2011) provide a compelling and comprehensive review of empirical evidence that supports the operation of principles of perceptual organization in young infants. They also have provided a comprehensive list of experiences that could serve to trigger the learning of at least some of these principles of perceptual organization, and…
Estudio comparativo de la rugosidad superficial en cerámicas de ultra baja fusión

OpenAIRE

Ccahuana Vásquez, Vanessa Zulema; Leite de Oliveira Morais, Andréia Alves; Sussumu Nishioka, Renato; Tomomitsu Kimpara, Estevão

2015-01-01

El objetivo de este trabajo fue comparar la rugosidad superficial en cerámicas de baja y ultra baja fusión, después del pulido mecánico y exposición a un medio corrosivo in vitro. El análisis de la superficie (Ra) fue realizado con un rugosímetro. Se confeccionaron 72 discos, divididos en cuatro grupos según el sistema cerámico utilizado: VitadurAplha (G1), Titankeramik (G2), HeraCeram (G3) y Finesse (G4), y según el tratamiento de superficie: (A) especímenes sin tratamiento de superficie. (B...
Pneumodissection for skin protection in image-guided cryoablation of superficial musculoskeletal tumours.

Science.gov (United States)

Maybody, Majid; Tang, Peter Q; Moskowitz, Chaya S; Hsu, Meier; Yarmohammadi, Hooman; Boas, F Edward

2017-03-01

Pneumodissection is described as a simple method for preventing skin injury during cryoablation of superficial musculoskeletal tumours. Superficial tumour cryoablations performed from 2009 to 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Pneumodissection was performed in 13 patients when the shortest tumour-skin distance was less than 25 mm. Indications were pain palliation (n = 9) and local tumour control (n = 4). Patients, target tumours, technical characteristics and complications up to 60 days post ablation were reviewed. The ice ball-skin distances with and without pneumodissection were compared by a paired t-test and further assessed for association with covariates using ANCOVA. Technical success for ablation was 12 of 13. The mean shortest tumour-skin distance was 15.0 mm (3.2-24.5 mm). The mean thickness of pneumodissection was 9.6 mm (5.2-16.6 mm) resulting in mean elevation of skin of 3.4 mm (1.2-5.3 mm). Mean shortest ice ball-skin distance after pneumodissection was 10.5 mm (4.2-19.7 mm). No infection or systemic air embolism was noted. No intraprocedural frostbite was observed. Pneumodissection is feasible, effective and safe in protecting the skin during image-guided cryoablation of superficial tumours. • Frostbite during image-guided cryoablation of superficial tumours is commonly under-reported. • Frostbites are painful and may introduce infection into the superficial ablation zone. • Warm compress, saline and CO 2 have shortcomings in protecting the skin. • Pneumodissection is free, readily available, easy to use and safe and effective.
Use your eyes - metallographic versus superficial traces of the crafting of Bronze Age ornaments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgaard, Heide Wrobel

and superficial archaeological examinations can be used to understand prehistoric craft. Furthermore, it will show that with an intensive knowledge about previous scientific investigations the superficial traces preserved can reveal a great amount of information and could talk for themselves. Taking as an example...... the early and middle Bronze Age bronze ornaments from North Germany, superficial traces of the metal crafting process, visible with the naked eye, will be compared with metallographic images. The aim of this presentation is to give an overview over the crafting traces everybody could see (with a bit...
Age-Related Changes in Selective Attention and Perceptual Load During Visual Search

OpenAIRE

Madden, David J.; Langley, Linda K.

2003-01-01

Three visual search experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that age differences in selective attention vary as a function of perceptual load (E. A. Maylor & N. Lavie, 1998). Under resource-limited conditions (Experiments 1 and 2), the distraction from irrelevant display items generally decreased as display size (perceptual load) increased. This perceptual load effect was similar for younger and older adults, contrary to the findings of Maylor and Lavie. Distraction at low perceptua...
A New Perceptual Mapping Model Using Lifting Wavelet Transform

OpenAIRE

Taha TahaBasheer; Ehkan Phaklen; Ngadiran Ruzelita

2017-01-01

Perceptual mappingapproaches have been widely used in visual information processing in multimedia and internet of things (IOT) applications. Accumulative Lifting Difference (ALD) is proposed in this paper as texture mapping model based on low-complexity lifting wavelet transform, and combined with luminance masking for creating an efficient perceptual mapping model to estimate Just Noticeable Distortion (JND) in digital images. In addition to low complexity operations, experiments results sho...
Conceptual and perceptual factors in the picture superiority effect

OpenAIRE

Stenberg, Georg

2006-01-01

The picture superiority effect, i.e. better memory for pictures than for corresponding words, has been variously ascribed to a conceptual or a perceptual processing advantage. The present study aimed to disentangle perceptual and conceptual contributions. Pictures and words were tested for recognition in both their original formats and translated into participants´ second language. Multinomial Processing Tree (Batchelder & Riefer, 1999) and MINERVA (Hintzman, 1984) models were fitted to t...
Intravesical Gemcitabine for Treatment of Superficial Bladder ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Objectives: Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is the mainstay of treatment and prophylaxis in superficial bladder cancer (SBC) as it reduces tumor recurrence and disease progression. About one-third of patients do not respond to BCG. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of intravesical ...
Perceptual and conceptual similarities facilitate the generalization of instructed fear.

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Marc; Vervoort, Ellen; Boddez, Yannick; Hermans, Dirk; Baeyens, Frank

2015-09-01

Learned fear can generalize to neutral events due their perceptual and conceptual similarity with threat relevant stimuli. This study simultaneously examined these forms of generalization to model the expansion of fear in anxiety disorders. First, artificial categories involving sounds, nonsense words and animal-like objects were established. Next, the words from one category were paired with threatening information while the words from the other category were paired with safety information. Lastly, we examined if fear generalized to (i) the conceptually related animal-like objects and (ii) other animal like-objects that were perceptually similar. This was measured using behavioral avoidance, US expectancy ratings and self-reported stimulus valence. Animal-like objects conceptually connected to the aversive words evoked heightened fear. Perceptual variants of these animal-like objects also elicit fear. Future research would benefit from the use of online-US expectancy ratings and physiological measures of fear. Investigating the role of both perceptual and conceptual fear generalization is important to better understand the etiology of anxiety disorders symptoms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Perceptual attributes for the comparison of head-related transfer functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Laurent S R; Zacharov, Nick; Katz, Brian F G

2016-11-01

The benefit of using individual head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) in binaural audio is well documented with regards to improving localization precision. However, with the increased use of binaural audio in more complex scene renderings, cognitive studies, and virtual and augmented reality simulations, the perceptual impact of HRTF selection may go beyond simple localization. In this study, the authors develop a list of attributes which qualify the perceived differences between HRTFs, providing a qualitative understanding of the perceptual variance of non-individual binaural renderings. The list of attributes was designed using a Consensus Vocabulary Protocol elicitation method. Participants followed an Individual Vocabulary Protocol elicitation procedure, describing the perceived differences between binaural stimuli based on binauralized extracts of multichannel productions. This was followed by an automated lexical reduction and a series of consensus group meetings during which participants agreed on a list of relevant attributes. Finally, the proposed list of attributes was then evaluated through a listening test, leading to eight valid perceptual attributes for describing the perceptual dimensions affected by HRTF set variations.
Predicting the Perceptual Consequences of Hidden Hearing Loss

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew J. Oxenham

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Recent physiological studies in several rodent species have revealed that permanent damage can occur to the auditory system after exposure to a noise that produces only a temporary shift in absolute thresholds. The damage has been found to occur in the synapses between the cochlea’s inner hair cells and the auditory nerve, effectively severing part of the connection between the ear and the brain. This synaptopathy has been termed hidden hearing loss because its effects are not thought to be revealed in standard clinical, behavioral, or physiological measures of absolute threshold. It is currently unknown whether humans suffer from similar deficits after noise exposure. Even if synaptopathy occurs in humans, it remains unclear what the perceptual consequences might be or how they should best be measured. Here, we apply a simple theoretical model, taken from signal detection theory, to provide some predictions for what perceptual effects could be expected for a given loss of synapses. Predictions are made for a number of basic perceptual tasks, including tone detection in quiet and in noise, frequency discrimination, level discrimination, and binaural lateralization. The model’s predictions are in line with the empirical observations that a 50% loss of synapses leads to changes in threshold that are too small to be reliably measured. Overall, the model provides a simple initial quantitative framework for understanding and predicting the perceptual effects of synaptopathy in humans.
The Relationship Between Perceptual Egocentrism and Field Dependence in Early Childhood

Science.gov (United States)

Bowd, Alan D.

1975-01-01

Kindergarten children were administered tests of inductive reasoning and field dependence and a series of perceptual egocentrism tasks. Results confirm a positive relation between field dependence and perceptual egocentrism; they also question the validity of the field-dependence construct in early childhood. (GO)
Evidence accumulation detected in BOLD signal using slow perceptual decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krueger, Paul M.; van Vugt, Marieke K.; Simen, Patrick; Nystrom, Leigh; Holmes, Philip; Cohen, Jonathan D.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: We assessed whether evidence accumulation could be observed in the BOLD signal during perceptual decision making. This presents a challenge since the hemodynamic response is slow, while perceptual decisions are typically fast. NEW METHOD: Guided by theoretical predictions of the drift
A perceptual metric for photo retouching.

Science.gov (United States)

Kee, Eric; Farid, Hany

2011-12-13

In recent years, advertisers and magazine editors have been widely criticized for taking digital photo retouching to an extreme. Impossibly thin, tall, and wrinkle- and blemish-free models are routinely splashed onto billboards, advertisements, and magazine covers. The ubiquity of these unrealistic and highly idealized images has been linked to eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction in men, women, and children. In response, several countries have considered legislating the labeling of retouched photos. We describe a quantitative and perceptually meaningful metric of photo retouching. Photographs are rated on the degree to which they have been digitally altered by explicitly modeling and estimating geometric and photometric changes. This metric correlates well with perceptual judgments of photo retouching and can be used to objectively judge by how much a retouched photo has strayed from reality.
Multiple spatial frequency channels in human visual perceptual memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Nemes, V A; Whitaker, D; Heron, J; McKeefry, D J

2011-12-08

Current models of short-term visual perceptual memory invoke mechanisms that are closely allied to low-level perceptual discrimination mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which human visual perceptual memory for spatial frequency is based upon multiple, spatially tuned channels similar to those found in the earliest stages of visual processing. To this end we measured how performance on a delayed spatial frequency discrimination paradigm was affected by the introduction of interfering or 'memory masking' stimuli of variable spatial frequency during the delay period. Masking stimuli were shown to induce shifts in the points of subjective equality (PSE) when their spatial frequencies were within a bandwidth of 1.2 octaves of the reference spatial frequency. When mask spatial frequencies differed by more than this value, there was no change in the PSE from baseline levels. This selective pattern of masking was observed for different spatial frequencies and demonstrates the existence of multiple, spatially tuned mechanisms in visual perceptual memory. Memory masking effects were also found to occur for horizontal separations of up to 6 deg between the masking and test stimuli and lacked any orientation selectivity. These findings add further support to the view that low-level sensory processing mechanisms form the basis for the retention of spatial frequency information in perceptual memory. However, the broad range of transfer of memory masking effects across spatial location and other dimensions indicates more long range, long duration interactions between spatial frequency channels that are likely to rely contributions from neural processes located in higher visual areas. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hybrid Histogram Descriptor: A Fusion Feature Representation for Image Retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Qinghe; Hao, Qiaohong; Chen, Yuqi; Yi, Yugen; Wei, Ying; Dai, Jiangyan

2018-06-15

Currently, visual sensors are becoming increasingly affordable and fashionable, acceleratingly the increasing number of image data. Image retrieval has attracted increasing interest due to space exploration, industrial, and biomedical applications. Nevertheless, designing effective feature representation is acknowledged as a hard yet fundamental issue. This paper presents a fusion feature representation called a hybrid histogram descriptor (HHD) for image retrieval. The proposed descriptor comprises two histograms jointly: a perceptually uniform histogram which is extracted by exploiting the color and edge orientation information in perceptually uniform regions; and a motif co-occurrence histogram which is acquired by calculating the probability of a pair of motif patterns. To evaluate the performance, we benchmarked the proposed descriptor on RSSCN7, AID, Outex-00013, Outex-00014 and ETHZ-53 datasets. Experimental results suggest that the proposed descriptor is more effective and robust than ten recent fusion-based descriptors under the content-based image retrieval framework. The computational complexity was also analyzed to give an in-depth evaluation. Furthermore, compared with the state-of-the-art convolutional neural network (CNN)-based descriptors, the proposed descriptor also achieves comparable performance, but does not require any training process.
Target metabolite and gene transcription profiling during the development of superficial scald in apple (Malus x domestica Borkh).

