Screams of “Joy” Are Often Mistaken for “Fear” When Heard Out of Context
The first in-depth look at the human ability to decode the range of emotions tied to the acoustic cues of screams. People are adept at…
Perception News
Astronauts on Missions to Mars Could Suffer Impaired Cognitive Performance, Misread Vital Emotional Cues
A study simulating the effects of weightlessness also finds that impaired cognitive performance cannot be counteracted by short periods of artificial gravity. Living for nearly…
Scientists Solve Long-Standing Brain Mystery by a Whisker
UC Riverside mouse study shows where in the brain sensory input is transformed to movement. When we step on the car brake upon seeing a…
New Research Finds Dogs Show Body-Awareness and Understand Consequences of Own Actions
A new study published in Scientific Reports revealed that dogs understand the relationship between their body and the environment in a problem solving task. The researchers…
Meeting a 100-Year-Old Challenge Could Lead the Way to Digital Aromas
Fragrances – promising mystery, intrigue and forbidden thrills – are blended by master perfumers, their recipes kept secret. In a new study on the sense…
Sexual Harassment Claims by Less Attractive and Less Feminine Women Perceived As Less Credible
Women who are young, “conventionally attractive” and appear and act feminine are more likely to be believed when making accusations of sexual harassment, a new…
Imaging the Twilight Zone: The Brain Network Driving Changes in Consciousness
Activity of brain network linked to changes in connectedness for both sleep and anesthesia. The loss and return of consciousness is linked to the same…
Wearing COVID-19 Face Coverings Around Kids Doesn’t Mask Your Emotions
The proliferation of face coverings to keep COVID-19 in check isn’t keeping kids from understanding facial expressions, according to a new study by University of…
Do I Know You? How Masks Disrupt Facial Perception
The identification of people wearing masks has often presented a unique challenge during the pandemic. A new study by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the…
How the Brain Distinguishes Speech From Noise: New Neural Circuit Identified
Researchers provide the first physiological evidence that a foundational center of the brain influences how sound is processed, identify a previously unknown neural circuit. For…
Universality of Human Emotional Expression: The 16 Facial Expressions Most Common Worldwide
At a time when nativism is on the rise, study reveals the universality of human emotional expression. Whether at a birthday party in Brazil, a…
Neural Networks Tricked by Optical Illusions in the Same Way That Humans Are Deceived
Do neural networks dream visual illusions? This is the question studied by researchers at the Department of Information and Communication Technologies, led by Marcelo Bertalmío…
Super-Recognizers Possess an Extraordinary Ability to Memorize and Recall Faces – Test Could Help Us Find the World’s Best
While in Paris in the 1990s, Georgie briefly watched a professional photographer taking pictures of kids playing in a small park near Les Halles and…
Neuroscientists Study How Your Favorite Music Can Send Your Brain Into Pleasure Overload
Bringing neuroscience out of the laboratory and into the concert hall. We all know that moment when we’re in the car, at a concert or…
Gene Discovered That Helps Us Know When It’s Time to Urinate
In a National Institutes of Health-funded study involving both mice and patients who are part of an NIH Clinical Center trial, researchers discovered that a…
Brain Mechanisms Underlying Irrational Decision-Making: “Happy Endings” Can Bias Future Decisions
Our brains can’t always reliably evaluate experiences that unfold over time We tend to give disproportionate weight to the later part of an experience This…
Scientists Find Neurochemicals – Dopamine and Serotonin – Have Unexpectedly Profound Roles in the Human Brain
Dopamine, serotonin involved in sub-second perception, cognition. In first-of-their-kind observations in the human brain, an international team of researchers has revealed two well-known neurochemicals —…
Why Time Sometimes Flies or Drags: How the Brain Creates the Experience of Time
Time-sensitive neurons fatigue and skew our perception of time. On some days, time flies by, while on others it seems to drag on. A new…
