Is it true that everything corresponds to the glass you look at it with? It seems so, but the “crystal” can be something unexpected. For example our values and emotions. The brain relies on them to “see” one way or another. Apparently, our emotions affect our visual perception a lot more than it seems. This was discovered at Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University (MSUPE).
Brain solutions
The results will be published in the journal NeuroImage. How does the visual perception process work? The information gathered by the recipients is not enough to understand exactly what it is about. That is why the brain automatically solves many problems. For example: the restoration of the three-dimensional shape of a real object by projection onto the two-dimensional surface of the retina of the eye.
Such problems have an infinite number of possible solutions. Therefore, in order to solve them correctly, the brain uses the information previously collected. Scientists say that vision is also based on the values or emotions associated with a visual stimulus.
“We used images that were originally perceived as a series of meaningless points. However, after a preparatory procedure, they were perceived as a specific object. Comparison of the reactions of the brain: the visual stimulus is assessed subjectively. The assessment criterion shows up quickly in order to promote the integration of space indicators, ”explains Vladimir Kozunov, MSUPE.
The signal picked up by the receptors was the same, but the observer’s brain had a different experience of their emotional appraisal. Under the influence of the assessment experience, the samples presented to the test subjects were perceived as already defined objects.
Complete the picture
“Areas of the brain’s value system reorganize their neural activity in the 210 to 230 ms range after receiving a visual stimulus. Associations of the value system appear with the visual cortex. The value structure supplies the visual cortex with information. And it enables us to solve the opposite problem of perception, ”explains Vladimir Kozunov.
Studying the functional organization of perception can be useful in medicine. It could improve understanding of neurological and mental illness. Or increase the capacities of the human organism in the foreseeable future.
Okay, our emotions affect our visual perception. The science team plans to continue conducting trials to expand their scope. In particular, examine the influence of the values produced by the previous stimuli on visual perception.
And you, with which eyes do you see the world?
