scholarly journals Differences in perceived duration between plausible biological and non-biological stimuli

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliana Martinatti Giorjiani ◽  
Claudinei Eduardo Biazoli ◽  
Marcelo S. Caetano
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Biological Motion ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Frame Rate ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Perception Of Time

AbstractVisual motion stimuli can sometimes distort our perception of time. This effect is dependent on the apparent speed of the moving stimulus, where faster stimuli are usually perceived lasting longer than slower stimuli. Although it has been shown that neural and cognitive processing of biological motion stimuli differ from non-biological motion stimuli, no study has yet investigated whether perceived durations of biological stimuli differ from non-biological stimuli across different speeds. Here, a prospective temporal reproduction task was used to assess that question. Biological motion stimuli consisted in a human silhouette running in place. Non-biological motion stimuli consisted in a rectangle moving in a pendular way. Amount and plausibility of movement for each stimulus and frame-rate (speed) were evaluated by an independent group of participants. Although amount of movement was positively correlated to frame rate, movie clips involving biological motion stimuli were judged to last longer than non-biological motion stimuli only at frame rates in which movement was rated as plausible. These results suggest that plausible representations of biomechanical movement induce additional temporal distortions to those modulated by increases in stimulus speed. Moreover, most studies that have reported neural and cognitive differences in the processing of biological and non-biological motion stimuli acquired neurophysiological data using fMRI. The present study aimed additionally to report differences in the processing of biological and non-biological motion stimuli across different speeds using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a less costly and portable form of neurophysiological data acquisition.

Selective Cortical Mapping of Biological Motion Processing in Young Infants

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 2521-2532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Lloyd-Fox ◽  
Anna Blasi ◽  
Nick Everdell ◽  
Clare E. Elwell ◽  
Mark H. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Biological Motion ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Cortical Mapping ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Young Infants ◽  
Manual Movements

How specialized is the infant brain for perceiving the facial and manual movements displayed by others? Although there is evidence for a network of regions that process biological motion in adults—including individuated responses to the perception of differing facial and manual movements—how this cortical specialization develops remains unknown. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy [Lloyd-Fox, S., Blasi, A., & Elwell, C. Illuminating the developing brain: The past, present and future of functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 34, 269–284, 2010] to investigate the ability of 5-month-old infants to process differing biological movements. Infants watched videos of adult actors moving their hands, their mouth, or their eyes, all in contrast to nonbiological mechanical movements, while hemodynamic responses were recorded over the their frontal and temporal cortices. We observed different regions of the frontal and temporal cortex that responded to these biological movements and different patterns of cortical activation according to the type of movement watched. From an early age, our brains selectively respond to biologically relevant movements, and further, selective patterns of regional specification to different cues occur within what may correspond to a developing “social brain” network. These findings illuminate hitherto undocumented maps of selective cortical activation to biological motion processing in the early postnatal development of the human brain.

scholarly journals Bilingual and Monolingual First Language Acquisition Experience Differentially Shapes Children’s Property Term Learning: Evidence from Behavioral and Neurophysiological Measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Groba ◽  
Annick De Houwer ◽  
Hellmuth Obrig ◽  
Sonja Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
First Language ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
First Language Acquisition ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Forced Choice Task

Studies of novel noun learning show bilingual children rely less on the Mutual Exclusivity Constraint (MEC) for word learning than monolinguals. Shifting the focus to learning novel property terms (adjectives), the present study compared 3.5- and five-year-old bilingual and monolingual preschoolers’ adherence to the MEC. We found no bilingual-monolingual differences on a behavioral forced-choice task for the 3.5-year-olds, but five-year-old monolinguals adhered more to the MEC than bilinguals did. Older bilinguals adhered less to the MEC than younger ones, while there was no difference in MEC adherence between the younger and older monolinguals. In the 5-year-olds, we additionally acquired neurophysiological data using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to allow for a first explorative look at potential neuronal underpinnings. The data show that, compared to bilinguals, monolinguals reveal higher activation over three brain regions (right frontal, left temporo-parietal, and left prefrontal) that may be involved in exploiting the MEC, building on conflict detection, inhibition, solution of a disjunction, and working memory processes. Taken together, our behavioral and neurophysiological findings reveal different paths towards novel property term learning depending on children’s language acquisition context.

scholarly journals An fNIRS Investigation of Masculinity, Femininity and Sex on Nonparents’ Empathic Response to Infant Cries

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 635
Author(s):  
Xinyao Ng ◽  
Li Ying Ng ◽  
Giulio Gabrieli ◽  
Atiqah Azhari ◽  
Michelle Jin Yee Neoh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Sex Role ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Empathic Response ◽  
Masculinity And Femininity ◽  
Medial Pfc ◽  
Good Proxy ◽  
Infant Cries

According to societal stereotypes, the female sex and people who are more feminine have been considered to be more empathic than males and people who are more masculine. Therefore, females and feminine individuals are expected to respond more empathically to an infant’s cries. While this hypothesis was tested using self-report scales, it has not been explored thoroughly in terms of prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity, which may be a more objective means of measuring empathy. Specifically, the medial PFC (mPFC) is involved in social cognitive processing and thus a good proxy to measure the level of empathy. This study aims to (1) assess if the empathic response, in terms of medial PFC (mPFC) activity, to infant cries differ between sexes; (2) investigate if the empathic response is moderated by levels of masculinity and femininity. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure nonparent participants’ (18 males, 20 females) mPFC response to infant cries of different pitches (high and low). The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire was used to measure trait empathy and Bem’s Sex Role Inventory was used to measure the level of masculinity and femininity. Results revealed that biological sex had no significant effect on the empathic response towards infant cries of varying pitch. Furthermore, masculinity, not femininity, was correlated with an increase in empathic response in the mPFC to high but not low-pitch infant cries. We reason that this is because of the higher aversiveness and inflicted pain associated with higher-pitched cries, which induces more emotional and physical pain that masculine individuals seek to avoid. Overall, the results suggest that greater masculinity would imply greater mentalizing and processing of empathy-related information.

