Study: Color plays role in perception

Apr 19, 2006

U.S. scientists have discovered a neural circuit they say is likely to play an important role in the visual perception of moving objects.

The finding, say researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., forces neurobiologists to rethink the neural pathways our brain relies on to detect motion.

It has long been assumed sensory information about color and fine detail is relatively unimportant for perceiving moving objects -- mainly because the neural pathways in the brain carrying color and fine detail information seemed to be completely separate from areas of the brain previously associated with motion processing.

But now, Salk researchers show a neural pathway carrying color and fine detail most likely helps the brain detect moving objects.

"There are many different kinds of cues in the visual environment that can be used to detect motion -- basically anything that is moving," says Neurobiology Professor Edward Callaway, senior author of the study. "We asked the question, 'Is motion processing taking advantage of the full range of possible cues?'"

He said the study demonstrates for the first time that it is.

The research appears in the journal Nature.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Explore further: You clap, so I clap: Peer pressure drives applause

add to favorites email to friend print save as pdf

Related Stories

A robot that runs like a cat (w/ Video)

16 hours ago

Thanks to its legs, whose design faithfully reproduces feline morphology, EPFL's 4-legged 'cheetah-cub robot' has the same advantages as its model: It is small, light and fast.

Apple exec challenges e-book conspiracy

1 hour ago

A top Apple executive downplayed the theory of an e-book price-fixing conspiracy at an antitrust trial Monday, saying publishers were already moving away from Amazon's model when Apple launched its iPad.

Recommended for you

The broken symphony of swinging metronomes

1 minute ago

An experiment with 30 metronomes reveals chimera states which combine aspects of synchrony and of disorder. Researchers had been looking for such states for ten years.

Wooden beam could be detached part of shipwreck

11 minutes ago

A wooden beam that has long been the focus of the search for a 17th century shipwreck in northern Lake Michigan was not attached to a buried vessel as searchers had suspected, but still may have come from the elusive Griffin ...

Prehistoric rock art maps cosmological belief

7 hours ago

It is likely some of the most widespread and oldest art in the United States. Pieces of rock art dot the Appalachian Mountains, and research by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, anthropology professor Jan ...

'Ugly' finding: Unattractive workers suffer more

9 hours ago

People who are considered unattractive are more likely to be belittled and bullied in the workplace, according to a first-of-its-kind study led by a Michigan State University business scholar.

Taking stock of technology

10 hours ago

At the recent Harvard IT Summit, Anne Margulies, vice president and University chief information officer, mentioned how Harvard had been at the forefront of information technology since its inception, even to the point of ...

User comments : 0

More news stories

Prehistoric rock art maps cosmological belief

It is likely some of the most widespread and oldest art in the United States. Pieces of rock art dot the Appalachian Mountains, and research by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, anthropology professor Jan ...

'Ugly' finding: Unattractive workers suffer more

People who are considered unattractive are more likely to be belittled and bullied in the workplace, according to a first-of-its-kind study led by a Michigan State University business scholar.

Gay marriage ruling unlikely to cause anti-gay backlash

Concerns that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling favorable to gay marriage might produce a backlash that would impede efforts to achieve equality are unfounded, according to a study by researchers at University of California campuses ...

LA to give every student an iPad; $30M order

Los Angeles' school system, the second largest in the United States, is ordering iPads for all its students, handing Apple a major success in its quest to make the tablet computer a replacement for textbooks.