Open Access Publications

@article{saurels_behavioral_2024,

title = {A behavioral advantage for the face pareidolia illusion in peripheral vision},

author = {Blake W. Saurels and Natalie Peluso and Jessica Taubert},

url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-60892-z},

doi = {10.1038/s41598-024-60892-z},

issn = {2045-2322},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-05-01},

urldate = {2024-05-09},

journal = {Scientific Reports},

volume = {14},

number = {1},

pages = {10040},

abstract = {Investigation of visual illusions helps us understand how we process visual information. For example, face pareidolia, the misperception of illusory faces in objects, could be used to understand how we process real faces. However, it remains unclear whether this illusion emerges from errors in face detection or from slower, cognitive processes. Here, our logic is straightforward; if examples of face pareidolia activate the mechanisms that rapidly detect faces in visual environments, then participants will look at objects more quickly when the objects also contain illusory faces. To test this hypothesis, we sampled continuous eye movements during a fast saccadic choice task—participants were required to select either faces or food items. During this task, pairs of stimuli were positioned close to the initial fixation point or further away, in the periphery. As expected, the participants were faster to look at face targets than food targets. Importantly, we also discovered an advantage for food items with illusory faces but, this advantage was limited to the peripheral condition. These findings are among the first to demonstrate that the face pareidolia illusion persists in the periphery and, thus, it is likely to be a consequence of erroneous face detection.},

note = {Publisher: Nature Publishing Group},

keywords = {TRACKPixx3, VIEWPixx},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{hussain_locus_2023,

title = {Locus coeruleus integrity predicts ease of attaining and maintaining neural states of high attentiveness},

author = {Sana Hussain and Isaac Menchaca and Mahsa Alizadeh Shalchy and Kimia Yaghoubi and Jason Langley and Aaron R. Seitz and Xiaoping P. Hu and Megan A. K. Peters},

url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923023001582},

doi = {10.1016/j.brainresbull.2023.110733},

issn = {0361-9230},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-10-01},

urldate = {2023-12-21},

journal = {Brain Research Bulletin},

volume = {202},

pages = {110733},

abstract = {The locus coeruleus (LC), a small subcortical structure in the brainstem, is the brain’s principal source of norepinephrine. It plays a primary role in regulating stress, the sleep-wake cycle, and attention, and its degradation is associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases associated with cognitive deficits (e.g., Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s). Yet precisely how norepinephrine drives brain networks to support healthy cognitive function remains poorly understood – partly because LC’s small size makes it difficult to study noninvasively in humans. Here, we characterized LC’s influence on brain dynamics using a hidden Markov model fitted to functional neuroimaging data from healthy young adults across four attention-related brain networks and LC. We modulated LC activity using a behavioral paradigm and measured individual differences in LC magnetization transfer contrast. The model revealed five hidden states, including a stable state dominated by salience-network activity that occurred when subjects actively engaged with the task. LC magnetization transfer contrast correlated with this state’s stability across experimental manipulations and with subjects’ propensity to enter into and remain in this state. These results provide new insight into LC’s role in driving spatiotemporal neural patterns associated with attention, and demonstrate that variation in LC integrity can explain individual differences in these patterns even in healthy young adults.},

keywords = {TRACKPixx3},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{schweitzer_intrasaccadic_2021,

title = {Intrasaccadic motion streaks jump-start gaze correction},

author = {Richard Schweitzer and Martin Rolfs},

url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8302125/},

doi = {10.1126/sciadv.abf2218},

issn = {2375-2548},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-07-01},

urldate = {2024-01-08},

journal = {Science Advances},

volume = {7},

number = {30},

pages = {eabf2218},

abstract = {Rapid eye movements entail retinal motion streaks that provide spatiotemporal continuity of objects and guide gaze correction., Rapid eye movements (saccades) incessantly shift objects across the retina. To establish object correspondence, the visual system is thought to match surface features of objects across saccades. Here, we show that an object’s intrasaccadic retinal trace—a signal previously considered unavailable to visual processing—facilitates this match making. Human observers made saccades to a cued target in a circular stimulus array. Using high-speed visual projection, we swiftly rotated this array during the eyes’ flight, displaying continuous intrasaccadic target motion. Observers’ saccades landed between the target and a distractor, prompting secondary saccades. Independently of the availability of object features, which we controlled tightly, target motion increased the rate and reduced the latency of gaze-correcting saccades to the initial presaccadic target, in particular when the target’s stimulus features incidentally gave rise to efficient motion streaks. These results suggest that intrasaccadic visual information informs the establishment of object correspondence and jump-starts gaze correction.},

keywords = {DATAPixx3, PROPixx, TRACKPixx3},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{wutz_oscillatory_2020,

