Vision
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Depression has long been associated with vision – and to colour perception in particular – and the link between them is evident in everyday language. Depression is, of course, often referred to as “feeling blue”, and those who suffer from it are sometimes told to “lighten up”. The link can be found in art, too – Picasso’s so-called “ Blue Period ,” for example, which was brought on by the suicide of his close friend Carlos Casagemas, is characterised by a series of striking paintings in shades of cold blue, which express the deep melancholy he felt at the time. Although the association between depression and colour is largely metaphorical, there is actually some evidence that they are closely linked.
Feeling blue, seeing gray | Mo Costandi
Blind brain receives 'visual' cues to identify shape
By Communications Staff February 15, 2013 Share this:
The general goal of our research is to clarify the mechanisms of face recognition in the human brain. Recording event-related potentials ( ERPs ) on the human scalp can be particularly informative for this goal.
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The Human Brain is Sensitive to Light, Breakthrough Findings From... -- HELSINKI and BERGEN, Norway, August 11
HELSINKI and BERGEN, Norway , August 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Valkee ( http://valkee.com ), inventor of the world's first bright-light headset, and scientists from the University of Oulu will present new findings on human brain's photosensitivity at the Scandinavian Physiology Society Annual Meeting 2011, August 12-14 . Their research localized the OPN3 protein - known as the light-sensitive photoreceptor protein - in all of the 18 evaluated areas of the brain.
Brain's map of space falls flat when it comes to altitude
Animal's brains are only roughly aware of how high-up they are in space, meaning that in terms of altitude the brain's 'map' of space is surprisingly flat, according to new research. In a study published online today in Nature Neuroscience , scientists studied cells in or near a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which forms the brain's map of space, to see whether they were activated when rats climbed upwards.
Retinal cells thoughts to be the same are not: study
The old adage "Looks can be deceiving" certainly rings true when it comes to people. But it is also accurate when describing special light-sensing cells in the eye, according to a Johns Hopkins University biologist. In a study recently published in Nature , a team led by Samer Hattar of the Department of Biology at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and Tudor Badea at the National Eye Institute found that these cells , which were thought to be identical and responsible for both setting the body's circadian rhythm and the pupil's reaction to light and darkness, are actually two different cells, each responsible for one of those tasks.
Eagle-Eyed Autism? No.
An interesting and refreshing paper from Simon Baron-Cohen's autism group from Cambridge.(Medical Xpress) -- Scientists have come up with new insight into the brain processes that cause the following optical illusion:
