perception

A simple repeating sound can be heard as one stream or two. We asked whether sensory processing sensitivity, a trait linked to subtle sensory awareness, is associated with how auditory percepts switch and stabilize over time.

From airport security to verifying a driver's licence, matching an unfamiliar face to a photograph is something people do every day. Yet despite its widespread use, people often get it wrong - especially when comparing a person's current appearance with a photo that may be years old.

Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are altered states sometimes accompanied by reports of veridical perception—accurate information seemingly obtained from a vantage point outside the body and ostensibly without conventional sensory input. While case collections and early laboratory studies suggest this possibility, replication under conventional laboratory protocols has been challenging. This articl…

For many people, coffee is an essential part of daily life. Some start the day with a strong cup to wake up, while others enjoy coffee throughout the afternoon or even in the evening. Yet for decades, one question has sparked debate among coffee drinkers and scientists alike: does coffee interfere with sleep? The answer […] The post Evening Coffee May Change Brain’s Sleep More Than You Realize ap…

A recent study found that the human brain applies different standards of beauty depending on the type of visual art it evaluates. Architects and painters weigh visual features like symmetry and complexity quite differently.

Is my brain wired to never see a ghost? A psychologist on three factors that make a paranormal experience more likely

This paper examines the psychological structure of love, attachment, heartbreak, projection, and consciousness. It argues that emotional suffering in relationships does not arise merely from separation itself, but from the collapse of psychological continuity constructed through thought, memory, imagination, expectation, and egoic identification. The paper proposes that attachment is not identica…

How can we perceive objects as moving based on auditory information? This information is often not continuous, such as when objects are temporarily masked by other, louder objects. To perceive these auditory objects as moving along a continuous path, rather than as one object disappearing and another one reappearing, we need to establish correspondence between the correct object instances, result…

This paper rejects the mainstream reductionist neuroscientific paradigm that explains human consciousness solely through the quantitative complexity of neural networks. Instead, it proposes a holistic framework termed "Mental Relativity." We argue that billions of independent electrochemical signals from disparate brain lobes superimpose upon the screen of awareness, creating a global information…

When you view a photograph of someone holding another photograph, you subconsciously judge the person in the nested image as possessing less of a mind. A recent study reveals just how remarkably stubborn this visual bias really is.

Speech sensorimotor adaptation is typically partial, varies across individuals, and often saturates under large auditory perturbations. While sensory and phonological factors have been proposed to explain this variability, the role of motor effort and its influence on the compensatory response remain largely unexplored. Our study examined whether the physical effort involved in producing compensa…

IntroductionWe present novel evidence that humans are capable of producing, perceiving, and cortically processing ultrasound (US), extending the recognized limits of human auditory function. This previously unacknowledged sensory ability was identified in an expert practitioner of the traditional Chinese health exercise “The Six Healing Sounds.Methods and resultsHigh-resolution recordings demonst…

Ageism is an important topic right now, but are older adults who do not act their age seen positively or negatively? A new study investigated.

In Consciousness: a comprehensive reference, 2nd edition. Elsevier. pp. 1-14. forthcomingThis article surveys research on the phenomena of change blindness and inattentional blindness, two striking forms of perceptual failure caused by the diversion of visual attention. It outlines the extent to which these failures can occur and their implications, both in the lab and in everyday life. It also o…

When evaluating body size, people focus heavily on specific lower-body features rather than viewing the whole person. A new study reveals that perceiving weight relies on the simultaneous integration of multiple details around the thighs and hips.

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. View all posts by Dr Jeremy Dean