A study of monkeys and humans has discovered the same division of neurons that encodes illusory and actual complex flow motion. This result supports, at the point of single neurons, what Jan Purkinje—the Czech researcher—presumed 150 Years ago, “Illusions include visual truth.” The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Reportedly, there is a static image that is known as Pinna-Brelstaff image of rings that seem to turn around clockwise as one move toward and counterclockwise as one shift away from the image. Previously, particular parts of the human brain that symbolize the Pinna illusion were identified. Junxiang Luo along with colleagues at the ION (Institute of Neuroscience) and CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences) first accepted that male rhesus macaques probably perceive the illusion likewise to people.
The scientists then traced activity from individual neurons in the earlier identified brain regions and found cells that hint the illusory motion correspondingly to actual motion. A setback of approximately 15 Milliseconds allows the brain to record the illusory motion as if it was genuine. This research provides new prospects into how the brain struggles with the repeated mismatch amid perception and reality.
On a similar note, recently, a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience reported that features of the brain in the musicians with AP (absolute pitch)—or perfect pitch—that probably allows individuals with this unique ability to specifically identify musical notes. Keith Schneider along with associates compared auditory cortex activity and structure of three clusters of 20 participants, counting AP musicians and non-AP musicians of same musical expertise, and the control or standard group of people with minimal musical teaching. However, it was found that the AP musicians had a considerably larger auditory cortex competent of signifying distinct tones without an orientation note.
