David Souto

An interesting pre-print came out last week on how Monarch butterflies process irrelevant visual information. Monarch butterflies have big wings that sweep across a big part of their visual fields on every wingbeat, creating a bit of a problem.

One interpretation is that these neurons are actively modulated (increasing their firing rate) so self-generated wing motion does not dominate their output, preserving sensitivity to external optic flow.

An interesting pre-print came out last week on how Monarch butterflies process irrelevant visual information. Monarch butterflies have big wings that sweep across a big part of their visual fields on every wingbeat, creating a bit of a problem.

Visual illusions are often an entry point to learning about visual perception & neuroscience. Some of them can have an impact on research, like with the dress that broke the internet. You can now vote for the best visual illusion of the year until this Saturday (link below). 🧵

Anti-gravity in a trompe l'oeil: https://youtu.be/5W9WK6C_Uww?si=3O7tOKH5oybIjdxn

Visual illusions are often an entry point to learning about visual perception & neuroscience. Some of them can have an impact on research, like with the dress that broke the internet. You can now vote for the best visual illusion of the year until this Saturday (link below). 🧵

This one is based on trickery, a fun activity for the kids on a rainy day, I had to replay it several times to understand how this works: https://youtu.be/SmbM5yr_hl0?si=8nzY-jnwTQeAMPKV

Visual illusions are often an entry point to learning about visual perception & neuroscience. Some of them can have an impact on research, like with the dress that broke the internet. You can now vote for the best visual illusion of the year until this Saturday (link below). 🧵

In the "9 purple dots" illusion, where you fixate changes the color of a purple dot; very striking and revealing about differences in blue wavelength absorption in the fovea and peripherey: https://youtu.be/AoeDZpSgoE8?si=joajzQg3BZRKKy0U

Visual illusions are often an entry point to learning about visual perception & neuroscience. Some of them can have an impact on research, like with the dress that broke the internet. You can now vote for the best visual illusion of the year until this Saturday (link below). 🧵

Really pleased to see Claudia von Bastian's talk on cognitive plasticity in video-game players. It referenced a study that just came out comparing expert counter strike players to novices, skilled, and "emerging" players in a task-switching task.

Unusually I have read two really interesting papers on motion processing in the butterfly. One is about the wing patterns in butterflies might have evolved to maximize misdirection (perhaps something we can hint at with their erratic flights). (1/4)

Using a genetic algorithm to evolve wings that maximize confusion, converges on high-contrast, butterfly-like patterns. "Human predators" attempting to hit at butterflies on a tablet where more likely to miss patterned butterflies. (3/4)

Unusually I have read two really interesting papers on motion processing in the butterfly. One is about the wing patterns in butterflies might have evolved to maximize misdirection (perhaps something we can hint at with their erratic flights). (1/4)

I thought I'd share this fascinating piece of tactile neurophysiology as I am updating my introduction to sensation and perception lectures. (1/4)

First noted in cats in the 1930s, recorded in humans from the 1990s, C-Tactile afferents (CT) fire optimally to light, skin-temperature strokes at ~1–10 cm/s, just as a gentle caress. The field of affective touch, however, only took off in the last 10–15 years. (3/4)

I thought I'd share this fascinating piece of tactile neurophysiology as I am updating my introduction to sensation and perception lectures. (1/4)

Two free reviews a week. Papers stored in encrypted servers, not used for model training without permission. Curious to see how it fares with cog neuro papers. If could be a net benefit to the field, eve if was just able to catch statistical errors.

We’re looking for motivated PhD candidates! BBSRC MIBTP-funded PhD opportunities in the School of Psychology and Vision Sciences at the University of Leicester. Three exciting projects on reading, cognition & the brain.

More than meets the eye How do readers understand sentences containing repeated, omitted or transposed words? Supervisors: Dr McGowan & Dr Warrington

We’re looking for motivated PhD candidates! BBSRC MIBTP-funded PhD opportunities in the School of Psychology and Vision Sciences at the University of Leicester. Three exciting projects on reading, cognition & the brain.

Ageing and reading How does ageing affect word recognition, sentence comprehension, vocabulary learning and visual attention during reading — and how do these changes show up in the brain? Supervisors: Dr Pagan & Prof Paterson