Scientists Discover Traveling Brain Waves That Help Detect Hard-To-See Objects
Imagine this: You're late for work, and you're desperately looking for your car keys. You've looked all over your place but cannot seem to find them anywhere. Then suddenly, you realize they've been sitting in front of you the whole time. Why didn't you see the keys until now?
A team of scientists at Salk Institute led by Professor John Reynolds recently revealed details of the "neural mechanisms underlying the perception objects."
Specifically, researchers found that the "traveling brain waves," patterns of neural signal, exist in the awake brain's visual system and are organized to enable the brain to see objects that are pale, faded, or otherwise difficult to see.
In the said findings, which Nature published on October 7, 2020, scientists discovered that hard-to-see objects are more likely to be seen if their visualization is "timed with the traveling brain waves."
According to Reynolds, "The waves actually facilitate perceptual sensitivity," thus, the professor continued, there are moments in time when one can see objects that he otherwise could not.
Also, the study's senior author and holder of the Fiona and Sanjay Jha Chair in Neuroscience said it turns out that the said traveling brain waves are a process of information-gathering that leads to the perception of an object.
Researchers recently found that the ‘traveling brain waves,’ patterns of neural signal, exist in the awake brain’s visual system and are organized to enable the brain to see objects that are pale, faded, or otherwise difficult to see.
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The 'Traveling Brain Waves'
Researchers have investigated traveling brain waves during anesthesia, although they terminated the waves "as an artifact of anesthesia."
Nonetheless, Reynolds's team wondered if such waves exist in the brain's visual part while it is awake. More so, the team wanted to know too, if the waves have something to do with perception.
As indicated in the study, the scientists combined recordings "in the visual context with cutting-edge computational schemes" that allowed them to identify and track traveling brain waves.
According to Lyle Muller, co-first author of the study and BrainsCAN-funded assistant professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and the Brain and Mind Institute at the Western University in Ontario, Canada, "In order to understand the neural mechanism perception," there is a need to develop new computational tactics to track neuronal activity in the visual cortex moment by moment.
Muller, formerly a postdoctoral fellow in the Sejnowski lab at Salk, added that they used the said computational approach to unveil what change was taking place in the nervous system to enable recognition of objects abruptly.
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Research Finding
The research team recorded the neurons' activity from a brain's area containing "a complete map of the visual world."
Then, they tracked the traveling brain waves' trajectories during a task for visual perception. Furthermore, the study authors held an onscreen target at the beginning of visibility.
As a result, observers could only detect the object half of the time and record when the object was clearly spotted.
Since the target remained unchanged, the scientists explained that the observer's ability to see the object only 50 percent of the time had to be because of a change in the neural indicators inside the brain.
Researchers found that the brain's ability to identify targets was directly related to the time and location where the traveling brain waves took place in the visual system. More so, the study found, "When the traveling waves aligned with the stimulus," the target could be more easily detected by the observer.
According to Terrence Sejnowski, a Salk professor and author of the paper, there is no spontaneous activity level in the brain that seems to be controlled by the traveling waves.
This professor, also a holder of the Francis Crick Chair added, they think the waves are the "product of the activity spreading around the brain, driven by local neurons firing.
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Oct 07, 2020 11:12 PM EDT
