ERP evidence for the influence of scene context on the recognition of ambiguous and unambiguous objects.

Neuropsychologia

Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montréal, Canada; Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montréal, Canada. Electronic address:

Published: June 2015

We are used to seeing objects in specific settings, and in association with other related objects. This contextual information allows for fast and efficient object recognition and influences brain-related processes. The influence of scene context has been studied using event-related potentials (ERPs) in order to further our understanding of the underlying brain mechanisms. Current ERP studies have focused on effects related to the incongruity between unambiguous objects and their scenes, rather than the specific influence of a congruent scene. The present study sought to examine ERPs associated with the beneficial influence of scene context on object recognition. This influence was examined using ambiguous objects that required a congruent scene in order to be recognized, as well as unambiguous objects, to determine whether scene processing occurs even when it is unnecessary for recognizing the object. Twenty healthy subjects were instructed to indicate whether they recognized, had a vague idea, or did not recognize target objects that appeared within congruent and neutral scenes. ERPs from 250 to 1000 ms, including the N300 and N400, were more positive at anterior sites and more negative at posterior sites, when objects appeared in congruent scenes as opposed to when they appeared in neutral scenes, with a larger effect seen for ambiguous objects. Upon further examination, the results showed that the ERPs to ambiguous objects became similar to those of unambiguous objects when they appeared in congruent contexts. These findings indicated that a congruent context exerted its influence by reducing the ambiguity of objects.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.04.023DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

unambiguous objects
16
influence scene
12
scene context
12
objects
12
ambiguous objects
12
objects appeared
12
appeared congruent
12
object recognition
8
congruent scene
8
neutral scenes
8

Similar Publications

Causality is a fundamental part of the scientific endeavor to understand the world. Unfortunately, causality is still taboo in much of psychology and social science. Motivated by a growing number of recommendations for the importance of adopting causal approaches to research, we reformulate the typical approach to research in psychology to harmonize inevitably causal theories with the rest of the research pipeline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this work, we performed a comprehensive spectroscopic analysis of the "Portrait of a Young Man in a Wide-Brimmed Hat with a Feather" authored by an unknown artist and housed in the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus. Previously this portrait was a part of the Myatlev collection (St. Petersburg, Russia).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To comprehend speech, human brains identify meaningful units in the speech stream. But whereas the English '' has 3 word-units, the Arabic equivalent '' is a single word-unit with 3 meaningful sub-word units, called morphemes: a verb stem (''), a subject suffix ('--'), and a direct object pronoun ('-'). It remains unclear whether and how the brain processes morphemes, above and beyond other language units, during speech comprehension.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unambiguous discrimination of general quantum operations.

Sci Adv

November 2024

Center for Quantum Information, Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.

Article Synopsis
  • Researchers have made significant advances in understanding how to discriminate between quantum operations, especially in distinguishing quantum states, with some initial experiments using optical photons.
  • Despite this progress, effectively demonstrating the discrimination of both unitary and nonunitary quantum operations has proven challenging, particularly in complex quantum systems.
  • This study successfully showcases the optimal method for discriminating up to six displacement operators and nonunitary operations, offering new possibilities for quantum information processing and quantum sensing applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Spatial localisation and sensing in two dimensions via metasurfaces.

Sci Rep

October 2024

Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PJ, UK.

In this study, we introduce a two-dimensional metasurface sensor designed to detect, locate and distinguish between different objects placed in its near field. When an object is placed on the metasurface, local changes can be detected in one or more of the structure's meta-atoms. This interaction generally modifies the inductance of the meta-atom, resulting in changes to the overall input impedance of the surface.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!