Science.gov (United States)

Busatto, Nicola; Farneti, Brian; Tadiello, Alice; Vrhovsek, Urska; Cappellin, Luca; Biasioli, Franco; Velasco, Riccardo; Costa, Guglielmo; Costa, Fabrizio

2014-07-20

Fruit quality features resulting from ripening processes need to be preserved throughout storage for economical reasons. However, during this period several physiological disorders can occur, of which superficial scald is one of the most important, due to the development of large brown areas on the fruit skin surface. This study examined the variation in polyphenolic content with the progress of superficial scald in apple, also with respect to 1-MCP, an ethylene competitor interacting with the hormone receptors and known to interfere with this etiology. The change in the accumulation of these metabolites was further correlated with the gene set involved in this pathway, together with two specific VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), α-farnesene and its oxidative form, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one. Metabolite profiling and qRT-PCR assay showed these volatiles are more heavily involved in the signalling system, while the browning coloration would seem to be due more to a specific accumulation of chlorogenic acid (as a consequence of the activation of MdPAL and MdC3H), and its further oxidation carried out by a polyphenol oxidase gene (MdPPO). In this physiological scenario, new evidence regarding the involvement of an anti-apoptotic regulatory mechanism for the compartmentation of this phenomenon in the skin alone was also hypothesized, as suggested by the expression profile of the MdDAD1, MdDND1 and MdLSD1 genes. The results presented in this work represent a step forward in understanding the physiological mechanisms of superficial scald in apple, shedding light on the regulation of the specific physiological cascade.
IT-Supported Formal Control: How Perceptual (in)Congruence Affects the Convergence of Crowd-Sourced Ideas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Seeber, Isabella; Waizenegger, Lena; Demetz, Lukas

2016-01-01

interactions on the team outcome, i.e. the ideas in a converged list. However, it is unclear if formal control can facilitate perceptual congruence and what effect it has on idea quality, e.g., an idea’s elaborateness. Perceptual congruence is operationalized by examining the agreement between leaders and team...... of perceptual congruence. Perceptual incongruence was found to be detrimental for extent of idea development....
Perceptual Computing Aiding People in Making Subjective Judgments

CERN Document Server

Mendel, Jerry

2010-01-01

Explains for the first time how "computing with words" can aid in making subjective judgments. Lotfi Zadeh, the father of fuzzy logic, coined the phrase "computing with words" (CWW) to describe a methodology in which the objects of computation are words and propositions drawn from a natural language. Perceptual Computing explains how to implement CWW to aid in the important area of making subjective judgments, using a methodology that leads to an interactive device—a "Perceptual Computer"—that propagates random and linguistic uncertainties into the subjective judg
Attention affects visual perceptual processing near the hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Cosman, Joshua D; Vecera, Shaun P

2010-09-01

Specialized, bimodal neural systems integrate visual and tactile information in the space near the hand. Here, we show that visuo-tactile representations allow attention to influence early perceptual processing, namely, figure-ground assignment. Regions that were reached toward were more likely than other regions to be assigned as foreground figures, and hand position competed with image-based information to bias figure-ground assignment. Our findings suggest that hand position allows attention to influence visual perceptual processing and that visual processes typically viewed as unimodal can be influenced by bimodal visuo-tactile representations.
Different cortical mechanisms for spatial vs. feature-based attentional selection in visual working memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Heuer

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The limited capacity of visual working memory necessitates attentional mechanisms that selectively update and maintain only the most task-relevant content. Psychophysical experiments have shown that the retroactive selection of memory content can be based on visual properties such as location or shape, but the neural basis for such differential selection is unknown. For example, it is not known if there are different cortical modules specialized for spatial versus feature-based mnemonic attention, in the same way that has been demonstrated for attention to perceptual input. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS to identify areas in human parietal and occipital cortex involved in the selection of objects from memory based on cues to their location (spatial information or their shape (featural information. We found that TMS over the supramarginal gyrus (SMG selectively facilitated spatial selection, whereas TMS over the lateral occipital cortex selectively enhanced feature-based selection for remembered objects in the contralateral visual field. Thus, different cortical regions are responsible for spatial vs. feature-based selection of working memory representations. Since the same regions are involved in attention to external events, these new findings indicate overlapping mechanisms for attentional control over perceptual input and mnemonic representations.
Blinded by the load: attention, awareness and the role of perceptual load.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavie, Nilli; Beck, Diane M; Konstantinou, Nikos

2014-05-05

What is the relationship between attention and conscious awareness? Awareness sometimes appears to be restricted to the contents of focused attention, yet at other times irrelevant distractors will dominate awareness. This contradictory relationship has also been reflected in an abundance of discrepant research findings leading to an enduring controversy in cognitive psychology. Lavie's load theory of attention suggests that the puzzle can be solved by considering the role of perceptual load. Although distractors will intrude upon awareness in conditions of low load, awareness will be restricted to the content of focused attention when the attended information involves high perceptual load. Here, we review recent evidence for this proposal with an emphasis on the various subjective blindness phenomena, and their neural correlates, induced by conditions of high perceptual load. We also present novel findings that clarify the role of attention in the response to stimulus contrast. Overall, this article demonstrates a critical role for perceptual load across the spectrum of perceptual processes leading to awareness, from the very early sensory responses related to contrast detection to explicit recognition of semantic content.
Vascular patterns of upper limb: an anatomical study with accent on superficial brachial artery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Kachlik

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to evaluate the terminal segmentation of the axillary artery and to present four cases of anomalous branching of the axillary artery, the superficial brachial artery (arteria brachialis superficialis, which is defined as the brachial artery that runs superficially to the median nerve. Totally, 130 cadaveric upper arms embalmed by classical formaldehyde technique from collections of the Department of Anatomy, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, were macroscopically dissected with special focus on the branching arrangement of the axillary artery. The most distal part of the axillary artery (infrapectoral part terminated in four cases as a bifurcation into two terminal branches: the superficial brachial artery and profunda brachii artery, denominated according to their relation to the median nerve. The profunda brachii artery primarily gave rise to the main branches of the infrapectoral part of the axillary artery. The superficial brachial artery descended to the cubital fossa where it assumed the usual course of the brachial artery in two cases and in the other two cases its branches (the radial and ulnar arteries passed superficially to the flexors. The incidence of the superficial brachial artery in our study was 5% of cases. The reported incidence is a bit contradictory, from 0.12% to 25% of cases. The anatomical knowledge of the axillary region is of crucial importance for neurosurgeons and specialists using the radiodiagnostic techniques, particularly in cases involving traumatic injuries. The improved knowledge would allow more accurate diagnostic interpretations and surgical treatment.
Superficial evolution and compacting aptitude of uranium dioxide powders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danroc, J.

1982-04-01

Long term storage of UO 2 powder improves slightly shaping and solidity of compacted powder. The aim of this work is the study of material evolution and the increase of this evolution rate for application to industrial fabrication. Aging in wet air at different temperatures is examined. Evolution of texture and superficial composition is followed. Below 80 0 C UO 3 , 2H 2 O is formed at crystal surface and thermal decomposition gives different hydrates. Kinetics of the transformation is studied. Oxidohydratation in liquid phase is rapid with hydrogen peroxide. The aged or treated material is compacted and mechanical behaviour is examined. Improvement is explained by inter-layer water molecule of the superficial hydrate giving lubricant and pseudo-plastic properties [fr
Caracterizacion dosimetrica del equipo de Terapia Superficial Therapax del Hospital Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernui De Vivanco, Maria Giselle; Rojas Rivas, Jorge; Cardenas Retuerto, Augusto

2007-01-01

The Servicio de Radioterapia of the Hospital Mexico in San Jose, Costa Rica has a Superficial Therapy equipment Therapax model DXT 300. It describes the measurements for the dosimetric characterization of the configurations 100 kVp, 25 mA and filter of 2.4 mm of Al, and 250 kVp, 10 mA and filter of 2.5 mm of Cu, taking into account that the uncertainties in the measurements of the superficial therapy equipment are higher than in the rank of the megavoltage [es
Norm compliance affects perceptual decisions through modulation of a starting point bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Toelch, Ulf; Panizza, Folco; Heekeren, Hauke R

2018-03-01

Adaptive decisions in social contexts depend on both perceptual information and social expectations or norms. These are potentially in conflict when certain choices are beneficial for an individual, but societal rules mandate a different course of action. To resolve such a conflict, the reliability of information has to be balanced against potentially deleterious effects of non-compliance such as ostracism. In this study, we systematically investigated how interactions between perceptual and social influences affect decision-relevant cognitive processes. In a direction-of-motion discrimination task, participants received perceptual information alongside information on other players' choices. In addition, we created conflict scenarios where players' choices affected other participants' monetary rewards dependent on whether their choices were in line or against the opinion of the other players. Importantly, we altered the strength of this manipulation in two separate experiments by contrasting motivations of either preventing harm or providing a benefit to others. Behavioural analyses and computational models of perceptual decisions showed that participants successfully integrated perceptual with social information. Participants' reliance on social information was effectively modulated in conflict situations. Critically, these effects were augmented when the strength of social norms was increased, indexing conditions under which social norms effectively influence decisions. These results inform theories of social influence by providing an account of how higher order goals like social norm compliance affect perceptual decisions.
Perceptual error and the culture of open disclosure in Australian radiology.

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Pitman, A G

2006-06-01

The work of diagnostic radiology consists of the complete detection of all abnormalities in an imaging examination and their accurate diagnosis. Errors in diagnostic radiology comprise perceptual errors, which are a failure of detection, and interpretation errors, which are errors of diagnosis. Perceptual errors are subject to rules of human perception and can be expected in a proportion of observations by any human observer including a trained professional under ideal conditions. Current legal standards of medical negligence make no allowance for perceptual errors, comparing human performance to an ideal standard. Diagnostic radiology in Australia has a culture of open disclosure, where full unbiased evidence from an examination is provided to the patient together with the report. This practice benefits the public by allowing genuine differences of opinion and also by allowing a second chance of correct diagnosis in cases of perceptual error. The culture of open disclosure, which is unique to diagnostic radiology, places radiologists at distinct medicolegal disadvantage compared with other specialties. (i) Perceptual error should be acknowledged as an integral inevitable part of diagnostic radiology; (ii) culture of open disclosure should be encouraged by the profession; and (iii) a pragmatic definition of medical negligence should reflect the imperfect performance of human observers.
Perceptual error and the culture of open disclosure in Australian radiology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pitman, A.G.

2006-01-01

The work of diagnostic radiology consists of the complete detection of all abnormalities in an imaging examination and their accurate diagnosis. Errors in diagnostic radiology comprise perceptual errors, which are a failure of detection, and interpretation errors, which are errors of diagnosis. Perceptual errors are subject to rules of human perception and can be expected in a proportion of observations by any human observer including a trained professional under ideal conditions. Current legal standards of medical negligence make no allowance for perceptual errors, comparing human performance to an ideal standard. Diagnostic radiology in Australia has a culture of open disclosure, where full unbiased evidence from an examination is provided to the patient together with the report. This practice benefits the public by allowing genuine differences of opinion and also by allowing a second chance of correct diagnosis in cases of perceptual error. The culture of open disclosure, which is unique to diagnostic radiology, places radiologists at distinct medicolegal disadvantage compared with other specialties, (i) Perceptual error should be acknowledged as an integral inevitable part of diagnostic radiology; (ii) culture of open disclosure should be encouraged by the profession; and (iii) a pragmatic definition of medical negligence should reflect the imperfect performance of human observers Copyright (2006) Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
The Effect of Landscaping and Building Facades on Perceptual-Behavioral Features of Citizens

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Sara Azma

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: Perception could provide the first or the most fundamental layer for recognition and hence, studying it should be prior to any other layer like layers of cultural world and especially, the real world. One of the categories, in which cognition becomes important, is the urban landscape and its designation to improve perceptual perceptions of audiences to enhance items such as sense of belonging and recognition of space and orientation. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate physical factors affecting urban bodies and its impact on perception and behavior of citizens and considering the gap in this field. Method: The method used in this study is interpretive and in form of qualitative analysis of available references on urban landscape and perception of citizens. The data collected through library research. The procedure is based on classification and content analysis in this study. Results: Landscaping and city walls could lead to emergence of perceptions such as perception of attractiveness and emotions of space, perception of identity and sense of belonging, perception of useful information, perception of hidden order and reagent of life stream, living at the streets, explicit transfer of performance message and perception of urban diversity in citizens. Conclusion: The results obtained from this study could lead to recognizing the relationship between designation and environmental psychology in designing urban landscape and desirable perception of citizens about the environment and the interaction between designation strategies in designing the facade that could finally lead to promotion of quality of the environment and mental comfort and satisfaction of citizens.
Comportamiento a fatiga del acero sae 4140 usando alta rugosidad superficial y ambiente corrosivo

OpenAIRE

CEBALLOS, WILSON FERNANDO; GÓMEZ, ADOLFO LEÓN; CORONADO, JOHN JAIRO

2010-01-01

En este artículo se presenta el estudio del comportamiento a fatiga del acero SAE 4140 en condiciones diferentes: superficie pulida (acabado espejo), ambiente corrosivo (jugo de caña de azúcar), alta rugosidad superficial (superficie equivalente a la encontrada típicamente en los ejes de molino de caña) y una condición que involucra la combinación de las dos últimas. Las anteriores condiciones están presentes en los ejes de maza de molino de caña de azúcar durante el proceso de molienda. Se r...
COMPORTAMIENTO A FATIGA DEL ACERO SAE 4140 USANDO ALTA RUGOSIDAD SUPERFICIAL Y AMBIENTE CORROSIVO

OpenAIRE

CEBALLOS, WILSON FERNANDO; GÓMEZ, ADOLFO LEÓN; CORONADO, JOHN JAIRO

2010-01-01

En este artículo se presenta el estudio del comportamiento a fatiga del acero SAE 4140 en condiciones diferentes: superficie pulida (acabado espejo), ambiente corrosivo (jugo de caña de azúcar), alta rugosidad superficial (superficie equivalente a la encontrada típicamente en los ejes de molino de caña) y una condición que involucra la combinación de las dos últimas. Las anteriores condiciones están presentes en los ejes de maza de molino de caña de azúcar durante el proceso de molienda. Se r...
Perceptual Fluency, Auditory Generation, and Metamemory: Analyzing the Perceptual Fluency Hypothesis in the Auditory Modality

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Besken, Miri; Mulligan, Neil W.

2014-01-01

Judgments of learning (JOLs) are sometimes influenced by factors that do not impact actual memory performance. One recent proposal is that perceptual fluency during encoding affects metamemory and is a basis of metacognitive illusions. In the present experiments, participants identified aurally presented words that contained inter-spliced silences…
Isolated core vs. superficial cooling effects on virtual maze navigation.

