A 91亚色 study, published recently in the journal , used fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to track brain activity when study participants looked at an image of a facial expression with a word superimposed on it. Study participants processed the words faster than the facial expressions. However, when the word did not match the image 鈥� for example, when the word 鈥渟ad鈥� was superimposed on an image of someone smiling 鈭� participants reacted less quickly to a request to read the word.

鈥淭he emotion in the word doesn鈥檛 match the emotion in the facial expression, which creates a conflict,鈥� said psychology Professor Joseph DeSouza in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health. 鈥淥ur study showed 鈭� for the first time 鈭� an increase in signal from the left inferior frontal cortex when the study participant was confronted by this conflict between the word and the image and asked to respond to directions that went against their automatic instincts.鈥�

Previous research on the prefrontal cortex has found this region to be implicated in higher order cognitive functions, including long-term planning, response suppression and response selection. This experiment, conducted by graduate student Shima Ovaysikia under DeSouza鈥檚 supervision, allowed researchers to study inhibitory mechanisms for much more complex stimuli than have been studied in the past.

The inferior frontal cortex is located near the front left temple. People who have problems with inhibition, including stroke or schizophrenia patients, may have damage to this inferior frontal cortex zone, says DeSouza. As a result, when they see something that is inconsistent 鈥� such as the image of a smiling face with the word 鈥渟ad鈥� across it 鈥� they would be expected to take more time to react, because the part of their brains needed to process it has been damaged or destroyed.

The research, conducted by 91亚色鈥檚 with the use of fMRI technology at Queen鈥檚 University, was partially funded by the Faculty of Health at 91亚色, the and the program. Future fMRI research at 91亚色 will be conducted in a state-of-the-art neuroimaging laboratory at 91亚色鈥檚 new Sherman Health Science Research Centre, which opened in September.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

The post Centre for Vision Research study pinpoints part of brain that suppresses automatic responses appeared first on Research & Innovation.

鈥淔rom Cats Eyes to Headaches: Adventures in Neuroscience鈥� will take place Thursday, Nov. 11, from 2 to 3:30pm at 214 Calumet College, Keele campus. RSVP by Nov. 10 to smiceli@yorku.ca. Everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

Left: Fran Wilkinson

In her research, Wilkinson, a member of the at 91亚色, has examined the mechanisms of face and object recognition in the visual brain and how vision changes during aging. She is among the researchers working in the Sherman Health Science Research Centre.

鈥淭hroughout my career I have been fascinated by how the visual pathways of the brain capture and interpret the visual world. In this talk, I will briefly describe the sometimes winding path my own research career has taken, examining this central question in neuroscience from a variety of angles, using new technologies as they have come into being,鈥� says Wilkinson.

鈥淚 will then discuss my current work on vision and migraine headache as an example both of the interface between basic and clinical neuroscience, and of the role of serendipity in research.鈥�

The Faculty Research Profile Series, presented by Calumet College, features eminent 91亚色 faculty speaking on their broad research interests rather than about a single narrow topic.聽Audiences will hear聽what professors have devoted their careers to studying, how they do what they do and why.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

The post Professor Fran Wilkinson discusses research on vision and migraine headaches November 11 appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The study, recently published in the journal Neuropsychologia looked at a rare disorder called prosopagnosia, in which the ability to visually identify faces is lost or severely impaired.

Researchers performed a series of experiments that gauged prosopagnosia sufferers' recognition of faces, objects and voices and other sounds, both separately and in varying combinations; the scientists compared these results to those of control subjects with normal brain functioning.

"We were interested in investigating the interactions between different types of sensory inputs," says lead researcher Jennifer Steeves (left), a professor of psychology in 91亚色鈥檚 . "For example, does seeing a person鈥檚 face and listening to them speaking at the same time offer more helpful information to identify that person, or is a single sensory input superior?"

Steeves鈥� experiments involved a patient who suffered brain damage from meningitis as a child. With extensive lesions on the right hemisphere and most of the ventral visual areas, he was unable to recognize familiar faces, facial expressions, objects, colours or words.

"Quite remarkably, even with these deficits, he was able to hold a job and maintain an independent lifestyle," Steeves says. "We wanted to find out what cognitive functions were compensating to help him achieve this."

In one experiment, participants were required to rapidly learn the identities of 10 individuals,聽using an聽image of a face paired with a voice.

Prior to this exercise, subjects were presented with grey-scale images of 110 female faces that had been stripped of distinguishing features. They were also fed auditory stimuli 鈥� a 20-second neutral passage spoken in English by one of 110 female voices. Participants were then tested on what they had learned in visual and auditory-only modes, and in combination.

Steeves and her colleagues found that control subjects relied more heavily on visual cues, while the patient with prosopagnosia used auditory information more expertly to recognize people. However, auditory cues didn鈥檛 help in identifying objects, leading researchers to believe that our processing of people and things occur in two different neurological pathways.

Untangling this web of sensory cues is important on more than one level, Steeves notes. "Our hope is that it will help not only our understanding of those with brain disorders, but also to understand how healthy brains function," she says.

The study, "Superior voice recognition in a patient with acquired prosopagnosia and object agnosia," is co-authored by Adria Hoover, a 91亚色 psychology graduate student, and Jean-Fran莽ois D茅monet, director of France鈥檚 Institut National de la Sant茅 et de la Recherche M茅dicale (INSERM).

Steeves is one of the researchers based in 91亚色鈥檚 new state-of-the-art Sherman Health Science Research Centre, which officially opened on Sept. 14.聽She leads the Perceptual Neuroscience Laboratory, which is based on the building鈥檚 main level. Both Steeves and her lab are part of the .

The research was funded by the and France鈥檚 .

By Melissa Hughes, media relations officer. Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

The post Professor Jennifer Steeves in Centre for Vision Research finds face blindness sufferers better at recognizing voices appeared first on Research & Innovation.