Bringing the Real-World into Cognitive Neuroscience: From Images to Real Objects

 描述(申请人提供)：我们对人类视觉认知的理解几乎完全基于对基于图像的刺激的研究。人类的视觉系统已经进化到能够感知真实物体并与之互动，然而对于真实世界复杂物体的行为和基于大脑的反应，或者这些与相对贫乏的图像显示有何不同，人们几乎一无所知。这项研究的长期目标是阐明参与真实物体感知的一整套潜在机制。这项研究将为这一领域涉及的心理和神经系统提供前所未有的洞察力和全面的科学理解。这个应用程序的目标是了解与图像相比，真实世界的刺激如何以及为什么影响认知、行为和神经反应。中心假设是，真实物体的处理和表征与图像不同，因为它们与真正的目标导向行动相关，而且参与行动的神经系统也被招募来为感知和认知服务。中心假设是根据申请者提供的初步行为、神经心理学和功能磁共振数据制定的。这项研究的基本原理是，研究与日常生活中遇到的对象的特征相匹配的更丰富的刺激将从根本上提高我们对认知的理解，从而将科学知识的概化和翻译价值扩展到现实世界的环境和环境中。核心假设将通过追求三个具体目标来检验：(1)确定真实物体和图像的感知和识别过程有何不同；(2)确定真实物体和图像的记忆过程有何不同；以及(3)确定真实物体和图像的视觉探索和注意力有何不同。这些基本过程将在健康观察者和有知觉缺陷的神经心理学患者中使用行为和/或功能磁共振研究进行检查。这些研究涉及真实大小的物体，具有自然的表面纹理、顺应性和重量。这些物体离观察者有一定的大小、距离和位置，最重要的是，它们提供了真正的动作，如抓取和操纵。这些研究使用了新颖和创新的实验设备、程序和范例，旨在在受控的观看条件下，在实验室和功能磁共振扫描仪中快速连续呈现大量真实对象。总之，这些刺激和技术将作为研究人员和临床医生探索真实对象对行为和神经编码的影响的基准。这项拟议的研究的贡献在于，它将充分阐明参与现实世界认知的潜在过程和机制，并将把目前专注于图像的研究范式转变为更生态有效的刺激。这一贡献意义重大，因为它将第一次揭示知觉-运动系统的综合工作如何从根本上塑造视觉认知，为什么应该用真正的可抓住的刺激来研究这些系统，以及它们的联合活动如何影响和提高性能。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our understanding of human visual cognition is based almost exclusively on studies of image-based stimuli. The human visual system has evolved to perceive and interact with real objects, yet almost nothing is known about behavioral and brain-based responses to real-world complex objects, or how these differ from comparatively impoverished image displays. The long-term goal of this research is to elucidate the full set of underlying mechanisms that are engaged in real object perception. The research will provide unprecedented insight into, and comprehensive scientific understanding of, psychological and neural systems implicated in this domain. The objective of this application is to understand how and why real-world stimuli, compared with images, influence cognition, behavior, and neural responses. The central hypothesis is that real objects are processed and represented differently to images because they are relevant for genuine goal-directed action, and neural systems that are engaged in action are also recruited in the service of perception and cognition. The central hypothesis is formulated on the basis of preliminary behavioral, neuropsychological, and fMRI data produced by the applicants. The rationale for the research is that studying richer stimuli that match the characteristics of objects that are encountered in everyday life will fundamentally improve our understanding of cognition, and, thereby, expand the generalizability and translational value of scientific knowledge to real-world environments and settings. The central hypothesis will be tested by pursuing three specific aims: (1) Determine how perception and recognition processes differ for real objects vs. images; (2) Determine how memory processes differ for real objects vs. images; and (3) Determine how visual exploration and attention differ for real objects vs. images. These fundamental processes will be examined using behavioral and/or fMRI studies in healthy observers and neuropsychological patients with perceptual deficits. The studies involve real life-sized objects with natural surface texture, compliance, and weight. The objects have a definite size, distance, and location from the observer, and most importantly, they afford genuine actions such as grasping and manipulation. The studies employ novel and innovative experimental devices, procedures, and paradigms, designed for presenting large numbers of real objects in rapid succession in the laboratory and the fMRI scanner, under controlled viewing conditions. Together, these stimuli and techniques will serve as benchmarks for researchers and clinicians exploring real-object effects on behavior and neural coding. The contribution of the proposed research is that it will elucidate fully the underlying processes and mechanisms that are engaged in real-world cognition, and will shift current research paradigms that focus on images to more ecologically valid stimuli. This contribution is significant because it will reveal, for th first time, how the integrated workings of the perceptuo-motor system fundamentally shape visual cognition, why these systems should be studied with real graspable stimuli, and how their joint activity influences and improves performance.