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Payne, Jennifer; Cheung, Stephen S

2007-07-01

Cold impairs cognitive performance and is a common occurrence in many survival situations. Altered behavior patterns due to impaired navigation abilities in cold environments are potential problems in lost-person situations. We investigated the separate effects of low core temperature and superficial cooling on a spatially demanding virtual navigation task. There were 12 healthy men who were passively cooled via 15 degrees C water immersion to a core temperature of 36.0 degrees C, then transferred to a warm (40 degrees C) water bath to eliminate superficial shivering while completing a series of 20 virtual computer mazes. In a control condition, subjects rested in a thermoneutral (approximately 35 degrees C) bath for a time-matched period before being transferred to a warm bath for testing. Superficial cooling and distraction were achieved by whole-body immersion in 35 degree water for a time-matched period, followed by lower leg immersion in 10 degree C water for the duration of the navigational tests. Mean completion time and mean error scores for the mazes were not significantly different (p > 0.05) across the core cooling (16.59 +/- 11.54 s, 0.91 +/- 1.86 errors), control (15.40 +/- 8.85 s, 0.82 +/- 1.76 errors), and superficial cooling (15.19 +/- 7.80 s, 0.77 +/- 1.40 errors) conditions. Separately reducing core temperature or increasing cold sensation in the lower extremities did not influence performance on virtual computer mazes, suggesting that navigation is more resistive to cooling than other, simpler cognitive tasks. Further research is warranted to explore navigational ability at progressively lower core and skin temperatures, and in different populations.
The cerebellum and visual perceptual learning: evidence from a motion extrapolation task.

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Deluca, Cristina; Golzar, Ashkan; Santandrea, Elisa; Lo Gerfo, Emanuele; Eštočinová, Jana; Moretto, Giuseppe; Fiaschi, Antonio; Panzeri, Marta; Mariotti, Caterina; Tinazzi, Michele; Chelazzi, Leonardo

2014-09-01

Visual perceptual learning is widely assumed to reflect plastic changes occurring along the cerebro-cortical visual pathways, including at the earliest stages of processing, though increasing evidence indicates that higher-level brain areas are also involved. Here we addressed the possibility that the cerebellum plays an important role in visual perceptual learning. Within the realm of motor control, the cerebellum supports learning of new skills and recalibration of motor commands when movement execution is consistently perturbed (adaptation). Growing evidence indicates that the cerebellum is also involved in cognition and mediates forms of cognitive learning. Therefore, the obvious question arises whether the cerebellum might play a similar role in learning and adaptation within the perceptual domain. We explored a possible deficit in visual perceptual learning (and adaptation) in patients with cerebellar damage using variants of a novel motion extrapolation, psychophysical paradigm. Compared to their age- and gender-matched controls, patients with focal damage to the posterior (but not the anterior) cerebellum showed strongly diminished learning, in terms of both rate and amount of improvement over time. Consistent with a double-dissociation pattern, patients with focal damage to the anterior cerebellum instead showed more severe clinical motor deficits, indicative of a distinct role of the anterior cerebellum in the motor domain. The collected evidence demonstrates that a pure form of slow-incremental visual perceptual learning is crucially dependent on the intact cerebellum, bearing the notion that the human cerebellum acts as a learning device for motor, cognitive and perceptual functions. We interpret the deficit in terms of an inability to fine-tune predictive models of the incoming flow of visual perceptual input over time. Moreover, our results suggest a strong dissociation between the role of different portions of the cerebellum in motor versus
Functional compartmentalization of the human superficial masseter muscle.

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Rodrigo A Guzmán-Venegas

Full Text Available Some muscles have demonstrated a differential recruitment of their motor units in relation to their location and the nature of the motor task performed; this involves functional compartmentalization. There is little evidence that demonstrates the presence of a compartmentalization of the superficial masseter muscle during biting. The aim of this study was to describe the topographic distribution of the activity of the superficial masseter (SM muscle's motor units using high-density surface electromyography (EMGs at different bite force levels. Twenty healthy natural dentate participants (men: 4; women: 16; age 20±2 years; mass: 60±12 kg, height: 163±7 cm were selected from 316 volunteers and included in this study. Using a gnathodynamometer, bites from 20 to 100% maximum voluntary bite force (MVBF were randomly requested. Using a two-dimensional grid (four columns, six electrodes located on the dominant SM, EMGs in the anterior, middle-anterior, middle-posterior and posterior portions were simultaneously recorded. In bite ranges from 20 to 60% MVBF, the EMG activity was higher in the anterior than in the posterior portion (p-value = 0.001.The center of mass of the EMG activity was displaced towards the posterior part when bite force increased (p-value = 0.001. The topographic distribution of EMGs was more homogeneous at high levels of MVBF (p-value = 0.001. The results of this study show that the superficial masseter is organized into three functional compartments: an anterior, a middle and a posterior compartment. However, this compartmentalization is only seen at low levels of bite force (20-60% MVBF.

[Occupational trauma due to superficial corneal foreign body].

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Gerente, Vanessa Miroski; Melo, Gustavo Barreto de; Regatieri, Caio Vinícius Saito; Alvarenga, Lênio Souza; Martins, Elizabeth Nogueira

2008-01-01

To evaluate the epidemiology of superficial corneal foreign body. Patients who were seen at the Emergency Service of the Federal University of São Paulo, from April/05 to June/05, were screened and those with superficial corneal foreign body were interviewed. Data regarding gender, age, occupation, employment status, availability and use of protective devices and supervision of their use were collected. Awareness of the possible complications was also assessed. Results were analyzed using chi-square or Fisher exact test. One hundred twenty-three patients were interviewed. Only 3 patients were female. The mean age was 36 years. Most injuries occurred at the workplace (86.2%), and 58.4% of the patients did not have a legal employment registration. The occupational activities most frequently reported were construction related activities (44.3%) and welding/soldering (11.3%). In most workplaces (79.8%) protective devices were available and 85.3% of the patients were instructed to use them. A safety device was being used during the accident in 34.2% of the cases and this was more frequent among patients that had legal employment registry (p=0.008) and among those under supervision (p=0.0415). The majority of the patients (68.9%) were aware of the risk of severe complications. Most patients with superficial corneal foreign body are aware of its severe complications and injuries usually occur in places where safety devices are available and often during their use. Our findings suggest that prevention should focus on supervision and correct use of safety devices.
Using Japanese Onomatopoeias to Explore Perceptual Dimensions in Visual Material Perception.

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Hanada, Mitsuhiko

2016-01-28

This study examined the perceptual dimensions of visual material properties. Photographs of 50 objects were presented to the participants, and they reported a suitable onomatopoeia (mimetic word) for describing the material of the object in each photograph, based on visual appearance. The participants' responses were collated into a contingency table of photographs × onomatopoeias. After removing some items from the table, correspondence analysis was applied to the contingency table, and a six-dimensional biplot was obtained. By rotating the axes to maximize sparseness of the coordinates for the items in the biplot, three meaningful perceptual dimensions were derived: wetness/stickiness, fluffiness/softness, and smoothness-roughness/gloss-dullness. Two additional possible dimensions were obtained: crumbliness and coldness. These dimensions, except gloss-dullness, were paid little attention to in vision science, though they were suggested as perceptual dimensions of tactile texture. This suggests that the perceptual dimensions that are considered to be primarily related to haptics are also important in visual material perception. © The Author(s) 2016.
Automated Intelligibility Assessment of Pathological Speech Using Phonological Features

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Catherine Middag

2009-01-01

Full Text Available It is commonly acknowledged that word or phoneme intelligibility is an important criterion in the assessment of the communication efficiency of a pathological speaker. People have therefore put a lot of effort in the design of perceptual intelligibility rating tests. These tests usually have the drawback that they employ unnatural speech material (e.g., nonsense words and that they cannot fully exclude errors due to listener bias. Therefore, there is a growing interest in the application of objective automatic speech recognition technology to automate the intelligibility assessment. Current research is headed towards the design of automated methods which can be shown to produce ratings that correspond well with those emerging from a well-designed and well-performed perceptual test. In this paper, a novel methodology that is built on previous work (Middag et al., 2008 is presented. It utilizes phonological features, automatic speech alignment based on acoustic models that were trained on normal speech, context-dependent speaker feature extraction, and intelligibility prediction based on a small model that can be trained on pathological speech samples. The experimental evaluation of the new system reveals that the root mean squared error of the discrepancies between perceived and computed intelligibilities can be as low as 8 on a scale of 0 to 100.
Clinicomycological Characterization of Superficial Mycoses from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Nepal

OpenAIRE

Khadka, Sundar; Sherchand, Jeevan Bahadur; Pokharel, Dinesh Binod; Pokhrel, Bharat Mani; Mishra, Shyam Kumar; Dhital, Subhash; Rijal, Basista

2016-01-01

Background. Superficial mycosis is a common fungal infection worldwide, mainly caused by dermatophytes. However, the prevalence of species varies geographically. In addition, fungal treatment is best guided according to species isolated. This study was carried out to determine the clinical as well as mycological profile of superficial mycoses in a tertiary care hospital, Nepal. Methods. This was a prospective case-control laboratory based study conducted over a period of six months from Janua...
Topographical anatomy of superficial veins, cutaneous nerves, and arteries at venipuncture sites in the cubital fossa.

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Mikuni, Yuko; Chiba, Shoji; Tonosaki, Yoshikazu

2013-01-01

We investigated correlations among the superficial veins, cutaneous nerves, arteries, and venous valves in 128 cadaveric arms in order to choose safe venipuncture sites in the cubital fossa. The running patterns of the superficial veins were classified into four types (I-IV) and two subtypes (a and b). In types I and II, the median cubital vein (MCV) was connected obliquely between the cephalic and basilic veins in an N-shape, while the median antebrachial vein (MAV) opened into the MCV in type I and into the basilic vein in type II. In type III, the MCV did not exist. In type IV, additional superficial veins above the cephalic and basilic veins were developed around the cubital fossa. In types Ib-IVb, the accessory cephalic vein was developed under the same conditions as seen in types Ia-IVa, respectively. The lateral cutaneous nerve of the forearm descended deeply along the cephalic vein in 124 cases (97 %), while the medial cutaneous nerve of the forearm descended superficially along the basilic vein in 94 (73 %). A superficial brachial artery was found in 27 cases (21 %) and passed deeply under the ulnar side of the MCV. A median superficial antebrachial artery was found in 1 case (1 %), which passed deeply under the ulnar side of the MCV and ran along the MAV. Venous valves were found at 239 points in 28 cases with superficial veins, with a single valve seen at 79 points (33 %) and double valves at 160 points (67 %). At the time of intravenous injection, caution is needed regarding the locations of cutaneous nerves, brachial and superficial brachial arteries, and venous valves. The area ranging from the middle segment of the MCV to the confluence between the MCV and cephalic vein appears to be a relatively safe venipuncture site.
A role of the human thalamus in predicting the perceptual consequences of eye movements.

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Ostendorf, Florian; Liebermann, Daniela; Ploner, Christoph J

2013-01-01

Internal monitoring of oculomotor commands may help to anticipate and keep track of changes in perceptual input imposed by our eye movements. Neurophysiological studies in non-human primates identified corollary discharge (CD) signals of oculomotor commands that are conveyed via thalamus to frontal cortices. We tested whether disruption of these monitoring pathways on the thalamic level impairs the perceptual matching of visual input before and after an eye movement in human subjects. Fourteen patients with focal thalamic stroke and 20 healthy control subjects performed a task requiring a perceptual judgment across eye movements. Subjects reported the apparent displacement of a target cue that jumped unpredictably in sync with a saccadic eye movement. In a critical condition of this task, six patients exhibited clearly asymmetric perceptual performance for rightward vs. leftward saccade direction. Furthermore, perceptual judgments in seven patients systematically depended on oculomotor targeting errors, with self-generated targeting errors erroneously attributed to external stimulus jumps. Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping identified an area in right central thalamus as critical for the perceptual matching of visual space across eye movements. Our findings suggest that trans-thalamic CD transmission decisively contributes to a correct prediction of the perceptual consequences of oculomotor actions.
A role of the human thalamus in predicting the perceptual consequences of eye movements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florian eOstendorf

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Internal monitoring of oculomotor commands may help to anticipate and keep track of changes in perceptual input imposed by our eye movements. Neurophysiological studies in non-human primates identified corollary discharge signals of oculomotor commands that are conveyed via thalamus to frontal cortices. We tested whether disruption of these monitoring pathways on the thalamic level impairs the perceptual matching of visual input before and after an eye movement in human subjects. Fourteen patients with focal thalamic stroke and twenty healthy control subjects performed a task requiring a perceptual judgment across eye movements. Subjects reported the apparent displacement of a target cue that jumped unpredictably in sync with a saccadic eye movement. In a critical condition of this task, six patients exhibited clearly asymmetric perceptual performance for rightward versus leftward saccade direction. Furthermore, perceptual judgments in seven patients systematically depended on oculomotor targeting errors, with self-generated targeting errors erroneously attributed to external stimulus jumps. Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping identified an area in right central thalamus as critical for the perceptual matching of visual space across eye movements. Our findings suggest that trans-thalamic corollary discharge transmission decisively contributes to a correct prediction of the perceptual consequences of oculomotor actions.
One Way or Another: Evidence for Perceptual Asymmetry in Pre-attentive Learning of Non-native Contrasts

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Liquan Liu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Research investigating listeners’ neural sensitivity to speech sounds has largely focused on segmental features. We examined Australian English listeners’ perception and learning of a supra-segmental feature, pitch direction in a non-native tonal contrast, using a passive oddball paradigm and electroencephalography. The stimuli were two contours generated from naturally produced high-level and high-falling tones in Mandarin Chinese, differing only in pitch direction (Liu and Kager, 2014. While both contours had similar pitch onsets, the pitch offset of the falling contour was lower than that of the level one. The contrast was presented in two orientations (standard and deviant reversed and tested in two blocks with the order of block presentation counterbalanced. Mismatch negativity (MMN responses showed that listeners discriminated the non-native tonal contrast only in the second block, reflecting indications of learning through exposure during the first block. In addition, listeners showed a later MMN peak for their second block of test relative to listeners who did the same block first, suggesting linguistic (as opposed to acoustic processing or a misapplication of perceptual strategies from the first to the second block. The results also showed a perceptual asymmetry for change in pitch direction: listeners who encountered a falling tone deviant in the first block had larger frontal MMN amplitudes than listeners who encountered a level tone deviant in the first block. The implications of our findings for second language speech and the developmental trajectory for tone perception are discussed.
Perceptual Load Affects Eyewitness Accuracy & Susceptibility to Leading Questions

OpenAIRE

Gillian Murphy; Ciara Mary Greene

2016-01-01

Load Theory (Lavie, 1995; 2005) states that the level of perceptual load in a task (i.e. the amount of information involved in processing task-relevant stimuli) determines the efficiency of selective attention. There is evidence that perceptual load affects distractor processing, with increased inattentional blindness under high load. Given that high load can result in individuals failing to report seeing obvious objects, it is conceivable that load may also impair memory for the scene. The c...
Managment of superficial infantile capillary hemangiomas with topical timolol maleate solution.

Science.gov (United States)

Rizvi, Syed Ali Raza; Yusuf, Faraz; Sharma, Rajeev; Rizvi, Syed Wajahat Ali

2015-01-01

Capillary hemangioma is the most common benign tumor of eyelids and orbit in children. Recently, a topical beta blocker has been reported as an effective treatment for superficial capillary hemangiomas. We present a case report of two children having large capillary hemangiomas who responded well to topical treatment by 0.5% timolol maleate solution. After 12 months of treatment, the lesion has significantly reduced in size, thickness, and color in both cases. Thus, we conclude that long-term use of topical 0.5% timolol maleate solution is safe and effective in treating superficial capillary hemangiomas.
Probability shapes perceptual precision: A study in orientation estimation.

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Jabar, Syaheed B; Anderson, Britt

2015-12-01

Probability is known to affect perceptual estimations, but an understanding of mechanisms is lacking. Moving beyond binary classification tasks, we had naive participants report the orientation of briefly viewed gratings where we systematically manipulated contingent probability. Participants rapidly developed faster and more precise estimations for high-probability tilts. The shapes of their error distributions, as indexed by a kurtosis measure, also showed a distortion from Gaussian. This kurtosis metric was robust, capturing probability effects that were graded, contextual, and varying as a function of stimulus orientation. Our data can be understood as a probability-induced reduction in the variability or "shape" of estimation errors, as would be expected if probability affects the perceptual representations. As probability manipulations are an implicit component of many endogenous cuing paradigms, changes at the perceptual level could account for changes in performance that might have traditionally been ascribed to "attention." (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Methodical bases of perceptual mapping of printing industry companies

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Kalinin Pavel

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This is to study the methodological foundations of perceptual mapping in printing industry enterprises. This research has a practice focus which affects the choice of its methodological framework. The authors use such scientific research as analysis of cause-effect relationships, synthesis, problem analysis, expert evaluation and image visualization methods. In this paper, the authors present their assessment of the competitive environment of major printing industry companies in Kirov oblast; their assessment employs perceptual mapping enables by Minitab 14. This technique can be used by experts in the field of marketing and branding to assess the competitive environment in any market. The object of research is printing industry in Kirov oblast. The most important conclusion of this study is that in perceptual mapping, all the parameters are integrated in a single system and provide a more objective view of the company’s market situation.
Crossmodal Perceptual Learning and Sensory Substitution

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Michael J Proulx

2011-10-01

Full Text Available A sensory substitution device for blind persons aims to provide the missing visual input by converting images into a form that another modality can perceive, such as sound. Here I will discuss the perceptual learning and attentional mechanisms necessary for interpreting sounds produced by a device (The vOICe in a visuospatial manner. Although some aspects of the conversion, such as relating vertical location to pitch, rely on natural crossmodal mappings, the extensive training required suggests that synthetic mappings are required to generalize perceptual learning to new objects and environments, and ultimately to experience visual qualia. Here I will discuss the effects of the conversion and training on perception and attention that demonstrate the synthetic nature of learning the crossmodal mapping. Sensorimotor experience may be required to facilitate learning, develop expertise, and to develop a form of synthetic synaesthesia.
False Memories Lack Perceptual Detail: Evidence from Implicit Word-Stem Completion and Perceptual Identification Tests

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Hicks, J.L.; Starns, J.J.

2005-01-01

We used implicit measures of memory to ascertain whether false memories for critical nonpresented items in the DRM paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) contain structural and perceptual detail. In Experiment 1, we manipulated presentation modality in a visual word-stem-completion task. Critical item priming was significant and…
Data Collection and Analysis Techniques for Evaluating the Perceptual Qualities of Auditory Stimuli

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Bonebright, T.L.; Caudell, T.P.; Goldsmith, T.E.; Miner, N.E.

1998-11-17

This paper describes a general methodological framework for evaluating the perceptual properties of auditory stimuli. The framework provides analysis techniques that can ensure the effective use of sound for a variety of applications including virtual reality and data sonification systems. Specifically, we discuss data collection techniques for the perceptual qualities of single auditory stimuli including identification tasks, context-based ratings, and attribute ratings. In addition, we present methods for comparing auditory stimuli, such as discrimination tasks, similarity ratings, and sorting tasks. Finally, we discuss statistical techniques that focus on the perceptual relations among stimuli, such as Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) and Pathfinder Analysis. These methods are presented as a starting point for an organized and systematic approach for non-experts in perceptual experimental methods, rather than as a complete manual for performing the statistical techniques and data collection methods. It is our hope that this paper will help foster further interdisciplinary collaboration among perceptual researchers, designers, engineers, and others in the development of effective auditory displays.
Perceptual training effects on anticipation of direct and deceptive 7-m throws in handball.

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Alsharji, Khaled E; Wade, Michael G

2016-01-01

We examined the effectiveness of perceptual training on the performance of handball goalkeepers when anticipating the direction of both direct and deceptive 7-m throws. Skilled goalkeepers were assigned equally to three matched-ability groups based on their pre-test performance: a perceptual training group (n = 14) received video-based perceptual training, a placebo training group (n = 14) received video-based regular training and a control group received no training. Participants in the perceptual training group significantly improved their performance compared to both placebo and control groups; however, anticipation of deceptive throws improved less than for direct throws. The results confirm that although anticipating deception in handball is a challenging task for goalkeepers, task-specific perceptual training can minimise its effect and improve performance.
Auditory temporal perceptual learning and transfer in Chinese-speaking children with developmental dyslexia.

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Zhang, Manli; Xie, Weiyi; Xu, Yanzhi; Meng, Xiangzhi

2018-03-01

Perceptual learning refers to the improvement of perceptual performance as a function of training. Recent studies found that auditory perceptual learning may improve phonological skills in individuals with developmental dyslexia in alphabetic writing system. However, whether auditory perceptual learning could also benefit the reading skills of those learning the Chinese logographic writing system is, as yet, unknown. The current study aimed to investigate the remediation effect of auditory temporal perceptual learning on Mandarin-speaking school children with developmental dyslexia. Thirty children with dyslexia were screened from a large pool of students in 3th-5th grades. They completed a series of pretests and then were assigned to either a non-training control group or a training group. The training group worked on a pure tone duration discrimination task for 7 sessions over 2 weeks with thirty minutes per session. Post-tests immediately after training and a follow-up test 2 months later were conducted. Analyses revealed a significant training effect in the training group relative to non-training group, as well as near transfer to the temporal interval discrimination task and far transfer to phonological awareness, character recognition and reading fluency. Importantly, the training effect and all the transfer effects were stable at the 2-month follow-up session. Further analyses found that a significant correlation between character recognition performance and learning rate mainly existed in the slow learning phase, the consolidation stage of perceptual learning, and this effect was modulated by an individuals' executive function. These findings indicate that adaptive auditory temporal perceptual learning can lead to learning and transfer effects on reading performance, and shed further light on the potential role of basic perceptual learning in the remediation and prevention of developmental dyslexia. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Effects of pressure drop and superficial velocity on the bubbling fluidized bed incinerator.

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Wang, Feng-Jehng; Chen, Suming; Lei, Perng-Kwei; Wu, Chung-Hsing

2007-12-01

Since performance and operational conditions, such as superficial velocity, pressure drop, particles viodage, and terminal velocity, are difficult to measure on an incinerator, this study used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to determine numerical solutions. The effects of pressure drop and superficial velocity on a bubbling fluidized bed incinerator (BFBI) were evaluated. Analytical results indicated that simulation models were able to effectively predict the relationship between superficial velocity and pressure drop over bed height in the BFBI. Second, the models in BFBI were simplified to simulate scale-up beds without excessive computation time. Moreover, simulation and experimental results showed that minimum fluidization velocity of the BFBI must be controlled in at 0.188-3.684 m/s and pressure drop was mainly caused by bed particles.
Opposing effects of perceptual versus working memory load on emotional distraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Tavares, Tamara P; Logie, Kyle; Mitchell, Derek G V

2016-10-01

Throughout our day-to-day activities, we are subjected to numerous stimuli that compete for our attention; consequently, we must prioritize stimuli for further processing and influence over behaviour. Previous research has demonstrated that the extent to which task-irrelevant distractors are processed is mediated by the nature of the cognitive task, and the level of processing load. Importantly though, the interaction between cognitive task, processing load, and emotional distractor processing remains unclear. This is a particularly important question given the unique ways that emotion interacts with attention, and the fact that some other forms of processing load have been shown to reduce emotional distractor encoding. In the present study, participants were presented with emotional distractors during a perceptual and working memory task, under varying levels of load. In Experiment 1, we showed that the impact of emotional distractors on behaviour was reduced under conditions of high relative to low perceptual load. However, in sharp contrast, high working memory load was associated with increased emotional distraction. Importantly, these results were replicated in Experiment 2. Overall, the impact of processing load on emotional distraction varies according to the cognitive function being performed. These results raise the intriguing possibility that working memory operations deplete some of the cognitive resources needed to control the impact of emotion on behaviour. The findings, therefore, may have important implications for clinical populations featuring cognitive dysfunction and emotional dysregulation.
Autism-Specific Covariation in Perceptual Performances: “g” or “p” Factor?

Science.gov (United States)

Meilleur, Andrée-Anne S.; Berthiaume, Claude; Bertone, Armando; Mottron, Laurent

2014-01-01

Background Autistic perception is characterized by atypical and sometimes exceptional performance in several low- (e.g., discrimination) and mid-level (e.g., pattern matching) tasks in both visual and auditory domains. A factor that specifically affects perceptive abilities in autistic individuals should manifest as an autism-specific association between perceptual tasks. The first purpose of this study was to explore how perceptual performances are associated within or across processing levels and/or modalities. The second purpose was to determine if general intelligence, the major factor that accounts for covariation in task performances in non-autistic individuals, equally controls perceptual abilities in autistic individuals. Methods We asked 46 autistic individuals and 46 typically developing controls to perform four tasks measuring low- or mid-level visual or auditory processing. Intelligence was measured with the Wechsler's Intelligence Scale (FSIQ) and Raven Progressive Matrices (RPM). We conducted linear regression models to compare task performances between groups and patterns of covariation between tasks. The addition of either Wechsler's FSIQ or RPM in the regression models controlled for the effects of intelligence. Results In typically developing individuals, most perceptual tasks were associated with intelligence measured either by RPM or Wechsler FSIQ. The residual covariation between unimodal tasks, i.e. covariation not explained by intelligence, could be explained by a modality-specific factor. In the autistic group, residual covariation revealed the presence of a plurimodal factor specific to autism. Conclusions Autistic individuals show exceptional performance in some perceptual tasks. Here, we demonstrate the existence of specific, plurimodal covariation that does not dependent on general intelligence (or “g” factor). Instead, this residual covariation is accounted for by a common perceptual process (or “p” factor), which may drive

The Computerized Perceptual Motor Skills Assessment: A new visual perceptual motor skills evaluation tool for children in early elementary grades.

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Chen, Hao-Ling; Lee, Candy Chieh; Chen, Ying-Dar; Wang, Tien-Ni

2017-10-01

Visual perceptual motor skills have been proposed as underlying courses of handwriting difficulties. However, there is no evaluation tool currently available to assess these skills comprehensively and to serve as a sensitive measure. The purpose of this study was to validate the Computerized Perceptual Motor Skills Assessment (CPMSA), a newly developed evaluation tool for children in early elementary grades. Its test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, discriminant validity, and responsiveness were examined in 43 typically developing children and 26 children with handwriting difficulty. The CPMSA demonstrated excellent reliability across all subtests with intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs)≥0.80. Significant moderate correlations between the domains of the CPMSA and corresponding gold standards including Beery VMI, the TVPS-3, and the eye-hand coordination subtest of the DTVP-2 demonstrated good concurrent validity. In addition, the CPMSA showed evidence of discriminant validity in samples of children with and without handwriting difficulty. This article provides evidence in support of the CPMSA. The CPMSA is a reliable, valid, and promising measure of visual perceptual motor skills for children in early elementary grades. Directions for future study and improvements to the assessment are discussed. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Acoustic and Perceptual Analyses of Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia in Mandarin-speaking Chinese.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhipeng; Li, Jingyuan; Ren, Qingyi; Ge, Pingjiang

2018-02-12

The objective of this study was to examine the perceptual structure and acoustic characteristics of speech of patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) in Mandarin. Case-Control Study MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the estimation of dysphonia level, perceptual and acoustic analysis were used for patients with ADSD (N = 20) and the control group (N = 20) that are Mandarin-Chinese speakers. For both subgroups, a sustained vowel and connected speech samples were obtained. The difference of perceptual and acoustic parameters between the two subgroups was assessed and analyzed. For acoustic assessment, the percentage of phonatory breaks (PBs) of connected reading and the percentage of aperiodic segments and frequency shifts (FS) of vowel and reading in patients with ADSD were significantly worse than controls, the mean harmonics-to-noise ratio and the fundamental frequency standard deviation of vowel as well. For perceptual evaluation, the rating of speech and vowel in patients with ADSD are significantly higher than controls. The percentage of aberrant acoustic events (PB, frequency shift, and aperiodic segment) and the fundamental frequency standard deviation and mean harmonics-to-noise ratio were significantly correlated with the perceptual rating in the vowel and reading productions. The perceptual and acoustic parameters of connected vowel and reading in patients with ADSD are worse than those in normal controls, and could validly and reliably estimate dysphonia of ADSD in Mandarin-speaking Chinese. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Perceptual context and individual differences in the language proficiency of preschool children.

