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Even as simple a task as quenching thirst with a glass of water involves a sequence of perceptions and actions woven together by expectations and experience. What are the myriad links between perception and action, and what does cognition have to do with them? Intuitively we think that perception precedes action, but we also know that action moulds perception. The reciprocal links between perception and action are now accepted almost universally. The discovery of mirror neurons that encode observed actions has further emphasized the coupling of perception and action. The real aim of this research topic is to go beyond identifying the evidence for perception-action coupling, and study the cog...
Feature binding is the process whereby different features such as shape, colour, size, orientation, location, etc. are linked together to form a coherent representation of the object. It is a ubiquitous physiological sequence and an essential phase in information processing, for it provides the basis of mental representations, which in turn, are requisite for all cognitive functions. It is important to realize though, that binding is not an isolated process. There are myriad stimuli impinging on our senses at all times, vying to gain entry into our consciousness. Further, not only does sensory input emanate from a complex, dynamic environment, but it also enters a neural system that is alrea...
It is impossible to perceive the innumerable stimuli impinging on our senses, all at once. Out of the myriad stimuli, external and internal, a few are selected for further processing; and even among these, we try to put each in some sort of relation with the others, to be able to make some sense about them all. Time, of course, is an elementary dimension we use to organize our experiences. Thus, the perception of sequences is basic to human cognition. Nevertheless, research addressing sequences is rather sparse. Partly, this is due to difficulty in designing experiments in this area due to huge individual differences. Then, there is the assumption that temporal order has more to do with memo...
If we want to understand people’s responses to threats in social interactions we can distinguish between three levels of analysis: On a social level of analysis we can describe people’s interpersonal behavior, on a cognitive level we can identify corresponding information processing mechanisms, and on a neural level we can specify neural systems, which underlie these processes. In this Research Topic we want to present research connecting these three levels of analysis and propose their functional interconnection in social interaction. We propose that threats in social interactions activate basic motivational processes, which manifest in neural processes related to behavioral inhibition ...
Our Research Topic section entitled: "Nature and the environment: The psychology of its benefits and its protection" will have two main lines. The first line of articles will center upon cutting-edge research showing how interacting with nature, can affect health, well-being, and overall improve cognition and affect. Articles in this line will stress in what ways nature can improve psychological functioning and health and also discuss the theories and evidence as to why nature can improve psychological functioning. For this line, we welcome submission of articles that discuss the psychological, health and well-being benefits from interacting with nature as well as submissions that focus on t...
Attention has often been likened to spotlights and filters—devices that illuminate or screen out some inputs in favor of others. This largely passive conception of attention has been gradually replaced by a more dynamic and far-reaching process. We know that attentional processes augment neural processing at all levels, and in some cases, augmenting processing within the sense organs themselves. For example, cueing object features (e.g., instructing a subject to look at a screen for a red object) modulates prestimulus activity in the visual cortex. Far from being limited to space or basic features, such attention cueing can function in surprisingly flexible and complex ways: people can be ...
Powerful and economic sensors such as high definition cameras and corresponding recognition software have become readily available, e.g. for face and motion recognition. However, designing user interfaces for robots, phones and computers that facilitate a seamless, intuitive, and apparently effortless communication as between humans is still highly challenging. This has shifted the focus from developing ever faster and higher resolution sensors to interpreting available sensor data for understanding social signals and recognising users' intentions. Psychologists, Ethnologists, Linguists and Sociologists have investigated social behaviour in human-human interaction. But their findings are rar...
This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact.