Existing research indicates that the shape of various facial regions is linked to perceived attractiveness and perceived formidability. Interestingly, little evidence shows that people directly focus on these specific facial regions during judgments of attractiveness and formidability, and there is little support for the notion that the levels of attractiveness and formidability affect raters' visual attention. We employed eye-tracking to examine visual attention (the number of fixations and dwell time) in 40 women and 37 men, while they assessed 45 male faces in life-sized photographs for attractiveness and formidability. The facial photographs were grouped by varying levels of attractiveness and formidability (low, medium, and high). Our results showed that regardless of the characteristics rated, both men and women paid the most visual attention to the eyes, nose, mouth, and forehead regions. We found statistically discernible variation in visual attention in relation to the rater's sex or target's attractiveness levels for other facial features (the chin, cheeks, or ears), but these differences may not be substantial enough to have practical implications. We suggest that the eyes, the nose, and the mouth regions play a central role in the evolution of face perception as regions most salient to the acquisition of informative cues about others. Further, during both attractiveness and formidability judgments, men looked longer at the stimuli than women did, which may hint at increased difficulty of this task for men, possibly because they compare themselves with the stimuli. Additionally, irrespective of sex, raters looked marginally longer at faces with a medium level of formidability than at those with a high formidability level, which may reflect ambiguity of these stimuli and uncertainty regarding assessment. We found no other significantly relationships between the target's attractiveness and formidability levels and the rater's visual attention to whole faces.

• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• krása MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mínění MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• obličej * MeSH
• pozornost * fyziologie   MeSH
• rozpoznání obličeje fyziologie   MeSH
• technologie sledování pohybu očí MeSH
• výběrové chování fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

The human mind, trying to perceive events coherently, creates the illusion of continuous time passage. Empirical evidence suggests distortions in subjectively perceived time flow associated with well-studied neural responses to sensory stimuli. This study aimed to investigate whether visually uncomfortable patterns, causing exceptionally strong brain activation, affect short time estimates and whether these estimates vary based on the overall reported sensory sensitivity and cortical excitability of individuals. Two experiments in virtual reality testing our assumptions at different levels of complexity of timed stimuli provided initial insight into the studied processes in highly controlled and realistic conditions. Data analysis results did not support our hypotheses, but showed that subjectively most visually uncomfortable simple patterns, i.e., achromatic gratings, cause more variable temporal judgments. Supposedly, this inaccuracy depends on the currently perceived visual comfort and thus the current visual system sensitivity, which cannot be satisfactorily derived from trait-based measures. The exploration of the effect of complex stimuli, i.e., virtual exteriors, suggested that their visual comfort does not affect time perception at all. Biological sex was an important variable across experiments, as males experienced temporal compression of stimuli compared to females. Neuroimaging research is needed for a deeper investigation of the origin of these results.Protocol registration: The Stage 1 manuscript associated with this Registered Report was in-principle accepted on 4 March 2024 prior to data collection for hypothesis testing. The accepted version of the manuscript can be found in the publicly available OSF repository at https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/K3YZE .

• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mozek fyziologie   diagnostické zobrazování   MeSH
• světelná stimulace metody   MeSH
• virtuální realita MeSH
• vnímání času * fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce * fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Research has shown that external focus (EF) instructions-directing attention to intended movement effects (e.g., ball's or dart's path)-are more effective for enhancing motor performance and learning than internal focus (IF) instructions, which focus on body movements (e.g., arm or foot motion). Nonetheless, the impact of visuospatial working memory capacity (WMC) in this context, especially among children, has been less investigated. This research sought to examine the effects of EF compared to IF on the skill acquisition and motor learning of a dart-throwing task among children with both high and low visuospatial WMC. Forty-eight boys aged 9-11 (Mage: 9.67 ± 0.76 years) were grouped by high or low WMC based on spatial span and memory tests, then assigned to receive either EF or IF instructions. The experiment comprised three stages: practice, retention, and two transfer tests, including throwing from a longer distance and a dual-task scenario with added cognitive load (tone counting). Results showed that EF outperformed IF at all stages. While WMC did not affect performance during practice and retention, children with low WMC performed better than those with high WMC during the longer distance test. In dual-task conditions, an EF continued to surpass an IF, whilst the WMC exerted no significant impact. The present findings suggest that an EF relative to an IF promotes more automatic movement and enhanced multitasking, while the impact of visuospatial WMC was less than expected, highlighting the benefits of EF in teaching motor skills to children, regardless of visuospatial WMC.

• MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• krátkodobá paměť * fyziologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• motorické dovednosti * fyziologie   MeSH
• pozornost * fyziologie   MeSH
• psychomotorický výkon * fyziologie   MeSH
• učení fyziologie   MeSH
• vnímání prostoru fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Sensory processing is influenced by neuromodulators such as serotonin, thought to relay behavioural state. Recent work has shown that the modulatory effect of serotonin itself differs with the animal's behavioural state. In primates, including humans, the serotonin system is anatomically important in the primary visual cortex (V1). We previously reported that in awake fixating macaques, serotonin reduces the spiking activity by decreasing response gain in V1. But the effect of serotonin on the local network is unknown. Here, we simultaneously recorded single-unit activity and local field potentials (LFPs) while iontophoretically applying serotonin in V1 of alert monkeys fixating on a video screen for juice rewards. The reduction in spiking response we observed previously is the opposite of the known increase of spiking activity with spatial attention. Conversely, in the local network (LFP), the application of serotonin resulted in changes mirroring the local network effects of previous reports in macaques directing spatial attention to the receptive field. It reduced the LFP power and the spike-field coherence, and the LFP became less predictive of spiking activity, consistent with reduced functional connectivity. We speculate that together, these effects may reflect the sensory side of a serotonergic contribution to quiet vigilance: The lower gain reduces the salience of stimuli to suppress an orienting reflex to novel stimuli, whereas at the network level, visual processing is in a state comparable to that of spatial attention.

• MeSH
• akční potenciály fyziologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Macaca mulatta MeSH
• serotonin MeSH
• světelná stimulace MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• zrakové evokované potenciály * MeSH
• zrakové korové centrum * fyziologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural MeSH

A startling auditory stimulus (SAS) induces a reflex response involving, among other reactions, a strong contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle (OOc) and subsequent eye closure. A SAS also induces the StartReact effect, a significant shortening of reaction time in subjects ready for task execution. We examined the obvious conflict appearing when a StartReact paradigm requires participants with eyes closed to open their eyes to look for a visual target. We recorded OOc EMG activity and eyelid movements in healthy volunteers who were instructed to open their eyes at perception of a somatosensory imperative stimulus (IS) and locate the position of a Libet's clock's hand shown on a computer screen at 80 cm distance. In 6 out of 20 trials, we delivered a SAS simultaneously with the IS. The main outcome measures were reaction time at onset of eyelid movement and the time gap (TG) separating subjective assessment of the clock's hand position from real IS issuing. Control experiments included reaction time to eye closing and target location with eyes open to the same IS. Reaction time was significantly faster in SAS than in noSAS trials and slower for eye opening than for eye closing in both conditions. In the eye-opening task, TG was significantly shorter in SAS with respect to noSAS trials, despite the presence of the SAS-related burst in the OOc before EMG cessation. Our results indicate that the StartReact effect speeds up eye opening and location of a target in the visual field despite the startle reaction opposing the task.

• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• elektromyografie MeSH
• fyzikální stimulace MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• obličejové svaly fyziologie   MeSH
• oční víčka fyziologie   MeSH
• psychomotorický výkon fyziologie   MeSH
• reakční čas fyziologie   MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• sluchová percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• úleková reakce fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

• MeSH
• amblyopie diagnóza   klasifikace   terapie   MeSH
• diagnostické techniky oftalmologické MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• oční nemoci * MeSH
• refrakční vady terapie   MeSH
• strabismus * diagnóza   etiologie   klasifikace   terapie   MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• zrakové testy metody   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• přehledy MeSH