Science.gov (United States)

Banai, Karen; Yifat, Rachel

2016-02-01

Although the contribution of perceptual processes to language skills during infancy is well recognized, the role of perception in linguistic processing beyond infancy is not well understood. In the experiments reported here, we asked whether manipulating the perceptual context in which stimuli are presented across trials influences how preschool children perform visual (shape-size identification; Experiment 1) and auditory (syllable identification; Experiment 2) tasks. Another goal was to determine whether the sensitivity to perceptual context can explain part of the variance in oral language skills in typically developing preschool children. Perceptual context was manipulated by changing the relative frequency with which target visual (Experiment 1) and auditory (Experiment 2) stimuli were presented in arrays of fixed size, and identification of the target stimuli was tested. Oral language skills were assessed using vocabulary, word definition, and phonological awareness tasks. Changes in perceptual context influenced the performance of the majority of children on both identification tasks. Sensitivity to perceptual context accounted for 7% to 15% of the variance in language scores. We suggest that context effects are an outcome of a statistical learning process. Therefore, the current findings demonstrate that statistical learning can facilitate both visual and auditory identification processes in preschool children. Furthermore, consistent with previous findings in infants and in older children and adults, individual differences in statistical learning were found to be associated with individual differences in language skills of preschool children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Perceptual Mapping Software as a Tool for Facilitating School-Based Consultation

Science.gov (United States)

Rush, S. Craig; Kalish, Ashley; Wheeler, Joanna

2013-01-01

Perceptual mapping is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and presenting group perceptions that is potentially useful in consultation. With input and feedback from a consultee group, perceptual mapping allows the consultant to capture the group's collective perceptions and display them as an organized image that may foster…
Fusion of perceptions for perceptual robotics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ciftcioglu, O.; Bittermann, M.S.; Sariyildiz, I.S.

2006-01-01

Fusion of perception information for perceptual robotics is described. The visual perception is mathematically modelled as a probabilistic process obtaining and interpreting visual data from an environment. The visual data is processed in a multiresolutional form via wavelet transform and optimally
Investigation of the behaviour of a LILW superficial repository under aircraft impact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lo Frano, Rosa; Stefanini, Lorenzo

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Safety assessment of a LILW superficial repository. • Investigation of the consequences of an aircraft impact with fuel burning. • Experimental material properties. • Numerical simulation of aircraft impact with fuel burning accident by MSC.MARC"© code. • Demonstration that the overall integrity resulted is guaranteed. - Abstract: Safety and security are the two fundamental aspects to guarantee when designing a LILW superficial repository. Because of its safety concern, we have to prove, and build confidence in, the primary and secondary consequences of the crashing will be acceptable. These goals are obtained generally by means of safety assessment supported by calculations. This study is intended to investigate the performance of a superficial repository subjected to aircraft impact and fuel burning. To the purpose a superficial repository similar to that of El Cabril has been considered. Moreover to be confident the facility is safe and that the consequences of such a type of accident on the environment and humans are negligible, an appropriate safety assessment was carried out. The potential damage that aircraft impact could bring into the repository has been therefore analysed and discussed. To attain the intent load functions, calculated according to the Riera approach, and the maximum temperature reached by fuel during its combustion have been considered. FEM (thermo-mechanical) simulations have been done, by MSC"© Marc code, assuming damaging phenomena of concrete and material properties variation with the temperature. The obtained results showed that an empty superficial repository with a wall thickness, ranging from 0.7 to 1 m, is not sufficient to avoid penetration. Nevertheless even in presence of a reduced strength and of (cone) cracking and plugging, the overall integrity resulted guaranteed.
Investigation of the behaviour of a LILW superficial repository under aircraft impact

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lo Frano, Rosa, E-mail: rosa.lofrano@ing.unipi.it; Stefanini, Lorenzo

2016-04-15

Highlights: • Safety assessment of a LILW superficial repository. • Investigation of the consequences of an aircraft impact with fuel burning. • Experimental material properties. • Numerical simulation of aircraft impact with fuel burning accident by MSC.MARC{sup ©} code. • Demonstration that the overall integrity resulted is guaranteed. - Abstract: Safety and security are the two fundamental aspects to guarantee when designing a LILW superficial repository. Because of its safety concern, we have to prove, and build confidence in, the primary and secondary consequences of the crashing will be acceptable. These goals are obtained generally by means of safety assessment supported by calculations. This study is intended to investigate the performance of a superficial repository subjected to aircraft impact and fuel burning. To the purpose a superficial repository similar to that of El Cabril has been considered. Moreover to be confident the facility is safe and that the consequences of such a type of accident on the environment and humans are negligible, an appropriate safety assessment was carried out. The potential damage that aircraft impact could bring into the repository has been therefore analysed and discussed. To attain the intent load functions, calculated according to the Riera approach, and the maximum temperature reached by fuel during its combustion have been considered. FEM (thermo-mechanical) simulations have been done, by MSC{sup ©} Marc code, assuming damaging phenomena of concrete and material properties variation with the temperature. The obtained results showed that an empty superficial repository with a wall thickness, ranging from 0.7 to 1 m, is not sufficient to avoid penetration. Nevertheless even in presence of a reduced strength and of (cone) cracking and plugging, the overall integrity resulted guaranteed.
MR-angiogram-added surface anatomy scanning of superficial cerebral arteriovenous malformations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsuchiya, Kazuhiro; Katase, Shichiro; Yoshino, Ayako; Hachiya, Junichi [Department of Radiology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, 6-20-2, Shinkawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8611 (Japan); Shiokawa, Yoshiaki [Department of Neurosurgery, Kyorin University School of Medicine, 6-20-2, Shinkawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8611 (Japan)

2002-09-01

Our purpose was to evaluate the utility of surface anatomy scanning (SAS) of the brain with superimposition of MR angiograms in the diagnosis and presurgical planning of superficial cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). We performed SAS in 15 patients with superficial cerebral AVMs. Two-dimensional phase-contrast MR angiograms were then obtained in the same section and superimposed on the SAS images. The images were assessed regarding the visualization of each AVM component using a four-point grading scale (3=excellent to 0=poor). In 13 of the patients, the assessment was made comparing with conventional angiograms. The images were also compared with the surgical findings in 5 patients. The added images agreed well with the angiographic findings and demonstrated the relationships between the AVM components and the adjacent brain surface. The average scores of the feeder(s), nidus, and drainer(s) were 2.27, 2.33, and 2.67, respectively. The surgical findings also correlated well with the added images. Our technique can noninvasively demonstrate superficial AVMs along with the brain surface and provide information useful for planning surgery. (orig.)
MR-angiogram-added surface anatomy scanning of superficial cerebral arteriovenous malformations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsuchiya, Kazuhiro; Katase, Shichiro; Yoshino, Ayako; Hachiya, Junichi; Shiokawa, Yoshiaki

2002-01-01

Our purpose was to evaluate the utility of surface anatomy scanning (SAS) of the brain with superimposition of MR angiograms in the diagnosis and presurgical planning of superficial cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). We performed SAS in 15 patients with superficial cerebral AVMs. Two-dimensional phase-contrast MR angiograms were then obtained in the same section and superimposed on the SAS images. The images were assessed regarding the visualization of each AVM component using a four-point grading scale (3=excellent to 0=poor). In 13 of the patients, the assessment was made comparing with conventional angiograms. The images were also compared with the surgical findings in 5 patients. The added images agreed well with the angiographic findings and demonstrated the relationships between the AVM components and the adjacent brain surface. The average scores of the feeder(s), nidus, and drainer(s) were 2.27, 2.33, and 2.67, respectively. The surgical findings also correlated well with the added images. Our technique can noninvasively demonstrate superficial AVMs along with the brain surface and provide information useful for planning surgery. (orig.)
Dynamics of individual perceptual decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Torin K.; Lu, Yue M.; Karmali, Faisal

2015-01-01

Perceptual decision making is fundamental to a broad range of fields including neurophysiology, economics, medicine, advertising, law, etc. Although recent findings have yielded major advances in our understanding of perceptual decision making, decision making as a function of time and frequency (i.e., decision-making dynamics) is not well understood. To limit the review length, we focus most of this review on human findings. Animal findings, which are extensively reviewed elsewhere, are included when beneficial or necessary. We attempt to put these various findings and data sets, which can appear to be unrelated in the absence of a formal dynamic analysis, into context using published models. Specifically, by adding appropriate dynamic mechanisms (e.g., high-pass filters) to existing models, it appears that a number of otherwise seemingly disparate findings from the literature might be explained. One hypothesis that arises through this dynamic analysis is that decision making includes phasic (high pass) neural mechanisms, an evidence accumulator and/or some sort of midtrial decision-making mechanism (e.g., peak detector and/or decision boundary). PMID:26467513
Superficial Velocity Effects on HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN for Kr/Xe Capture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Welty, Amy Keil [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Garn, Troy Gerry [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Greenhalgh, Mitchell Randy [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2016-04-01

Nearly all previous testing of HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN was conducted at the same flow rate in order to maintain consistency among tests. This testing was sufficient for sorbent capacity determinations, but did not ensure that sorbents were capable of functioning under a range of flow regimes. Tests were conducted on both HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN at superficial velocities between 20 and 700 cm/min. For HZ-PAN, Kr capacity increased from 60 mmol/kg to 110 mmol/kg as superficial velocity increased from 21 to 679 cm/min. Results for AgZ-PAN were similar, with capacity ranging from 72 to 124 mmol/kg over the same range of superficial. These results are promising for scaling up to process flows, demonstrating flexibility to operate in a broad range of superficial velocities while maintaining sorbent capacity. While preparing for superficial velocity testing it was also discovered that AgZ-PAN Xe capacity, previously observed to diminish over time, could be recovered with increased desorption temperature. Further, a substantial Xe capacity increase was observed. Previous room temperature capacities in the range of 22-25 mmol Xe/kg AgZ-PAN were increased to over 60 mmol Xe/kg AgZ-PAN. While this finding has not yet been fully explored to optimize activation and desorption temperatures, it is encouraging.
Al Hirschfeld's NINA as a prototype search task for studying perceptual error in radiology

Science.gov (United States)

Nodine, Calvin F.; Kundel, Harold L.

1997-04-01

Artist Al Hirschfeld has been hiding the word NINA (his daughter's name) in line drawings of theatrical scenes that have appeared in the New York Times for over 50 years. This paper shows how Hirschfeld's search task of finding the name NINA in his drawings illustrates basic perceptual principles of detection, discrimination and decision-making commonly encountered in radiology search tasks. Hirschfeld's hiding of NINA is typically accomplished by camouflaging the letters of the name and blending them into scenic background details such as wisps of hair and folds of clothing. In a similar way, pulmonary nodules and breast lesions are camouflaged by anatomic features of the chest or breast image. Hirschfeld's hidden NINAs are sometimes missed because they are integrated into a Gestalt overview rather than differentiated from background features during focal scanning. This may be similar to overlooking an obvious nodule behind the heart in a chest x-ray image. Because it is a search game, Hirschfeld assigns a number to each drawing to indicate how many NINAs he has hidden so as not to frustrate his viewers. In the radiologists' task, the number of targets detected in a medical image is determined by combining perceptual input with probabilities generated from clinical history and viewing experience. Thus, in the absence of truth, searching for abnormalities in x-ray images creates opportunities for recognition and decision errors (e.g. false positives and false negatives). We illustrate how camouflage decreases the conspicuity of both artistic and radiographic targets, compare detection performance of radiologists with lay persons searching for NINAs, and, show similarities and differences between scanning strategies of the two groups based on eye-position data.
Beyond perceptual load and dilution: a review of the role of working memory in selective attention

OpenAIRE

de Fockert, Jan W.

2013-01-01

The perceptual load and dilution models differ fundamentally in terms of the proposed mechanism underlying variation in distractibility during different perceptual conditions. However, both models predict that distracting information can be processed beyond perceptual processing under certain conditions, a prediction that is well-supported by the literature. Load theory proposes that in such cases, where perceptual task aspects do not allow for sufficient attentional selectivity, the maintena...
Perceptual Plasticity for Auditory Object Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Heald, Shannon L. M.; Van Hedger, Stephen C.; Nusbaum, Howard C.