title = {Oscillatory Bursts in Parietal Cortex Reflect Dynamic Attention between Multiple Objects and Ensembles},

author = {Andreas Wutz and Agnese Zazio and Nathan Weisz},

url = {https://www.jneurosci.org/content/40/36/6927},

doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0231-20.2020},

issn = {0270-6474, 1529-2401},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-09-01},

urldate = {2024-01-16},

journal = {Journal of Neuroscience},

volume = {40},

number = {36},

pages = {6927–6937},

abstract = {The visual system uses two complimentary strategies to process multiple objects simultaneously within a scene and update their spatial positions in real time. It either uses selective attention to individuate a complex, dynamic scene into a few focal objects (i.e., object individuation), or it represents multiple objects as an ensemble by distributing attention more globally across the scene (i.e., ensemble grouping). Neural oscillations may be a key signature for focal object individuation versus distributed ensemble grouping, because they are thought to regulate neural excitability over visual areas through inhibitory control mechanisms. We recorded whole-head MEG data during a multiple-object tracking paradigm, in which human participants (13 female, 11 male) switched between different instructions for object individuation and ensemble grouping on different trials. The stimuli, responses, and the demand to keep track of multiple spatial locations over time were held constant between the two conditions. We observed increased α-band power (9-13 Hz) packed into oscillatory bursts in bilateral inferior parietal cortex during multiple-object processing. Single-trial analysis revealed greater burst occurrences on object individuation versus ensemble grouping trials. By contrast, we found no differences using standard analyses on across-trials averaged α-band power. Moreover, the bursting effects occurred only below/at, but not above, the typical capacity limits for multiple-object processing (at ∼4 objects). Our findings reveal the real-time neural correlates underlying the dynamic processing of multiple-object scenarios, which are modulated by grouping strategies and capacity. They support a rhythmic, α-pulsed organization of dynamic attention to multiple objects and ensembles. 

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Dynamic multiple-object scenarios are an important problem in real-world and computer vision. They require keeping track of multiple objects as they move through space and time. Such problems can be solved in two ways: One can individuate a scene object by object, or alternatively group objects into ensembles. We observed greater occurrences of α-oscillatory burst events in parietal cortex for processing objects versus ensembles and below/at versus above processing capacity. These results demonstrate a unique top-down mechanism by which the brain dynamically adjusts its computational level between objects and ensembles. They help to explain how the brain copes with its capacity limitations in real-time environments and may lead the way to technological innovations for time-critical video analysis in computer vision.},

note = {Publisher: Society for Neuroscience 

Section: Research Articles},

keywords = {DATAPixx, PROPixx, TRACKPixx3},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{schweitzer_adaptive_2020,

title = {An adaptive algorithm for fast and reliable online saccade detection},

author = {Richard Schweitzer and Martin Rolfs},

url = {https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01304-3},

doi = {10.3758/s13428-019-01304-3},

issn = {1554-3528},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-06-01},

urldate = {2024-01-08},

journal = {Behavior Research Methods},

volume = {52},

number = {3},

pages = {1122–1139},

abstract = {To investigate visual perception around the time of eye movements, vision scientists manipulate stimuli contingent upon the onset of a saccade. For these experimental paradigms, timing is especially crucial, because saccade offset imposes a deadline on the display change. Although efficient online saccade detection can greatly improve timing, most algorithms rely on spatial-boundary techniques or absolute-velocity thresholds, which both suffer from weaknesses: late detections and false alarms, respectively. We propose an adaptive, velocity-based algorithm for online saccade detection that surpasses both standard techniques in speed and accuracy and allows the user to freely define the detection criteria. Inspired by the Engbert–Kliegl algorithm for microsaccade detection, our algorithm computes two-dimensional velocity thresholds from variance in the preceding fixation samples, while compensating for noisy or missing data samples. An optional direction criterion limits detection to the instructed saccade direction, further increasing robustness. We validated the algorithm by simulating its performance on a large saccade dataset and found that high detection accuracy (false-alarm rates of < 1%) could be achieved with detection latencies of only 3 ms. High accuracy was maintained even under simulated high-noise conditions. To demonstrate that purely intrasaccadic presentations are technically feasible, we devised an experimental test in which a Gabor patch drifted at saccadic peak velocities. Whereas this stimulus was invisible when presented during fixation, observers reliably detected it during saccades. Photodiode measurements verified that—including all system delays—the stimuli were physically displayed on average 20 ms after saccade onset. Thus, the proposed algorithm provides a valuable tool for gaze-contingent paradigms.},

keywords = {DATAPixx3, PROPixx, TRACKPixx3},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}