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Physiological and psychological investigations into Snoezelen therapy have increased domestically and internationally in recent years. Nevertheless, the findings of Snoezelen therapy studies have been inconsistent. A primary reason for the inconsistency is the complex interplay of variables inherent to Snoezelen therapy. Determining which specific variable drives observed effects proves challenging even when an effect is demonstrated. Consequently, this study sought to minimize the array of variables and employed frequency analysis of brain waves to explore the connection between olfactory and visual stimulation within the context of Snoezelen. This study was conducted with university student participants（N=12） and employed a two-factor repeated measures design、 examining the interplay of modality and congruence. Our findings revealed a significant difference in the rate of power value change within the a-wave frequency band、 such that the rate of change in power value was greater when olfactory and visual stimuli were congruent than incongruent. These results suggest that Snoezelen therapy has the potential to instill a sense of psychological stability by harmonizing olfactory and visual stimuli. Our study contributes to the ongoing efforts to comprehend the underlying mechanisms of Snoezelen therapy. It highlights the importance of considering the congruence of sensory stimuli as a factor in its efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perception of texture is influenced by visual information as well as awareness achieved from foot-sole haptics. Numerous psychophysiological studies have elucidated the effects of visual and haptic information. However, research on the relationship between visual information predicted before a foot sole is placed on the floor and haptic information acquired after stepping on the floor is limited. The existing literature also does not offer any methodology for investigating these effects. This study aimed to build an experimental environment to measure the subjective evaluation (i.e., hardness similarity of visual and haptics stimuli, and comfort) and to examine brain activity by means of fMRI simultaneously when participants were presented with foot-sole haptics stimuli following the projection of visual stimuli. The results revealed a considerable difference in the subjective evaluation of hardness similarity between the visual-haptic similar and dissimilar conditions, which means that we could successfully build the measurement system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to clarify the group tactical structures of “pick and roll” in basketball by having players who excel at the tactic share their knowledge verbally. It was anticipated that such sharing would help provide information useful for improvement of individual tactical skills in situations where multiple players face off on the court. To better understand this tactic, 8 female basketball players who compete at international level were interviewed regarding pick play, and their narratives were analyzed qualitatively. Our findings were as follows. In pick and roll, there is a “pause” between the offense and defense players before the screen is set, and a struggle for the angle at which the screen is set between the uninvolved players. Moreover, a conflict over whether or not to “bring it to 2-on-2” was interpreted as occurring during the screen set, while the struggle over whether to “reasonably advance the numerical advantage” was interpreted as occurring after the screen set. Top players make sense of 1-on-1 situations visually, but when they have to face 2 opponents, they use visual, auditory, and tactile sense to grasp the situation. Top players were also shown to have both the practical ability to directly implement their procedural knowledge, and the ability to fine-tune their play in terms of space and timing to better apply their skills to the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the experience of seeing is difficult and is being pursued day and night, especially in psychology and neuroscience. However, there are hard areas to research, such as estimating the structure of receptive fields (RF) in the higher-order visual cortex with humans and animals as research targets. Deep neural networks (DNNs) are being reported that have similar properties to visual neurons and the possibility of using DNNs as alternative re- search targets to the biological brain has emerged. Therefore, in this paper, I discuss whether DNNs can be our re- search subject. In this research, I applied the reverse correlation method, which has revealed RF of visual neurons, to DNNs to estimate RF of units in well-trained VGG-16. As a result, the properties of the RF of VGG-16 units were similar to visual cortex neurons. The result suggested that DNNs may be a good alternative model for our research, but also suggested limitations of the method. To solve remaining problems, psychology research that develop the better methods and deep learning research that provides better alternative models must go hand in hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between basketball shooting distance and release parameters (i.e., release position, speed, and angle), and how the latter are adjusted according to increases or decreases in the shot distance. The subjects were eight male university basketball players who took 50 shots from each of seven shooting positions (3.75 m, 4.75 m, 5.75 m, 6.25 m, 6.75 m, 7.25 m, and 7.75 m from the center of the hoop). Two high-speed video cameras (120 fps) were used to capture the shooting motion and trajectory of the ball after release. The video images were analyzed using a two-dimensional direct linear transformation method, and the variables of the arrival position and the release parameters of the ball were calculated. It was revealed that when the shot distance was large, the average value of the arrival position of the shot ball may not lie within the hoop. This suggested that when considering how to adjust the release parameters with increasing shot distance, it was necessary to distinguish whether or not the average value of the arrival position of the shot ball would lie inside the hoop. As to the relationship between shot distance and the release parameters, it was considered that the subjects adjusted these parameters by decreasing the release angle while increasing the release speed when the shot was attempted 5.75 or 6.25 m from the hoop. Furthermore, when the distance to the hoop was ≤6.25 m, the actual release angle was slightly larger than the optimal release angle, and both of these parameters decreased as the shot distance increased. Therefore, it was thought that the optimal release angle could be used as a guide for adjusting the release angle. As the shot distance increased, the