2017-01-01

In our auditory environment, we rarely experience the exact acoustic waveform twice. This is especially true for communicative signals that have meaning for listeners. In speech and music, the acoustic signal changes as a function of the talker (or instrument), speaking (or playing) rate, and room acoustics, to name a few factors. Yet, despite this acoustic variability, we are able to recognize a sentence or melody as the same across various kinds of acoustic inputs and determine meaning based on listening goals, expectations, context, and experience. The recognition process relates acoustic signals to prior experience despite variability in signal-relevant and signal-irrelevant acoustic properties, some of which could be considered as “noise” in service of a recognition goal. However, some acoustic variability, if systematic, is lawful and can be exploited by listeners to aid in recognition. Perceivable changes in systematic variability can herald a need for listeners to reorganize perception and reorient their attention to more immediately signal-relevant cues. This view is not incorporated currently in many extant theories of auditory perception, which traditionally reduce psychological or neural representations of perceptual objects and the processes that act on them to static entities. While this reduction is likely done for the sake of empirical tractability, such a reduction may seriously distort the perceptual process to be modeled. We argue that perceptual representations, as well as the processes underlying perception, are dynamically determined by an interaction between the uncertainty of the auditory signal and constraints of context. This suggests that the process of auditory recognition is highly context-dependent in that the identity of a given auditory object may be intrinsically tied to its preceding context. To argue for the flexible neural and psychological updating of sound-to-meaning mappings across speech and music, we draw upon examples
Shielding voices: The modulation of binding processes between voice features and response features by task representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogon, Johanna; Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Landgraf, Steffen; Dreisbach, Gesine

2017-09-01

Vocal events offer not only semantic-linguistic content but also information about the identity and the emotional-motivational state of the speaker. Furthermore, most vocal events have implications for our actions and therefore include action-related features. But the relevance and irrelevance of vocal features varies from task to task. The present study investigates binding processes for perceptual and action-related features of spoken words and their modulation by the task representation of the listener. Participants reacted with two response keys to eight different words spoken by a male or a female voice (Experiment 1) or spoken by an angry or neutral male voice (Experiment 2). There were two instruction conditions: half of participants learned eight stimulus-response mappings by rote (SR), and half of participants applied a binary task rule (TR). In both experiments, SR instructed participants showed clear evidence for binding processes between voice and response features indicated by an interaction between the irrelevant voice feature and the response. By contrast, as indicated by a three-way interaction with instruction, no such binding was found in the TR instructed group. These results are suggestive of binding and shielding as two adaptive mechanisms that ensure successful communication and action in a dynamic social environment.
Myxoid stroma and delicate vasculature of a superficial angiomyxoma give rise to the red planet sign

OpenAIRE

Green, Margaret; Logemann, Nichola; Sulit, Daryl J

2014-01-01

Superficial angiomyxomas are uncommon benign mesenchymal tumors. They often recur locally if partially removed. This case report demonstrates not only the characteristic pathological findings of a superficial angiomyxoma in a 33- year-old man, but also shows a unique dermatoscopic image, which in our estimation resembles a celestial red planet such as the blood moon seen during a lunar eclipse. We propose to call this the “red planet” sign for a superficial angiomyxoma on dermoscopic examinat...
Myxoid stroma and delicate vasculature of a superficial angiomyxoma give rise to the red planet sign.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Margaret; Logemann, Nichola; Sulit, Daryl J

2014-09-16

Superficial angiomyxomas are uncommon benign mesenchymal tumors. They often recur locally if partially removed. This case report demonstrates not only the characteristic pathological findings of a superficial angiomyxoma in a 33- year-old man, but also shows a unique dermatoscopic image, which in our estimation resembles a celestial red planet such as the blood moon seen during a lunar eclipse. We propose to call this the "red planet" sign for a superficial angiomyxoma on dermoscopic examination.
Monocular depth effects on perceptual fading.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Li-Chuan; Kramer, Peter; Yeh, Su-Ling

2010-08-06

After prolonged viewing, a static target among moving non-targets is perceived to repeatedly disappear and reappear. An uncrossed stereoscopic disparity of the target facilitates this Motion-Induced Blindness (MIB). Here we test whether monocular depth cues can affect MIB too, and whether they can also affect perceptual fading in static displays. Experiment 1 reveals an effect of interposition: more MIB when the target appears partially covered by, than when it appears to cover, its surroundings. Experiment 2 shows that the effect is indeed due to interposition and not to the target's contours. Experiment 3 induces depth with the watercolor illusion and replicates Experiment 1. Experiments 4 and 5 replicate Experiments 1 and 3 without the use of motion. Since almost any stimulus contains a monocular depth cue, we conclude that perceived depth affects perceptual fading in almost any stimulus, whether dynamic or static. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Modelling the Emergence and Dynamics of Perceptual Organisation in Auditory Streaming

Science.gov (United States)

Mill, Robert W.; Bőhm, Tamás M.; Bendixen, Alexandra; Winkler, István; Denham, Susan L.

2013-01-01

Many sound sources can only be recognised from the pattern of sounds they emit, and not from the individual sound events that make up their emission sequences. Auditory scene analysis addresses the difficult task of interpreting the sound world in terms of an unknown number of discrete sound sources (causes) with possibly overlapping signals, and therefore of associating each event with the appropriate source. There are potentially many different ways in which incoming events can be assigned to different causes, which means that the auditory system has to choose between them. This problem has been studied for many years using the auditory streaming paradigm, and recently it has become apparent that instead of making one fixed perceptual decision, given sufficient time, auditory perception switches back and forth between the alternatives—a phenomenon known as perceptual bi- or multi-stability. We propose a new model of auditory scene analysis at the core of which is a process that seeks to discover predictable patterns in the ongoing sound sequence. Representations of predictable fragments are created on the fly, and are maintained, strengthened or weakened on the basis of their predictive success, and conflict with other representations. Auditory perceptual organisation emerges spontaneously from the nature of the competition between these representations. We present detailed comparisons between the model simulations and data from an auditory streaming experiment, and show that the model accounts for many important findings, including: the emergence of, and switching between, alternative organisations; the influence of stimulus parameters on perceptual dominance, switching rate and perceptual phase durations; and the build-up of auditory streaming. The principal contribution of the model is to show that a two-stage process of pattern discovery and competition between incompatible patterns can account for both the contents (perceptual organisations) and the
Interdigital foot infections: Corynebacterium minutissimum and agents of superficial mycoses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatma Mutlu Sariguzel

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Interdigital foot infections are mostly caused initially by dermatophytes, yeasts and less frequently by bacteria. Erythrasma caused by Corynebacterium minutissimum can be confused with superficial mycoses. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of the etiologic agents of superficial mycoses and the frequency of Corynebacterium minutissimum in interdigital foot infections. All the samples obtained from the 121 patients with interdigital foot infections were examined directly with the use of 20% potassium hydroxide mounts and Gram stain under the microscope and cultured on Sabouraud's dextrose agar plates. In identification of superficial mycoses, the rate was found to be 14% with the cultural method and 14% with direct microscopic examination. Using a combination of direct microscopic examination and culture, a 33.8% ratio was achieved. In the culture of these samples, the most isolated factor was Trichophyton rubrum (33.7%. In 24 of the patients (19.8% Corynebacterium minutissimum was detected by Gram staining, in 6 of these patients Trichophyton rubrum was found, Trichophyton mentagrophytes was found in 2 and Trichosporon spp. was found in 1. The examination of interdigital foot lesions in the laboratory, the coexistence of erythrasma with dermatophytes and yeast should be considered.

Psychophysical indices of perceptual functioning in dyslexia: A psychometric analysis

OpenAIRE

Heath, Steve M.; Bishop, Dorothy V. M.; Hogben, John H.; Roach, Neil W.

2006-01-01

An influential causal theory attributes dyslexia to visual and/or auditory perceptual deficits. This theory derives from group differences between individuals with dyslexia and controls on a range of psychophysical tasks, but there is substantial variation, both between individuals within a group and from task to task. We addressed two questions. First, do psychophysical measures have sufficient reliability to assess perceptual deficits in individuals? Second, do different psychophysical task...
The Attentional Drift Diffusion Model of Simple Perceptual Decision-Making

OpenAIRE

Gabriela Tavares; Pietro Perona; Antonio Rangel; Antonio Rangel

2017-01-01

Perceptual decisions requiring the comparison of spatially distributed stimuli that are fixated sequentially might be influenced by fluctuations in visual attention. We used two psychophysical tasks with human subjects to investigate the extent to which visual attention influences simple perceptual choices, and to test the extent to which the attentional Drift Diffusion Model (aDDM) provides a good computational description of how attention affects the underlying decision processes. We find e...
Audiovisual speech perception development at varying levels of perceptual processing

OpenAIRE

Lalonde, Kaylah; Holt, Rachael Frush

2016-01-01

This study used the auditory evaluation framework [Erber (1982). Auditory Training (Alexander Graham Bell Association, Washington, DC)] to characterize the influence of visual speech on audiovisual (AV) speech perception in adults and children at multiple levels of perceptual processing. Six- to eight-year-old children and adults completed auditory and AV speech perception tasks at three levels of perceptual processing (detection, discrimination, and recognition). The tasks differed in the le...
The influence of perceptual load on age differences in selective attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Maylor, E A; Lavie, N

1998-12-01

The effect of perceptual load on age differences in visual selective attention was examined in 2 studies. In Experiment 1, younger and older adults made speeded choice responses indicating which of 2 target letters was present in a relevant set of letters in the center of the display while they attempted to ignore an irrelevant distractor in the periphery. The perceptual load of relevant processing was manipulated by varying the central set size. When the relevant set size was small, the adverse effect of an incompatible distractor was much greater for the older participants than for the younger ones. However, with larger relevant set sizes, this was no longer the case, with the distractor effect decreasing for older participants at lower levels of perceptual load than for younger ones. In Experiment 2, older adults were tested with the empty locations in the central set either unmarked (as in Experiment 1) or marked by small circles to form a group of 6 items irrespective of set size; the 2 conditions did not differ markedly, ruling out an explanation based entirely on perceptual grouping.
Bacterias en superficies contactadas durante las tomas radiográficas intraorales

OpenAIRE

Lee, Guihan; Calderón-Ubaquí, Victor; Sacsaquispe-Contreras, Sonia

2016-01-01

Objetivo: Determinar la presencia de bacterias mediante el análisis microbiológico en las superficies contactadas por el operador durante la toma y procesado de radiografías intraorales en diferentes momentos del día en el Servicio de Radiología Oral de la UPCH. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó un muestreo en nueve superficies del servicio de radiología oral. Las muestras se tomaron en dos momentos por el mismo investigador; al inicio y al finalizar las actividades en el servicio, se realizó ...
The Importance of Perceptual Experience in the Esthetic Appreciation of the Body

Science.gov (United States)

Mele, Sonia; Cazzato, Valentina; Urgesi, Cosimo

2013-01-01

Several studies suggest that sociocultural models conveying extreme thinness as the widespread ideal of beauty exert an important influence on the perceptual and emotional representation of body image. The psychological mechanisms underlying such environmental influences, however, are unclear. Here, we utilized a perceptual adaptation paradigm to investigate how perceptual experience modulates body esthetic appreciation. We found that the liking judgments of round bodies increased or decreased after brief exposure to round or thin bodies, respectively. No change occurred in the liking judgments of thin bodies. The results suggest that perceptual experience may shape our esthetic appreciation to favor more familiar round body figures. Importantly, individuals with more deficits in interoceptive awareness were less prone to increase their liking ratings of round bodies after exposure, suggesting a specific risk factor for the susceptibility to the influence of the extreme thin vs. round body ideals of beauty portrayed by the media. PMID:24324689
Gains following perceptual learning are closely linked to the initial visual acuity.

Science.gov (United States)

Yehezkel, Oren; Sterkin, Anna; Lev, Maria; Levi, Dennis M; Polat, Uri

2016-04-28

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the dependence of perceptual learning gains on initial visual acuity (VA), in a large sample of subjects with a wide range of VAs. A large sample of normally sighted and presbyopic subjects (N = 119; aged 40 to 63) with a wide range of uncorrected near visual acuities (VA, -0.12 to 0.8 LogMAR), underwent perceptual learning. Training consisted of detecting briefly presented Gabor stimuli under spatial and temporal masking conditions. Consistent with previous findings, perceptual learning induced a significant improvement in near VA and reading speed under conditions of limited exposure duration. Our results show that the improvements in VA and reading speed observed following perceptual learning are closely linked to the initial VA, with only a minor fraction of the observed improvement that may be attributed to the additional sessions performed by those with the worse VA.
The importance of perceptual experience in the esthetic appreciation of the body.

Science.gov (United States)

Mele, Sonia; Cazzato, Valentina; Urgesi, Cosimo

2013-01-01

Several studies suggest that sociocultural models conveying extreme thinness as the widespread ideal of beauty exert an important influence on the perceptual and emotional representation of body image. The psychological mechanisms underlying such environmental influences, however, are unclear. Here, we utilized a perceptual adaptation paradigm to investigate how perceptual experience modulates body esthetic appreciation. We found that the liking judgments of round bodies increased or decreased after brief exposure to round or thin bodies, respectively. No change occurred in the liking judgments of thin bodies. The results suggest that perceptual experience may shape our esthetic appreciation to favor more familiar round body figures. Importantly, individuals with more deficits in interoceptive awareness were less prone to increase their liking ratings of round bodies after exposure, suggesting a specific risk factor for the susceptibility to the influence of the extreme thin vs. round body ideals of beauty portrayed by the media.
A New Perceptual Mapping Model Using Lifting Wavelet Transform

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taha TahaBasheer

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Perceptual mappingapproaches have been widely used in visual information processing in multimedia and internet of things (IOT applications. Accumulative Lifting Difference (ALD is proposed in this paper as texture mapping model based on low-complexity lifting wavelet transform, and combined with luminance masking for creating an efficient perceptual mapping model to estimate Just Noticeable Distortion (JND in digital images. In addition to low complexity operations, experiments results show that the proposed modelcan tolerate much more JND noise than models proposed before
Induction of superficial cortical layer neurons from mouse embryonic stem cells by valproic acid.

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Juliandi, Berry; Abematsu, Masahiko; Sanosaka, Tsukasa; Tsujimura, Keita; Smith, Austin; Nakashima, Kinichi

2012-01-01

Within the developing mammalian cortex, neural progenitors first generate deep-layer neurons and subsequently more superficial-layer neurons, in an inside-out manner. It has been reported recently that mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) can, to some extent, recapitulate cortical development in vitro, with the sequential appearance of neurogenesis markers resembling that in the developing cortex. However, mESCs can only recapitulate early corticogenesis; superficial-layer neurons, which are normally produced in later developmental periods in vivo, are under-represented. This failure of mESCs to reproduce later corticogenesis in vitro implies the existence of crucial factor(s) that are absent or uninduced in existing culture systems. Here we show that mESCs can give rise to superficial-layer neurons efficiently when treated with valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor. VPA treatment increased the production of Cux1-positive superficial-layer neurons, and decreased that of Ctip2-positive deep-layer neurons. These results shed new light on the mechanisms of later corticogenesis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.
Geometric Form Drawing: A Perceptual-Motor Approach to Preventive Remediation (The Steiner Approach)

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Ogletree, Earl J.

1975-01-01

Provided is a rationale for geometric form drawing developed by Rudolf Steiner as a tool to develop motor coordination, perceptual skills, and cognition for mentally retarded and perceptually handicapped children. (Author/CL)
Spectral characterization of superficial coal groups

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, I.; Khan, M.A.; Ishaq, M.; Shakirullah; Bahadur, A.

