{"534881":{"#nid":"534881","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Out of Mind, Out of Sight","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA sportscaster lunges forward and blurts out, \u201cInterception! Drew Brees threw the ball right into the opposing linebacker\u2019s hands! Like he didn\u2019t even see him!\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe quarterback likely actually did not see the defender standing right in front of him, said Dobromir Rahnev, a psychologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u0026nbsp; Rahnev leads a research team making new discoveries about how the brain organizes visual perception, including how it leaves things out even when they\u0027re plainly in sight.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahnev and researchers from the University of California, Berkeley have come up with a rough map of the frontal cortex\u2019s role in controlling vision. They published their findings on Monday, May 9, 2016 \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/early\/2016\/05\/04\/1522551113.full\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ein the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThinking cap\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe frontal cortex is often seen as our \u201cthinking cap,\u201d the part of the brain scientists associate with thinking and making decisions. But it\u2019s not commonly connected with vision. \u201cSome people believe that the frontal cortex is not involved,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/399\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ERahnev, an assistant professor at the School of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E. The new research adds to previous evidence that it is, he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe lack of association with that part of the brain may have to do with the fact it\u2019s other parts that transform information coming from the eyes into sight and others still that make sense of it by doing things like identifying objects in it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut the thinking cap of the brain controls and oversees this whole process, making it as essential to how we see as those other areas, Rahnev said. How that works also accounts for why we sometimes miss things right in front of us.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA camera it\u2019s not\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe feel that our vision is like a camera, but that is utterly wrong,\u201d Rahnev said.\u0026nbsp; \u201cOur brains aren\u2019t just seeing, they\u2019re actively constructing the visual scene and making decisions about it.\u201d\u0026nbsp; Sometimes the frontal cortex isn\u2019t expecting to see something, so although it\u2019s in plain sight, it blots it out of consciousness.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo test out the fontal cortex\u2019s involvement in vision, the researchers ran a two-part experiment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFirst, they observed which regions of the brain -- in particular the frontal cortex -- lit up with activity while healthy volunteers completed visual tasks corresponding to three basic stages of conscious visual perception.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESecond, they inhibited those same regions using magnetic stimulation to confirm their involvement in each visual stage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBelieving is part of seeing\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first stage of the visual perception the researchers tested for was selection, Rahnev said. That\u2019s when the brain picks out part of the vast array of available visual stimuli to actually pay attention to.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the case of the football quarterback, this might mean focusing on the route the receiver takes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe second stage is combination, he said. The brain merges the visual information it processed with other material. \u201cThe quarterback\u2019s brain is putting what he actually sees together with expectations based on the play he called,\u201d Rahnev said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThen comes evaluation. The quarterback needs to decide whether to release the ball given everything he has processed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExpecting a blocker to stop the defending player (which didn\u2019t happen), he may have blotted him out of perception and thrown the ball right at him. Interception.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe frontal cortex sends a signal to move your attention onto the object you select,\u201d Rahnev said. \u201cIt does some of the combining with other information, and then it\u2019s probably the primary evaluator of what you think you saw.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESimple vision brain map\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn experiments, during a functional MRI scan, different parts of the frontal cortex of the participants lit up, corresponding to each vision function.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe back of the frontal cortex activated during selection; its midsection lit up during combination, and the front, or anterior, part cranked up during evaluation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s how the researchers arrived at a kind of vision map of the frontal cortex. \u201cIt\u2019s a rudimentary map,\u201d Rahnev said. \u201cA very simple one that just says, \u2018This is the back. This in the middle. This is the front.\u2019\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe critical evidence\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe critical evidence for this map came from the use of magnetic stimulation. When the researchers used it to inhibit the back and middle of the frontal cortex separately, subjects became less able to complete the corresponding functions of selection and combination.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen they stimulated the front, the opposite happened. Subjects were slightly but significantly better able to evaluate the accuracy of what they think they saw.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is a really clear demonstration of the role that the frontal cortex, which is usually seen as the seat of thought, plays in controlling vision.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESorry, officer!\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd there is a practical takeaway for health and safety. Instead of the quarterback telling the coach, \u201cI swear I didn\u2019t see that coming,\u201d often it\u2019s motorists telling police officers the same thing after a car accident.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDistraction is often the culprit, because it overtaxes the organization of perception, Rahnev said. These three functions are going on all the time in multiple scenarios in our brains while they process the world around us.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut add too much to the pile, like texting behind the wheel, Rahnev said, and \u201cyou can run right into a parked car without ever seeing it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDerek Evan Nee, Justin Riddle, Alina Sue Larson and Mark D\u2019Esposito from the University of California, Berkeley, co-authored the research paper. The National Institutes of Health funded the research under grants MH63901 and NS79698.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"The frontal cortex of the brain controls vision, research indicates; it omits things in plain sight"}],"field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ever search desperately for something, then realize you were looking straight at it the whole time? Research indicates that vision is controlled by the part of the brain associated with thinking. And in sight, too, it can be absent minded."}],"uid":"31759","created_gmt":"2016-05-09 16:40:14","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:39","author":"Ben Brumfield","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-05-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-05-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"535051":{"id":"535051","type":"image","title":"FMRI brain image frontal cortex vision","body":null,"created":"1462910400","gmt_created":"2016-05-10 20:00:00","changed":"1475895319","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:19","alt":"FMRI brain image frontal cortex 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