scholarly journals Robots as Intentional Agents: Using neuroscientific methods to make robots appear more social

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Wiese ◽  
Giorgio Metta ◽  
Agnieszka Wykowska
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Social Connection ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Intentional Agents

Robots are increasingly envisaged as our future cohabitants. However, while considerable progress has been made in recent years in terms of their technological realization, the ability of robots to inter-act with humans in an intuitive and social way is still quite limited. An important challenge for social robotics is to determine how to design robots that can perceive users’ needs, feelings, and intentions, and adapt to the users over a broad range of cognitive abilities. Consequently, robots would eventual-ly be accepted as social companions. We argue that the best way to achieve this is by using a system-atic experimental approach based on behavioral and physiological neuroscience methods, like mo-tion/eye tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), or functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) embedded in interactive human-robot paradigms. This approach requires understanding how humans interact with each other, how they perform tasks together and how they develop feelings of social connection over time, and using these insights to formulate design principles that make social robots attuned to the workings of the human brain. In this review, we put forward the argument that the likelihood of artificial agents being perceived as social companions can be increased by designing them in a way that they are perceived as intentional agents that activate areas in the human brain in-volved in social-cognitive processing. We first review literature related to social-cognitive mecha-nisms involved in human-human interactions, and highlight the importance of perceiving others as intentional agents to activate these brain areas. We then discuss how attribution of intentionality can positively affect human-robot interaction by (a) fostering feelings of social connection, empathy and prosociality, and by (b) enhancing performance on joint human-robot tasks. Lastly, we describe cir-cumstances under which attribution of intentionality to robot agents might be disadvantageous, and discuss challenges associated with designing social robots that are inspired by neuroscientific princi-ples.

scholarly journals Developmental fronto-parietal shift of brain activation during mental arithmetic across the lifespan: A registered report protocol

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0256232
Author(s):  
Christina Artemenko
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Mental Arithmetic ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Arithmetic Complexity

Arithmetic processing is represented in a fronto-parietal network of the brain. However, activation within this network undergoes a shift from domain-general cognitive processing in the frontal cortex towards domain-specific magnitude processing in the parietal cortex. This is at least what is known about development from findings in children and young adults. In this registered report, we set out to replicate the fronto-parietal activation shift for arithmetic processing and explore for the first time how neural development of arithmetic continues during aging. This study focuses on the behavioral and neural correlates of arithmetic and arithmetic complexity across the lifespan, i.e., childhood, where arithmetic is first learned, young adulthood, when arithmetic skills are already established, and old age, when there is lifelong arithmetic experience. Therefore, brain activation during mental arithmetic will be measured in children, young adults, and the elderly using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Arithmetic complexity will be manipulated by the carry and borrow operations in two-digit addition and subtraction. The findings of this study will inform educational practice, since the carry and borrow operations are considered as obstacles in math achievement, and serve as a basis for developing interventions in the elderly, since arithmetic skills are important for an independent daily life.

A Study of Frontal Signals in Brain Computer Interfaces: Interpretation of EEG & FNIRS

2020 ◽  
pp. 136-142
Author(s):  
S. Srilekha ◽  
B. Vanathi
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Healthy Subject ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Brain Computer Interfaces ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Computer Interfaces ◽  
Rehabilitation Devices

This paper focuses on electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) comparison to help the rehabilitation patients. Both methods have unique techniques and placement of electrodes. Usage of signals are different in application based on the economic conditions. This study helps in choosing the signal for the betterment of analysis. Ten healthy subject datasets of EEG & FNIRS are taken and applied to plot topography separately. Accuracy, Sensitivity, peaks, integral areas, etc are compared and plotted. The main advantages of this study are to prompt their necessities in the analysis of rehabilitation devices to manage their life as a typical individual.

61-LB: Use of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to Assess Cognitive Effort in KATP-Related Neonatal Diabetes (KATP-NDM)

Diabetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 61-LB
Author(s):  
LISA R. LETOURNEAU-FREIBERG ◽  
KIMBERLY L. MEIDENBAUER ◽  
ANNA M. DENSON ◽  
PERSEPHONE TIAN ◽  
KYOUNG WHAN CHOE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Neonatal Diabetes ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Making social neuroscience less WEIRD: Using fNIRS to measure neural signatures of persuasive influence in a Middle East participant sample

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Burns ◽  
Lianne N. Barnes ◽  
Ian A. McCulloh ◽  
Munqith M. Dagher ◽  
Emily B. Falk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Social Neuroscience ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Neuroscience Research ◽  
Neuropsychological Functions ◽  
Arabic Speaking

The large majority of social neuroscience research uses WEIRD populations – participants from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic locations. This makes it difficult to claim whether neuropsychological functions are universal or culture specific. In this study, we demonstrate one approach to addressing the imbalance by using portable neuroscience equipment in a study of persuasion conducted in Jordan with an Arabic-speaking sample. Participants were shown persuasive videos on various health and safety topics while their brain activity was measured using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Self-reported persuasiveness ratings for each video were then recorded. Consistent with previous research conducted with American subjects, this work found that activity in the dorsomedial and ventromedial prefrontal cortex predicted how persuasive participants found the videos and how much they intended to engage in the messages’ endorsed behaviors. Further, activity in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was associated with persuasiveness ratings, but only in participants for whom the message was personally relevant. Implications for these results on the understanding of the brain basis of persuasion and on future directions for neuroimaging in diverse populations are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document