The spatial organization and dynamic interactions between excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs that define the receptive field (RF) of simple cells in the cat primary visual cortex (V1) still raise the following paradoxical issues: (1) stimulation of simple cells in V1 with drifting gratings supports a wiring schema of spatially segregated sets of excitatory and inhibitory inputs activated in an opponent way by stimulus contrast polarity and (2) in contrast, intracellular studies using flashed bars suggest that although ON and OFF excitatory inputs are indeed segregated, inhibitory inputs span the entire RF regardless of input contrast polarity. Here, we propose a biologically detailed computational model of simple cells embedded in a V1-like network that resolves this seeming contradiction. We varied parametrically the RF-correlation-based bias for excitatory and inhibitory synapses and found that a moderate bias of excitatory neurons to synapse onto other neurons with correlated receptive fields and a weaker bias of inhibitory neurons to synapse onto other neurons with anticorrelated receptive fields can explain the conductance input, the postsynaptic membrane potential, and the spike train dynamics under both stimulation paradigms. This computational study shows that the same structural model can reproduce the functional diversity of visual processing observed during different visual contexts.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Identifying generic connectivity motives in cortical circuitry encoding for specific functions is crucial for understanding the computations implemented in the cortex. Indirect evidence points to correlation-based biases in the connectivity pattern in V1 of higher mammals, whereby excitatory and inhibitory neurons preferentially synapse onto neurons respectively with correlated and anticorrelated receptive fields. A recent intracellular study questions this push-pull hypothesis, failing to find spatial anticorrelation patterns between excitation and inhibition across the receptive field. We present here a spiking model of V1 that integrates relevant anatomic and physiological constraints and shows that a more versatile motif of correlation-based connectivity with selectively tuned excitation and broadened inhibition is sufficient to account for the diversity of functional descriptions obtained for different classes of stimuli.

• MeSH
• akční potenciály fyziologie   MeSH
• kočky MeSH
• modely neurologické * MeSH
• nervový přenos fyziologie   MeSH
• nervový útlum fyziologie   MeSH
• neurony fyziologie   MeSH
• synapse fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• zrakové dráhy fyziologie   MeSH
• zrakové korové centrum fyziologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• kočky MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH

• Klíčová slova
• zraková neuroplasticita,
• MeSH
• amblyopie * etiologie   patologie   terapie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• neuroplasticita * fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková ostrost fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce * fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• přehledy MeSH

Visuospatial perspective-taking (VPT) is a process of imagining what can be seen and how a scene looks from a location and orientation in space that differs from one's own. It comprises two levels that are underpinned by distinct neurocognitive processes. Level-2 VPT is often studied in relation to two other cognitive phenomena, object mental rotation (oMR) and theory of mind (ToM). With the aim to describe the broad picture of neurocognitive processes underlying level-2 VPT, here we give an overview of the recent behavioral and neuroscientific findings of level-2 VPT. We discuss its relation to level-1 VPT, which is also referred to as perspective-tracking, and the neighboring topics, oMR and ToM. Neuroscientific research shows that level-2 VPT is a diverse cognitive process, encompassing functionally distinct neural circuits. It shares brain substrates with oMR, especially those parietal brain areas that are specialized in spatial reasoning. However, compared to oMR, level-2 VPT involves additional activations in brain structures that are typically involved in ToM tasks and deal with self/other distinctions. In addition, level-2 VPT has been suggested to engage brain areas coding for internal representations of the body. Thus, the neurocognitive model underpinning level-2 VPT can be understood as a combination of visuospatial processing with social cognition and body schema representations.

• MeSH
• imaginace fyziologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mozková kůra fyziologie   MeSH
• teorie mysli fyziologie   MeSH
• vnímání prostoru fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• přehledy MeSH

Previous research on cross-cultural differences in visual attention has been inconclusive. Some studies have suggested the existence of systematic differences in global and local attention and context sensitivity, while others have produced negative or mixed results. The objective in this study was to examine the similarities and differences in holistic and analytic cognitive styles in a sample of Czech and Taiwanese university students. Two cognitive tasks were conducted: a Compound Figures Test and a free-viewing scene perception task which manipulated several focal objects and measured eye-movement patterns. An analysis of the reaction times in the Compound Figures Test showed no clear differences between either sample. An analysis of eye-movement metrics showed certain differences between the samples. While Czechs tended to focus relatively more on the focal objects measured by the number of fixations, the Taiwanese subjects spent more time fixating on the background. The results were consistent for scenes with one or two focal objects. The results of a correlation analysis of both tasks showed that they were unrelated. These results showed certain differences between the samples in visual perception but were not as systematic as the theory of holistic and analytic cognitive styles would suggest. An alternative model of cross-cultural differences in cognition and perception is discussed.

• MeSH
• Asijci MeSH
• běloši MeSH
• kognice fyziologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• oční fixace fyziologie   MeSH
• pohyby očí fyziologie   MeSH
• pozornost fyziologie   MeSH
• reakční čas fyziologie   MeSH
• srovnání kultur MeSH
• studenti MeSH
• univerzity MeSH
• zrak fyziologie   MeSH
• zraková percepce fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Česká republika MeSH
• Taiwan MeSH