distance from the shooting position to the release position tended to increase, but the release height did not change significantly. However, for all subjects, the change in the release distance or release height with increasing shot distance differed between shooting positions of ≤6.25 m and ≥6.75 m from the center of the hoop. This suggests that the way force is applied to the ball in the shooting motion between these positions may change as the shot distance increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was based on the relationship between colors and brain waves described by Mishima and Fujii (1991). We investigated the effect of color differences on attention distribution in a snoezelen environment using the experimental procedure developed by Hashimoto et al. (2017; 2018; 2019) for assessing ERP in the visual oddball task. Results indicated that target stimuli in a yellow environment had the lowest amplitude compared to Snoezelen environments in other colors. Red had the highest amplitude in Pz (posterior) electrodes, which was larger than the amplitude for blue. These results supported Mishima and Fujii (1991) that blue environments diminished the motivation for task performance and indicated the importance of selecting the colors of visual stimuli in Snoezelen environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors focus on consumers' reading direction for capturing product's visual information. There has been a great deal of research done, but these have discussed separately from product's image information and character information such as product's name. This study investigates the processes of the visual stimulus when product's information and product's image are processed simultaneously and how that affects product preference. Three experiment studies examined that effect of the direction of a product's cast shadow on processing fluency and product preference. Those revealed two points that (1) the consistency of direction between the product name written on the product package and the product's cast-shadow could enhance consumers' processing fluency, (2) the effect of the consistency of two directions on processing fluency may enhance product evaluation. Additionally, it is worth noting that we recruited several measuring methods for capturing "processing fluency" to reinforce the robustness of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precise visual perception of self-movement is essential for locomotion and postural control. In the second half of the first year, infants become highly responsive to peripheral lamellar optic flow (PLOF) specifying self-movement. Past studies on infant responsiveness to PLOF have only contrasted postural responses to optic flow patterns differing in overall direction of movement, e.g., horizontal vs. downward movement. This study investigated whether infants show differential responses to PLOF specifying different degrees of downward movement. Twenty-seven 9-month-olds were presented with PLOF specifying 30° descent, 10° descent, and horizontal forward movement in a virtual moving room. The infants showed degree-appropriate postural responses to each of the three conditions, as well as elevated cardiac accelerations to 30° descent. These results show that infant reactions to optic flow are highly attuned to the specific direction of the perceived movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a group Stroop Color-Word Test that measures both Stroop and reverse-Stroop interference. In this test, the participants had to match a pertinent word with a color patch from among the choices printed on paper. The purpose of this study was to investigate the life-span development of Stroop and reverse-Stroop interference as measured by this test. A total of 1 945 participants (age 7-86 years old) completed this test. We found that Stroop interference was greatest among children, then decreased with age to adulthood, and finally increased among the older people. These results correspond with the findings of previous developmental studies conducted using verbal responses. The reverse-Stroop interference was found to be smallest among children, increased with age to adulthood, and then remained constant even among older adults. These results suggest that Stroop interference and reverse Stroop interference reflect different cognitive processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual scenes in daily life involve much variable information. This study examined how three types of variable information (viewing field, brightness, and chromaticity of flood-light illumination) would be retained in memory by varying the level of the information. In Experiment 1, discrimination performance between the test scene and its variation was measured using the constant stimuli method. The results showed worse performance with longer retention time, with no difference related to the type of variation. In Experiment 2, the stimulus variations were made four times greater. In a recognition memory task, participants discriminated between the test scene, its variation, and a new distracter. The results showed that discrimination between the test scene and its variation was worse, but the distracters were easily discriminated. Variations in the viewing field had the most detrimental effect on discrimination performance. These results suggest that the retention of variable information is affected by the frequency of daily experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Color feature analysis was applied to the characterization of color textures of 24 kinds of fabrics with various colors and patterns by using CIELAB color space. Color measurements of these fabrics were done with a commercially available color scanner. X, Y, Z, L*, a*, b*, C*ab and hab of CIE color system were obtained for each pixel (i, j) in the image of color textures by respective measurements and by appropriate transformation of the values. Mean values for L*, C*ab and hab of all pixels (AVE-L*, AVE-C*ab and AVE-hab) were obtained as color information parameters. The angular second moment (ASM), contrast (CON), correlation (COR), entropy (ENT) and fractal dimension (D) statistically extracted from distributions of L* for each fabric, were measured as visual feature parameters. A semantic differential analysis has been made on the color texture according to following feeling scales: vivid-obscure, gaudy-quiet, striking-unnoticeable, hard-soft, strong-weak, warm-cool, heavy-light, light-dark, complex-simple, variable-invariable and homogeneous-heterogeneous. The relationship between their mean sensory values and the image information parameters was examined by the factor analysis. These results indicated that feelings from patterns related to visual feature parameters (ASM, CON, COR, ENT and D); heavy, hard and dark feelings related to AVE-L*; vivid, gaudy, striking and strong feelings related to AVE-C*ab; and warm feeling related to AVE-hab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Purpose] In this study, we elucidated the effects of different methods of visual perception (static and dynamic) on stepping-over motion during walking in a straight line or while turning 90 degrees. [Subjects] The participants were 31 healthy students. [Methods] The subjects performed tasks involving stepping over obstacles under four different conditions. In each condition, body sway measurements were taken immediately after subjects stepped over the obstacle, and clearance distance (between the subject's foot and the obstacle) during the stepping-over motion was measured. [Results] No significant differences in either rectangular area or root mean square area were seen for subjects' center of pressure among the conditions. Measurement of toe clearance showed that for both walking conditions (walking in a straight line and turning 90 degrees while walking towards the obstacle) the proximity of the limb to the obstacle was significantly closer in the dynamic than in the static condition. While turning 90 degrees, heel clearance during stepping-over motion was significantly closer to the obstacle in the dynamic condition than in the static condition. In the dynamic condition, heel clearance during stepping-over motion was significantly closer to the obstacle when turning 90 degrees than when walking in a straight line. [Conclusion] The results suggest that the multiple observations required to change locomotive direction, while approaching an obstacle in the travel path, allows the dimensional features of the object and the relationship between whole-body movements during locomotion and the obstacle to be perceived more three-dimensionally and more appropriately, contributing to improved kinematic control when stepping over the obstacle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments were designed to differentiate White's effect and an inverted White's effect. In White's effect, a gray target bordered by black stripes longer than white stripes appears darker than a target of the same physical luminance bordered by white stripes longer than black stripes when the luminance of the target area lies between the minimum and maximum luminance values of the inducing stripes. In an inverted White's effect, the direction of the effect is reversed when the target is either lighter or darker than both inducing stripes (Spehar, Clifford, & Agostini, 2002). Twenty undergraduates were asked to rate the brightness of a target area using a Munsell scale on the display. The results showed that both White's effect and an inverted White's effect were reproduced in any condition of Experiment 1 and 2. Experiment 1 showed that an inverted White's effect was affected by the shape of stripes, while White's effect was not. Experiment 2 showed that an inverted White's effect was affected by the length of target area, while White's effect was not. The results support Spehar et al. (2002) that White's effect and an inverted White's effect are not mediated by the same mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies demonstrated that attention can be quickly guided to a target location in a visual search task when the spatial configurations of search items and/or the object identities were repeated in the previous trials. This phenomenon is termed contextual cueing. Recently, it was reported that spatial configuration learning and object identity learning occurred independently, when novel contours were used as search items. The present study examined whether this learning occurred independently even when the search items were meaningful. The results showed that the contextual cueing effect was observed even if the relationships between the spatial locations and object identities were jumbled (Experiment 1). However, it disappeared when the search items were changed into geometric patterns (Experiment 2). These results suggest that the spatial configuration can be learned independent of the object identities; however, the use of the learned configuration is restricted by the learning situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how retrieval conditions affect accuracy-confidence (A-C) relationship sin recognition memory for faces. Seventy participants took a face-recognition test and rated their confidence in their judgment. Twenty-three participants were assigned to a retrieval condition, where they were encouraged to remember background information (scenery) of each picture just before rating their confidence. Twenty-four participants were assigned to a verbalizing condition, in which they were encouraged to remember and verbally describe the background of each picture before rating. Twenty-three participants were assigned to a control condition. The results showed that for the control condition, an A-C relationship was found for old items but not for new items, replicating the results of Takahashi (1998) and Wagenaar (1988). In contrast, in the retrieval condition, an A-C relationship was found for both old and new items. In the verbalizing condition, an A-C relationship was not found for either old or new items. The results showed that retrieving background information affects A-C relationships, supporting the idea that confidence ratings rely not only on memory traces but also on various kinds of information such as retrieved background scenery. Implications for eyewitness testimony were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual illusion is a psychological phenomenon characterized by perception that appears to differ from physical reality. Illusory perception persists even though the sufferers are aware of the physical properties of what they are observing. Thus, studying visual illusions has led to an improved understanding of the neural mechanism underlying visual information processing. Visual illusions are important tools in neuroscience. Some brightness illusions, such as the Hermann grid illusion or Chevreul illusion, can be explained by the function of the center-surround antagonistic receptive field of retinal ganglion cells. Additionally, color aftereffects were found to be produced in the retina. In addition, neurons in the primary visual cortex are responsible for the orientation-contingent color aftereffect, known as the McCollough effect. ISI reversal, a visual motion illusion, is known to be caused by a biphasic temporal mechanism located in the retinal or lower visual areas. Higher visual areas are responsible for the production of visual illusions such as the Ponzo illusion, size constancy illusion, or tabletop illusion. These illusions are perceived through the process of achieving size constancy from a two-dimensional retinal image. Thus, both low-level and high-level vision are involved in the perception of visual illusions.

An optical illusion represents a perception that deviates from the actual visual information of the visualized scene and is considered to be generated by an error in visual processing in the brain. The mechanisms by which optical illusions are generated have attracted the interest of scientists for many years. In this review, I focus on a vertebrate model, the zebrafish, and discuss how research using zebrafish has uncovered the mechanisms underlying optical illusions, and how optical illusions serve as a tool to help us understand how normal visual processing works in the brain.

Although context can be presumed to exert effects on both language and visual information processing, the relevant brain regions have not been elucidated. In the present study, we used silent manga to focus on mental states induced by visual stimuli alone. When participants read manga on a double-page spread with preserved context, significant activation was observed in the bilateral visual cortex and cerebellum. Moreover, the activated region corresponded to lesions associated with hemispatial neglect, when this condition was directly compared with a single-page presentation that impaired context. These results indicate that higher-order visual information processing is enhanced by context.

Animals can make appropriate decisions based on sensory information about the environment. Vision is one of the most critical ability for survival in dynamic situations in nature, particularly for mammalian species, such as primates, carnivores, and rodents. Although there is a huge computational cost involved in processing visual information, the brain can perform this task very rapidly using well-organized parallel and hierarchical neural circuits, enabling animals to rapidly sense the environment and, in turn, perform adaptive actions. Physiological, psychophysical, and clinical studies over hundreds of years have delineated the neural circuit mechanisms of the visual system. Artificial intelligence and robotics have also started making progress in this area. However, due to technical limitations, there are still many open questions that elude explanation in understanding the neural mechanism of visuomotor integration. Herein, we initially describe the anatomical structures of occipital cortices related to vision and then provide an overview of the physiological and clinical studies of the dorsal visual pathway related to spatial perception and prediction in non-human primate species. Finally, we introduce recent approaches in which rodents have been used as model species to elucidate the neural circuit mechanism of visually-guided behavior. Uncovering neural implementation of the association between visual-spatial perception and visuomotor function could provide key insights into the engineering of highly active robots and could also contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies addressing visual impairment and psychiatric/neurological disorders.