2004-01-01

Spectral characterization of superficial coal groups was performed in KBr pellets. KBr Pellets were prepared for virgin and variously pretreated coal samples. Spectra of satisfactory resolution were obtained in wave number range-4000-400 cm /sup -1/. Presence of broad absorption bands corresponds to hydroxyl, carbonyl, carboxyl and phenolic functionalities in the spectra clearly define their presence in all samples understudy. Forced oxidation proved effective for oxidation of both aliphatic and aromatic configurations, which can be revealed from the respective spectra. (author)
Temperature distributions in 136 superficial radiothermotherapies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willich, N.; Duve, S.; Pfluger, T.; Bachmeier, K.

1992-01-01

Temperature distributions from 136 superficial radiothermotherapies in patients were analysed and three-dimensionally reconstructed. The calculation of mean values and standard deviations of the temperature measuring probes considering water bolus temperature, master probe temperature, site of the probes relatively to different applicator positions and site of the probes in the heated tissues yielded satisfactory temperature distributions for chest wall treatment in contrast to other regions of the body. Radiothermotherapy was statistically not superior to radiotherapy alone with respect to local tumor control. (authors)
Golden perception: Simulating perceptual habits of the past.

Science.gov (United States)

Carbon, Claus-Christian; Deininger, Pia

2013-01-01

Medieval times were neither dark nor grey; natural light illuminated colourful scenes depicted in paintings through coloured windows and via artificial beeswax candlelight. When we enter, for example, a church to inspect its historic treasures ranging from mosaics to depictions of saints, we do this under quite unfavourable conditions; particularly as we mainly depend on artificial halogen, LED or fluorescent light for illuminating the desired object. As these light spectrums are different from the natural light conditions under which the old masterpieces were previously developed and perceived, the perceptual effects may dramatically differ, leading to significantly altered affective and cognitive processing. Different qualities of processing might particularly be triggered when perceiving artworks which deal with specific material prone to strong interaction with idiosyncratic light conditions, for instance gold-leafed surfaces that literally start to glow when lit by candles. We tested the perceptual experiences of a figurative piece of art which we created in 3 (foreground) by 3 (background) versions, illuminated under three different light conditions (daylight, coloured light and beeswax candlelight). Results demonstrated very different perceptual experiences with stunning effects for the interaction of the specific painting depicted on a gold-leafed background lit by candlelight.
Comparison of Perceptual Signs of Voice before and after Vocal Hygiene Program in Adults with Dysphonia

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Seyyedeh Maryam khoddami

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Vocal abuse and misuse are the most frequent causes of voice disorders. Consequently some therapy is needed to stop or modify such behaviors. This research was performed to study the effectiveness of vocal hygiene program on perceptual signs of voice in people with dysphonia.Methods: A Vocal hygiene program was performed to 8 adults with dysphonia for 6 weeks. At first, Consensus Auditory- Perceptual Evaluation of Voice was used to assess perceptual signs. Then the program was delivered, Individuals were followed in second and forth weeks visits. In the last session, perceptual assessment was performed and individuals’ opinions were collected. Perceptual findings were compared before and after the therapy.Results: After the program, mean score of perceptual assessment decreased. Mean score of every perceptual sign revealed significant difference before and after the therapy (p≤0.0001. «Loudness» had maximum score and coordination between speech and respiration indicated minimum score. All participants confirmed efficiency of the therapy.Conclusion: The vocal hygiene program improves all perceptual signs of voice although not equally. This deduction is confirmed by both clinician-based and patient-based assessments. As a result, vocal hygiene program is necessary for a comprehensive voice therapy but is not solely effective to resolve all voice problems.
Factors influencing individual variation in perceptual directional microphone benefit.

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Keidser, Gitte; Dillon, Harvey; Convery, Elizabeth; Mejia, Jorge

2013-01-01

Large variations in perceptual directional microphone benefit, which far exceed the variation expected from physical performance measures of directional microphones, have been reported in the literature. The cause for the individual variation has not been systematically investigated. To determine the factors that are responsible for the individual variation in reported perceptual directional benefit. A correlational study. Physical performance measures of the directional microphones obtained after they had been fitted to individuals, cognitive abilities of individuals, and measurement errors were related to perceptual directional benefit scores. Fifty-nine hearing-impaired adults with varied degrees of hearing loss participated in the study. All participants were bilaterally fitted with a Motion behind-the-ear device (500 M, 501 SX, or 501 P) from Siemens according to the National Acoustic Laboratories' non-linear prescription, version two (NAL-NL2). Using the Bamford-Kowal-Bench (BKB) sentences, the perceptual directional benefit was obtained as the difference in speech reception threshold measured in babble noise (SRTn) with the devices in directional (fixed hypercardioid) and in omnidirectional mode. The SRTn measurements were repeated three times with each microphone mode. Physical performance measures of the directional microphone included the angle of the microphone ports to loudspeaker axis, the frequency range dominated by amplified sound, the in situ signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the in situ three-dimensional, articulation-index weighted directivity index (3D AI-DI). The cognitive tests included auditory selective attention, speed of processing, and working memory. Intraparticipant variation on the repeated SRTn's and the interparticipant variation on the average SRTn were used to determine the effect of measurement error. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine the effect of other factors. Measurement errors explained 52% of the variation
Age-related effects on perceptual and semantic encoding in memory.

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Kuo, M C C; Liu, K P Y; Ting, K H; Chan, C C H

2014-03-07

This study examined the age-related subsequent memory effect (SME) in perceptual and semantic encoding using event-related potentials (ERPs). Seventeen younger adults and 17 older adults studied a series of Chinese characters either perceptually (by inspecting orthographic components) or semantically (by determining whether the depicted object makes sounds). The two tasks had similar levels of difficulty. The participants made studied or unstudied judgments during the recognition phase. Younger adults performed better in both conditions, with significant SMEs detected in the time windows of P2, N3, P550, and late positive component (LPC). In the older group, SMEs were observed in the P2 and N3 latencies in both conditions but were only detected in the P550 in the semantic condition. Between-group analyses showed larger frontal and central SMEs in the younger sample in the LPC latency regardless of encoding type. Aging effect appears to be stronger on influencing perceptual than semantic encoding processes. The effects seem to be associated with a decline in updating and maintaining representations during perceptual encoding. The age-related decline in the encoding function may be due in part to changes in frontal lobe function. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
On application of kernel PCA for generating stimulus features for fMRI during continuous music listening.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsatsishvili, Valeri; Burunat, Iballa; Cong, Fengyu; Toiviainen, Petri; Alluri, Vinoo; Ristaniemi, Tapani

2018-06-01

There has been growing interest towards naturalistic neuroimaging experiments, which deepen our understanding of how human brain processes and integrates incoming streams of multifaceted sensory information, as commonly occurs in real world. Music is a good example of such complex continuous phenomenon. In a few recent fMRI studies examining neural correlates of music in continuous listening settings, multiple perceptual attributes of music stimulus were represented by a set of high-level features, produced as the linear combination of the acoustic descriptors computationally extracted from the stimulus audio. NEW METHOD: fMRI data from naturalistic music listening experiment were employed here. Kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) was applied to acoustic descriptors extracted from the stimulus audio to generate a set of nonlinear stimulus features. Subsequently, perceptual and neural correlates of the generated high-level features were examined. The generated features captured musical percepts that were hidden from the linear PCA features, namely Rhythmic Complexity and Event Synchronicity. Neural correlates of the new features revealed activations associated to processing of complex rhythms, including auditory, motor, and frontal areas. Results were compared with the findings in the previously published study, which analyzed the same fMRI data but applied linear PCA for generating stimulus features. To enable comparison of the results, methodology for finding stimulus-driven functional maps was adopted from the previous study. Exploiting nonlinear relationships among acoustic descriptors can lead to the novel high-level stimulus features, which can in turn reveal new brain structures involved in music processing. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Differentiation of perceptual and semantic subsequent memory effects using an orthographic paradigm.

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Kuo, Michael C C; Liu, Karen P Y; Ting, Kin Hung; Chan, Chetwyn C H

2012-11-27

This study aimed to differentiate perceptual and semantic encoding processes using subsequent memory effects (SMEs) elicited by the recognition of orthographs of single Chinese characters. Participants studied a series of Chinese characters perceptually (by inspecting orthographic components) or semantically (by determining the object making sounds), and then made studied or unstudied judgments during the recognition phase. Recognition performance in terms of d-prime measure in the semantic condition was higher, though not significant, than that of the perceptual condition. The between perceptual-semantic condition differences in SMEs at P550 and late positive component latencies (700-1000ms) were not significant in the frontal area. An additional analysis identified larger SME in the semantic condition during 600-1000ms in the frontal pole regions. These results indicate that coordination and incorporation of orthographic information into mental representation is essential to both task conditions. The differentiation was also revealed in earlier SMEs (perceptual>semantic) at N3 (240-360ms) latency, which is a novel finding. The left-distributed N3 was interpreted as more efficient processing of meaning with semantically learned characters. Frontal pole SMEs indicated strategic processing by executive functions, which would further enhance memory. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Perceptual grouping effects on cursor movement expectations.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorneich, Michael C; Hamblin, Christopher J; Lancaster, Jeff A; Olofinboba, Olu

2014-05-01

Two studies were conducted to develop an understanding of factors that drive user expectations when navigating between discrete elements on a display via a limited degree-of-freedom cursor control device. For the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle spacecraft, a free-floating cursor with a graphical user interface (GUI) would require an unachievable level of accuracy due to expected acceleration and vibration conditions during dynamic phases of flight. Therefore, Orion program proposed using a "caged" cursor to "jump" from one controllable element (node) on the GUI to another. However, nodes are not likely to be arranged on a rectilinear grid, and so movements between nodes are not obvious. Proximity between nodes, direction of nodes relative to each other, and context features may all contribute to user cursor movement expectations. In an initial study, we examined user expectations based on the nodes themselves. In a second study, we examined the effect of context features on user expectations. The studies established that perceptual grouping effects influence expectations to varying degrees. Based on these results, a simple rule set was developed to support users in building a straightforward mental model that closely matches their natural expectations for cursor movement. The results will help designers of display formats take advantage of the natural context-driven cursor movement expectations of users to reduce navigation errors, increase usability, and decrease access time. The rules set and guidelines tie theory to practice and can be applied in environments where vibration or acceleration are significant, including spacecraft, aircraft, and automobiles.

Color categories only affect post-perceptual processes when same- and different-category colors are equally discriminable.

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He, Xun; Witzel, Christoph; Forder, Lewis; Clifford, Alexandra; Franklin, Anna

2014-04-01

Prior claims that color categories affect color perception are confounded by inequalities in the color space used to equate same- and different-category colors. Here, we equate same- and different-category colors in the number of just-noticeable differences, and measure event-related potentials (ERPs) to these colors on a visual oddball task to establish if color categories affect perceptual or post-perceptual stages of processing. Category effects were found from 200 ms after color presentation, only in ERP components that reflect post-perceptual processes (e.g., N2, P3). The findings suggest that color categories affect post-perceptual processing, but do not affect the perceptual representation of color.
Skilled deaf readers have an enhanced perceptual span in reading.

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Bélanger, Nathalie N; Slattery, Timothy J; Mayberry, Rachel I; Rayner, Keith

2012-07-01

Recent evidence suggests that, compared with hearing people, deaf people have enhanced visual attention to simple stimuli viewed in the parafovea and periphery. Although a large part of reading involves processing the fixated words in foveal vision, readers also utilize information in parafoveal vision to preprocess upcoming words and decide where to look next. In the study reported here, we investigated whether auditory deprivation affects low-level visual processing during reading by comparing the perceptual span of deaf signers who were skilled and less-skilled readers with the perceptual span of skilled hearing readers. Compared with hearing readers, the two groups of deaf readers had a larger perceptual span than would be expected given their reading ability. These results provide the first evidence that deaf readers' enhanced attentional allocation to the parafovea is used during complex cognitive tasks, such as reading.
Superficial Temporal Artery Pseudoaneurysm: A Conservative Approach in a Critically Ill Patient

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grasso, Rosario Francesco; Quattrocchi, Carlo Cosimo; Crucitti, Pierfilippo; Carboni, Giampiero; Coppola, Roberto; Zobel, Bruno Beomonte

2007-01-01

A 71-year-old man affected by cardio- and cerebrovascular disease experienced an accidental fall and trauma to the fronto-temporal area of the head. A few weeks later a growing mass appeared on his scalp. A diagnosis of superficial temporal artery pseudoaneurysm was made following CT and color Doppler ultrasound. His clinical condition favoured a conservative approach by ultrasound-guided compression and subsequent surgical resection. A conservative approach should be considered the treatment of choice in critically ill patients affected by superficial temporal artery pseudoaneurysm
From simple receptors to complex multimodal percepts: a first global picture on the mechanisms involved in perceptual binding.

