How do we know what we see?

Scientists have found the area of ​​the brain responsible for finding meaning in the images we see

Enter the links in front of you, and look carefully at the pictures in front of you.

Do you see an old woman or a young woman?? Do you see a vase or two people kissing?

We all know the optical illusions, and the 'jumps' that the brain makes when we suddenly realize that the image can be seen differently. Now it turns out that what we see is related to very specific neural activity patterns in the brain.

"The image we see remains the same, so the changes that take place in our brain are the ones that determine whether we see a vase or a face," says John Saranes, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Irvine in California. Serenses recently published the study together with his collaborator, Geoffrey Boynton, an associate professor at the University of Washington, in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Serenses and his research partner found that when we view ambiguous images such as optical illusions, the neural activity in certain areas of the brain changes consistently as our perception of the image changes. The discovery is particularly important because the patterns of neural activity that are created in certain areas of the brain are very similar to the patterns of activity that appear when we watch images whose design is not clear, or can be interpreted in several ways.

"The fact is that these areas show the same pattern of activity when we view a real picture and when we interpret an ambiguous drawing," says Serenses, "these are actually the brain areas responsible for creating the conscious experience we get from seeing objects."

The findings from the study may contribute to scientists trying to understand brain disorders such as dyslexia. The prevailing thought today is that dyslexia results from problems in processing movement, and the research could provide information on the way in which certain areas of the brain help in the perception of movement.

The researchers measured the patterns of neural activity in the middle-temporal region of the brain, using fMRI - a magnetic resonance imaging device. This area of ​​the brain is linked to the perception of movement, and the researchers examined its activity in two different situations.

In the first condition, the subjects were asked to observe objects moving in one direction only, and identify their direction of movement (right or left). In the second condition, they were presented with objects whose direction of movement was not clear, and they were asked to identify the main direction of movement of those objects.

The patterns of neural activity in the middle temporal region of the brain were very similar when the observers saw an object that was actually moving to the left, and when they only thought that the unclear objects they were seeing were moving to the left.

"There is a similarity between the patterns of activity in the middle temporal region when we see a moving object, and when we only think we see it moving. This similarity suggests that this area of ​​the brain plays an important role in creating the conscious experience of the world around us," says Serenses.

For information on the Irving University website
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