[Background] Supranuclear extraorbital muscle palsy is the core feature of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and ordinarily presents as spontaneous vertical gaze constriction. However, higher visual function associated with visuospatial cognition in PSP patients was not previously considered. [Case presentation] We present a 72-year old right-handed man with PSP- Richardson syndrome (PSP-RS) and abnormal higher visual function. His symptoms began 2 years previously and included the use of small steps while walking, forgetfulness, and postural instability. Neurological examination revealed supranuclear vertical gaze limitation, akinesia, and lead-pipe rigidity without laterality. Neuro-ophthalmological examination showed abnormal ocular movement consistent with PSP, and no visual abnormality was observed. General cognitive functions, including attention and prominent visuospatial orientation and visual attention disturbances, were assessed using neuropsychological tests and concomitant spatial agraphia and impaired configuration using figure copying. Although he presented with mildly decreased and monotonous speech with palilalia, he showed no apparent aphasia, apraxia, visual object agnosia, or Bálint's 'optische Ataxie' i.e. visual ataxia under fixation. Brain MRI revealed atrophy of the mesencephalic tegmentum, bilateral frontal lobe, and bilateral hippocampus. N-isopropyl-p-(iodine-123)-iodoamphetamine single photon emission computed tomography revealed decreased cerebral blood flow in the bilateral frontal lobe, lateral temporal lobe, and basal ganglia. Dopamine transporter single photon emission CT revealed uptake attenuation in the bilateral striatum. 123 I-metaiodobenzyl-guanidine myocardium scintigraphy results were normal. [Discussion] The patient's symptoms indicated classical PSP-RS accompanied with a combination of disturbances in spatial orientation and visual attention as noted by Holmes and Horrax and 'ataxie optique' by Garcin. Thus, as observed in this patient, many clinically diagnosed PSP patients with undiagnosed higher visual dysfunction, masked by limited eye movement may exist. These symptoms may further our understanding about posterior cortical atrophy and tauopathy including not only PSP but also corticobasal syndrome and Alzheimer disease.

A visual hallucination (VH) is "the perception of an external visual stimulus where none exists". It frequently occurs in Lewy body disease (LBD): Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. Although the exact pathogenesis of VH in patients with LBD is not clearly understood, many neuroimaging studies (structure MRI: brain volume, functional MRI, positron emission tomography, and single photon emission computerized tomography) have reported reduced gray matter volume, altered activation, and reduced metabolism in the dorsal and ventral visual pathways. The results obtained from the neuroimaging studies suggest the presence of aberrant visual information processing.

Time information is processed and perceived consciously and unconsciously in our daily life. Since time information is based on multiple inputs from multiple sensory modalities, its processing involves various brain regions. In this study, we investigated the role of the corpus callosum in time perception of task-relevant visual stimuli, with inhibition of the task-irrelevant stimuli, in an individual with agenesis of the corpus callosum.

This article reviews studies on feature integration in visual working memory, which is critical for various cognitive activities using visual information. Studies involving change detection and multiple object tracking tasks reported that feature-integrated object representations are successfully maintained, and that the parietal cortex plays a major role. Subsequent studies that involved explicit tasks on feature combination, such as feature swap detection and multiple object permanence tracking, revealed the role of the prefrontal cortex, but it remains equivocal whether visual working memory holds feature-integrated object representations. In addition, recent studies using an implicit-association test measure, the redundant feature reviewing task, combining object reviewing and redundancy gain paradigms, provided evidence on feature-integrated object representations in visual working memory. Electroencephalography data analysis showed prefrontal activities reflecting the integration of the color and shape of an object, which is consistent with the result of studies measuring explicit tasks. Altogether, these findings are consistent with a recently proposed "feature confirmation" model, claiming that object features can be integrated in bottom-up visual processing and the limitation in feature binding occurs in the top-down mechanism which confirms the presence of features and their combination.

Among phenomena involving the subjective present, duration perception is especially worth discussing from the viewpoints of psychophysics, cognitive neuroscience, and computational modeling of underlying mechanisms. First, several situations in which moving visual stimuli appear to last longer are reported. Second, the phenomenon of illusory time compression, which occurs in a moving stimulus after prolonged observation of another stimulus moving at a faster speed, is described. Third, how an attended visual stimulus appears to last longer and how a stimulus appears to last for a shorter duration when attention is directed away are explained. Finally, possible underlying mechanisms in relation to the stages of hierarchical visual information processing are discussed.

Associative learning is an essential neural phenomenon where the contingency of different items increases after training. Although associative learning has been found to occur in many brain regions, there is no clear evidence that associative learning of visual features occurs in early visual areas. Here, we developed an associative decoded functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback (A-DecNef) to determine whether associative learning of color and orientation can be induced in early visual areas. During the three days' training, A-DecNef induced fMRI signal patterns that corresponded to a specific target color (red) mostly in early visual areas while a vertical achromatic grating was simultaneously, physically presented to participants. Consequently, participants' perception of "red" was significantly more frequently than that of "green" in an achromatic vertical grating. This effect was also observed 3 to 5 months after training. These results suggest that long-term associative learning of two different visual features such as color and orientation, was induced most likely in early visual areas. This newly extended technique that induces associative learning may be used as an important tool for understanding and modifying brain function, since associations are fundamental and ubiquitous with respect to brain function.