Science.gov (United States)

Velik, Rosemarie

2012-01-01

The binding problem in perception is concerned with answering the question how information from millions of sensory receptors, processed by millions of neurons working in parallel, can be merged into a unified percept. Binding in perception reaches from the lowest levels of feature binding up to the levels of multimodal binding of information coming from the different sensor modalities and also from other functional systems. The last 40 years of research have shown that the binding problem cannot be solved easily. Today, it is considered as one of the key questions to brain understanding. To date, various solutions have been suggested to the binding problem including: (1) combination coding, (2) binding by synchrony, (3) population coding, (4) binding by attention, (5) binding by knowledge, expectation, and memory, (6) hardwired vs. on-demand binding, (7) bundling and binding of features, (8) the feature-integration theory of attention, and (9) synchronization through top-down processes. Each of those hypotheses addresses important aspects of binding. However, each of them also suffers from certain weak points and can never give a complete explanation. This article gives a brief overview of the so far suggested solutions of perceptual binding and then shows that those are actually not mutually exclusive but can complement each other. A computationally verified model is presented which shows that, most likely, the different described mechanisms of binding act (1) at different hierarchical levels and (2) in different stages of "perceptual knowledge acquisition." The model furthermore considers and explains a number of inhibitory "filter mechanisms" that suppress the activation of inappropriate or currently irrelevant information.
From simple receptors to complex multimodal percepts: A first global picture on the mechanisms involved in perceptual binding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rosemarie eVelik

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The binding problem in perception is concerned with answering the question how information from millions of sensory receptors, processed by millions of neurons working in parallel, can be merged into a unified percept. Binding in perception reaches from the lowest levels of feature binding up to the levels of multimodal binding of information coming from the different sensor modalities and also from other functional systems. The last 40 years of research have shown that the binding problem cannot be solved easily. Today, it is considered as one of the key questions to brain understanding. To date, various solutions have been suggested to the binding problem including: (1 combination coding, (2 binding by synchrony, (3 population coding, (4 binding by attention, (5 binding by knowledge, expectation, and memory, (6 hardwired versus on-demand binding, (7 bundling and binding of features, (8 the feature-integration theory of attention, (9 synchronization through top-down processes. Each of those hypotheses addresses important aspects of binding. However, each of them also suffers from certain weak points and can never give a complete explanation. This article gives a brief overview of the so far suggested solutions of perceptual binding and then shows that those are actually not mutually exclusive but can complement each other. A computationally verified model is presented which shows that, most likely, the different described mechanisms of binding act (1 at different hierarchical levels and (2 in different stages of perceptual knowledge acquisition. The model furthermore considers and explains a number of inhibitory filter mechanisms that suppress the activation of inappropriate or currently irrelevant information.
Well-Founded Belief and Perceptual Justification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broncano-Berrocal, Fernando

2016-01-01

According to Alan Millar, justified beliefs are well-founded beliefs. Millar cashes out the notion of well-foundedness in terms of having an adequate reason to believe something and believing it for that reason. To make his account of justified belief compatible with perceptual justification he...
The development of perceptual grouping biases in infancy: a Japanese-English cross-linguistic study.

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Yoshida, Katherine A; Iversen, John R; Patel, Aniruddh D; Mazuka, Reiko; Nito, Hiromi; Gervain, Judit; Werker, Janet F

2010-05-01

Perceptual grouping has traditionally been thought to be governed by innate, universal principles. However, recent work has found differences in Japanese and English speakers' non-linguistic perceptual grouping, implicating language in non-linguistic perceptual processes (Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Two experiments test Japanese- and English-learning infants of 5-6 and 7-8 months of age to explore the development of grouping preferences. At 5-6 months, neither the Japanese nor the English infants revealed any systematic perceptual biases. However, by 7-8 months, the same age as when linguistic phrasal grouping develops, infants developed non-linguistic grouping preferences consistent with their language's structure (and the grouping biases found in adulthood). These results reveal an early difference in non-linguistic perception between infants growing up in different language environments. The possibility that infants' linguistic phrasal grouping is bootstrapped by abstract perceptual principles is discussed. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Perceptual load modifies processing of unattended stimuli both in the presence and absence of attended stimuli.

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Couperus, J W

2010-11-26

This study explored effects of perceptual load on stimulus processing in the presence and absence of an attended stimulus. Participants were presented with a bilateral or unilateral display and asked to perform a discrimination task at either low or high perceptual load. Electrophysiological responses to stimuli were then compared at the P100 and N100. As in previous studies, perceptual load modified processing of attended and unattended stimuli seen at occipital scalp sites. Moreover, perceptual load modulated attention effects when the attended stimulus was presented at high perceptual load for unilateral displays. However, this was not true when the attended and unattended stimulus appeared simultaneously in bilateral displays. Instead, only a main effect of perceptual load was found. Reductions in processing contralateral to the unattended stimulus at the N100 provide support for Lavie's (1995) theory of selective attention. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Using research literature to develop a perceptual retraining treatment protocol.

Science.gov (United States)

Neistadt, M E

1994-01-01

Treatment protocols derived from research literature can help therapists provide more rigorous treatment and more systematic assessment of client progress. This study applied research findings about the influence of task, subject, and feedback parameters on adult performance with block designs to an occupational therapy treatment protocol for parquetry block assembly--an activity occupational therapists use to remediate constructional deficits. Task parameter research suggests that parquetry tasks can be graded according to the features of the design cards, with cards having all block boundaries drawn in being easier than those with some block boundaries omitted. Subject parameter findings suggest that clients' lesions and initial constructional competence can influence their approaches to parquetry tasks. Feedback parameter research suggests that a combination of perceptual and planning cues is most effective for parquetry tasks. Methods to help clients transfer constructional skills from parquetry to functional tasks are also discussed.
The "Rod and Fran Test": relationship priming influences cognitive-perceptual performance.

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Baldwin, Mark W; Bagust, Jeff; Docherty, Sharon; Browman, Alexander S; Jackson, Joshua C

2014-01-01

We theorized that interpersonal relationships can provide structures for experience. In particular, we tested whether primes of same-sex versus mixed-sex relationships could foster cognitive-perceptual processing styles known to be associated with independence versus interdependence respectively. Seventy-two participants visualized either a same-sex or other-sex relationship partner and then performed two measures of cognitive-perceptual style. On a computerized Rod and Frame Test, individuals were more field-dependent after visualizing a mixed-sex versus same-sex relationship partner. On a measure involving perceptions of group behavior, participants demonstrated more holistic/contextually based perception after being primed with a female versus male relationship partner. These findings support the hypothesis that activated cognitive structures representing interpersonal relationships can shape individuals' cognitive-perceptual performance.
Esophagectomy for Superficial Esophageal Neoplasia.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Thomas J

2017-07-01

Endoscopic therapies have become the standard of care for most cases of Barrett's esophagus with high-grade dysplasia or intramucosal adenocarcinoma. Despite a rapid and dramatic evolution in treatment paradigms, esophagectomy continues to occupy a place in the therapeutic armamentarium for superficial esophageal neoplasia. The managing physician must remain cognizant of the limitations of endoscopic approaches and consider surgical resection when they are exceeded. Esophagectomy, performed at experienced centers for appropriately selected patients with early-stage disease can be undertaken with the expectation of cure as well as low mortality, acceptable morbidity, and good long-term quality of life. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Fluency Effects in Recognition Memory: Are Perceptual Fluency and Conceptual Fluency Interchangeable?

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Lanska, Meredith; Olds, Justin M.; Westerman, Deanne L.

2014-01-01

On a recognition memory test, both perceptual and conceptual fluency can engender a sense of familiarity and elicit recognition memory illusions. To date, perceptual and conceptual fluency have been studied separately but are they interchangeable in terms of their influence on recognition judgments? Five experiments compared the effect of…
Superficial Siderosis of the Central Nervous System Caused by Hemorrhagic Intraventricular Craniopharyngioma: Case Report and Literature Review

Science.gov (United States)

TOSAKA, Masahiko; SATO, Koji; AMANUMA, Makoto; HIGUCHI, Tetsuya; ARAI, Motohiro; AISHIMA, Kaoru; SHIMIZU, Tatsuya; HORIGUCHI, Keishi; SUGAWARA, Kenichi; YOSHIMOTO, Yuhei

2015-01-01

Superficial siderosis is a rare condition caused by hemosiderin deposits in the central nervous system (CNS) due to prolonged or recurrent low-grade bleeding into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CNS tumor could be one of the sources of bleeding, both pre- and postoperatively. We report an extremely rare case of superficial siderosis associated with purely third ventricle craniopharyngioma, and review previously reported cases of superficial siderosis associated with CNS tumor. A 69-year-old man presented with headache, unsteady gait, blurred vision, and progressive hearing loss. Brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with gadolinium revealed a well enhanced, intraventricular mass in the anterior part of the third ventricle. T2*-weighted gradient echo (GE) MR imaging revealed a hypointense rim around the brain particularly marked within the depth of the sulci. Superficial siderosis was diagnosed based on these findings. The tumor was diffusely hypointense on T2*-weighted GE imaging, indicating intratumoral hemorrhage. The lateral ventricles were dilated, suggesting hydrocephalus. [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed increased uptake in the tumor. The whole brain surface appeared dark ocher at surgery. Histological examination showed the hemorrhagic tumor was papillary craniopharyngioma. His hearing loss progressed after removal of the tumor. T2*-weighted GE MR imaging demonstrated not only superficial siderosis but also diffuse intratumoral hemorrhage in the tumor. Superficial siderosis and its related symptoms, including hearing loss, should be considered in patients with hemorrhagic tumor related to the CSF space. Purely third ventricle craniopharyngioma rarely has hemorrhagic character, which could cause superficial siderosis and progressive hearing loss. PMID:24670310
Involvement of the visual change detection process in facilitating perceptual alternation in the bistable image.

Science.gov (United States)

Urakawa, Tomokazu; Bunya, Mao; Araki, Osamu

2017-08-01

A bistable image induces one of two perceptual alternatives. When the bistable visual image is continuously viewed, the percept of the image alternates from one possible percept to the other. Perceptual alternation was previously reported to be induced by an exogenous perturbation in the bistable image, and this perturbation was theoretically interpreted to cause neural noise, prompting a transition between two stable perceptual states. However, little is known experimentally about the visual processing of exogenously driven perceptual alternation. Based on the findings of a previous behavioral study (Urakawa et al. in Perception 45:474-482, 2016), the present study hypothesized that the automatic visual change detection process, which is relevant to the detection of a visual change in a sequence of visual events, has an enhancing effect on the induction of perceptual alternation, similar to neural noise. In order to clarify this issue, we developed a novel experimental paradigm in which visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), an electroencephalographic brain response that reflects visual change detection, was evoked while participants continuously viewed the bistable image. In terms of inter-individual differences in neural and behavioral data, we found that enhancements in the peak amplitude of vMMN1, early vMMN at a latency of approximately 150 ms, correlated with increases in the proportion of perceptual alternation across participants. Our results indicate the involvement of automatic visual change detection in the induction of perceptual alternation, similar to neural noise, thereby providing a deeper insight into the neural mechanisms underlying exogenously driven perceptual alternation in the bistable image.
The role of experience-based perceptual learning in the face inversion effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Civile, Ciro; Obhi, Sukhvinder S; McLaren, I P L

2018-04-03

Perceptual learning of the type we consider here is a consequence of experience with a class of stimuli. It amounts to an enhanced ability to discriminate between stimuli. We argue that it contributes to the ability to distinguish between faces and recognize individuals, and in particular contributes to the face inversion effect (better recognition performance for upright vs inverted faces). Previously, we have shown that experience with a prototype defined category of checkerboards leads to perceptual learning, that this produces an inversion effect, and that this effect can be disrupted by Anodal tDCS to Fp3 during pre-exposure. If we can demonstrate that the same tDCS manipulation also disrupts the inversion effect for faces, then this will strengthen the claim that perceptual learning contributes to that effect. The important question, then, is whether this tDCS procedure would significantly reduce the inversion effect for faces; stimuli that we have lifelong expertise with and for which perceptual learning has already occurred. Consequently, in the experiment reported here we investigated the effects of anodal tDCS at Fp3 during an old/new recognition task for upright and inverted faces. Our results show that stimulation significantly reduced the face inversion effect compared to controls. The effect was one of reducing recognition performance for upright faces. This result is the first to show that tDCS affects perceptual learning that has already occurred, disrupting individuals' ability to recognize upright faces. It provides further support for our account of perceptual learning and its role as a key factor in face recognition. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A method for determination of the superficial charge density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vila, F.

1992-10-01

In this article is presented a new methodism for determination of superficial charge density in nonconducting materials which is based in the combination of laboratory calibrated experiments in conducting surfaces with theoretical calculations for nonconducting surfaces. (author). 19 refs, 7 figs, 1 tab
Frey′s Syndrome as a Sequela of Superficial Parotidectomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rishi Kumar Bali

2006-01-01

The disorder is characterized by unilateral sweating and flushing of facial skin in the area of parotid gland occurring during meals. We present a case of a patient who developed symptoms of Frey Syndrome 4 months after undergoing superficial parotidectomy on left side.
Treatment for superficial infusion thrombophlebitis of the upper extremity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Di Nisio, Marcello; Peinemann, Frank; Porreca, Ettore; Rutjes, Anne W. S.

2015-01-01

Although superficial thrombophlebitis of the upper extremity represents a frequent complication of intravenous catheters inserted into the peripheral veins of the forearm or hand, no consensus exists on the optimal management of this condition in clinical practice. To summarise the evidence from
Building online brand perceptual map.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, I-Ping; Lin, Chih-Ying; Wang, Kaisheng M

2008-10-01

Many companies have launched their products or services online as a new business focus, but only a few of them have survived the competition and made profits. The most important key to an online business's success is to create "brand value" for the customers. Although the concept of online brand has been discussed in previous studies, there is no empirical study on the measurement of online branding. As Web 2.0 emerges to be critical to online branding, the purpose of this study was to measure Taiwan's major Web sites with a number of personality traits to build a perceptual map for online brands. A pretest identified 10 most representative online brand perceptions. The results of the correspondence analysis showed five groups in the perceptual map. This study provided a practical view of the associations and similarities among online brands for potential alliance or branding strategies. The findings also suggested that brand perceptions can be used with identified consumer needs and behaviors to better position online services. The brand perception map in the study also contributed to a better understanding of the online brands in Taiwan.
Perceptual Load Affects Eyewitness Accuracy and Susceptibility to Leading Questions

OpenAIRE

Murphy, Gillian; Greene, Ciara M.

2016-01-01

Load Theory (Lavie, 1995, 2005) states that the level of perceptual load in a task (i.e., the amount of information involved in processing task-relevant stimuli) determines the efficiency of selective attention. There is evidence that perceptual load affects distractor processing, with increased inattentional blindness under high load. Given that high load can result in individuals failing to report seeing obvious objects, it is conceivable that load may also impair memory for the scene. The ...

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