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Pupil size reflects the focus of feature-based attention,Journal of Neurophysiology, 12 (112), 3046-3052.

Pupil size reflects the focus of feature-based attention,Journal of Neurophysiology, 12 (112), 3046-3052.

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We measured pupil size in adult human subjects while they selectively attended to one of two surfaces, bright and dark, defined by coherently moving dots. The two surfaces were presented at the same location; therefore, subjects could select the cued surface only on the basis of its features. With no luminance change in the stimulus, we find that pupil size was smaller when the bright surface was attended and larger when the dark surface was attended: an effect of feature-based (or surface-based) attention. With the same surfaces at nonoverlapping locations, we find a similar effect of spatial attention. The pupil size modulation cannot be accounted for by differences in eye position and by other variables known to affect pupil size such as task difficulty, accommodation, or the mere anticipation (imagery) of bright/dark stimuli. We conclude that pupil size reflects not just luminance or cognitive state, but the interaction between the two: it reflects which luminance level in the visual scene is relevant for the task at hand.

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Auditory and tactile signals combine to influence vision during binocular rivalry,J Neurosci, 3 (34), 784-792.

Auditory and tactile signals combine to influence vision during binocular rivalry,J Neurosci, 3 (34), 784-792.

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Resolution of perceptual ambiguity is one function of cross-modal interactions. Here we investigate whether auditory and tactile stimuli can influence binocular rivalry generated by interocular temporal conflict in human subjects. Using dichoptic visual stimuli modulating at different temporal frequencies, we added modulating sounds or vibrations congruent with one or the other visual temporal frequency. Auditory and tactile stimulation both interacted with binocular rivalry by promoting dominance of the congruent visual stimulus. This effect depended on the cross-modal modulation strength and was absent when modulation depth declined to 33%. However, when auditory and tactile stimuli that were too weak on their own to bias binocular rivalry were combined, their influence over vision was very strong, suggesting the auditory and tactile temporal signals combined to influence vision. Similarly, interleaving discrete pulses of auditory and tactile stimuli also promoted dominance of the visual stimulus congruent with the supramodal frequency. When auditory and tactile stimuli were presented at maximum strength, but in antiphase, they had no influence over vision for low temporal frequencies, a null effect again suggesting audio-tactile combination. We also found that the cross-modal interaction was frequency-sensitive at low temporal frequencies, when information about temporal phase alignment can be perceptually tracked. These results show that auditory and tactile temporal processing is functionally linked, suggesting a common neural substrate for the two sensory modalities and that at low temporal frequencies visual activity can be synchronized by a congruent cross-modal signal in a frequency-selective way, suggesting the existence of a supramodal temporal binding mechanism.

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Compressive mapping of number to space reflects dynamic encoding mechanisms, not static logarithmic transform,Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 21 (111), 7867-7872.

Compressive mapping of number to space reflects dynamic encoding mechanisms, not static logarithmic transform,Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 21 (111), 7867-7872.

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The mapping of number onto space is fundamental to measurement and mathematics. However, the mapping of young children, unschooled adults, and adults under attentional load shows strong compressive nonlinearities, thought to reflect intrinsic logarithmic encoding mechanisms, which are later “linearized” by education. Here we advance and test an alternative explanation: that the nonlinearity results from adaptive mechanisms incorporating the statistics of recent stimuli. This theory predicts that the response to the current trial should depend on the magnitude of the previous trial, whereas a static logarithmic nonlinearity predicts trialwise independence. We found a strong and highly significant relationship between numberline mapping of the current trial and the magnitude of the previous trial, in both adults and school children, with the current response influenced by up to 15% of the previous trial value. The dependency is sufficient to account for the shape of the numberline, without requiring logarithmic transform. We show that this dynamic strategy results in a reduction of reproduction error, and hence improvement in accuracy.

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Separate mechanisms for perception of numerosity and density,Psychol Sci, 1 (25), 265-270.

Separate mechanisms for perception of numerosity and density,Psychol Sci, 1 (25), 265-270.

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Despite the existence of much evidence for a number sense in humans, several researchers have questioned whether number is sensed directly or derived indirectly from texture density. Here, we provide clear evidence that numerosity and density judgments are subserved by distinct mechanisms with different psychophysical characteristics. We measured sensitivity for numerosity discrimination over a wide range of numerosities: For low densities (less than 0.25 dots/deg(2)), thresholds increased directly with numerosity, following Weber’s law; for higher densities, thresholds increased with the square root of texture density, a steady decrease in the Weber fraction. The existence of two different psychophysical systems is inconsistent with a model in which number is derived indirectly from noisy estimates of density and area; rather, it points to the existence of separate mechanisms for estimating density and number. These results provide strong confirmation for the existence of neural mechanisms that sense number directly, rather than indirectly from texture density.

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Vision: efficient adaptive coding,Curr Biol, 22 (24), R1096-1098.

Vision: efficient adaptive coding,Curr Biol, 22 (24), R1096-1098.

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Recent studies show that perception is driven not only by the stimuli currently impinging on our senses, but also by the immediate past history. The influence of recent perceptual history on the present reflects the action of efficient mechanisms that exploit temporal redundancies in natural scenes.

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Cerebral lateralization for language in deaf children with cochlear implantation,Brain Lang, (129), 1-6.

Cerebral lateralization for language in deaf children with cochlear implantation,Brain Lang, (129), 1-6.

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Functional Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (fTCD) was used to investigate the effects of early acoustic deprivation and subsequent reafferentation on cerebral dominance for language in deaf children provided with Cochlear Implantation (CI). Twenty children with CI (13 in right ear and 7 in left ear) and 20 controls matched for age, sex and handedness were administered a fTCD animation description task. Left hemisphere dominance for language with comparable mean Laterality Indexes (LIs) was found in children with CI and controls; right-ear implanted subjects showed cerebral activation controlateral to implanted ear more frequently than left-ear implanted ones. Linguistic proficiency of CI recipients was below age expectation in comparison to controls; language scores did not significantly differ between children with left and right LI, whereas both age and side of implantation were significantly related to language outcome. Theoretical implication and potential clinical application of fTCD in CI management are discussed.

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Interaction between Eye Movements and Vision: Perception during Saccades. In J. S. W. L. M. Chalupa (Ed.), The New Visual Neuroscience (2nd ed., pp. 947 -962): MIT Press.

Interaction between Eye Movements and Vision: Perception during Saccades. In J. S. W. L. M. Chalupa (Ed.), The New Visual Neuroscience (2nd ed., pp. 947 -962): MIT Press.

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