Communication is a central aspect of everyday life, a fact that is reflected in the wide variety of ways that people exchange information, not only with words, but also using their face and body. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, found out that we are able to recognize facial expressions in motion - for example in a movie - far better than in a static photograph. The video sequence needs to be at least as long as one tenth of a second to gain this dynamic advantage. (Journal of Vision, December 7th, 2009).
MPI für biologische Kybernetik
07. December 2009 How to read brain activity? For the very first time, scientists have shown what EEG can really tell us about brain functioning
The electroencephalogram (EEG) is widely used by physicians and scientists to study brain function and to diagnose neurological disorders. However, it has remained largely unknown whether the electrodes on the head give an exact view of what is happening inside the brain. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, have now found a crucial link between the activity generated within the brain to that measured with EEG. This finding will provide a better understanding of the waveforms measured with EEG, and thus potentially allow for a better diagnosis and subsequent treatment of patients. (Neuron, doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.08.16)
MPI für biologische Kybernetik
03. Dezember 2009 Flugtraining der besonderen Art Eine neue Generation von Flugsimulatoren soll den Luftverkehr sicherer machen
Zum Geschäftstermin ins Nachbarland oder zur Urlaubsreise in die Karibik: Was für viele Menschen selbstverständlich ist, stellt nicht nur die Logistik sondern vor allem die Piloten vor immer größere Herausforderungen. Die Flugzeugführer optimal auszubilden und auf Gefahrensituationen vorzubereiten, ist das Ziel des von der Europäischen Union mit 3,7 Millionen Euro geförderten SUPRA-Projekts. Wissenschaftler aus neun verschiedenen Institutionen und Industrieunternehmen wollen die Wahrnehmung von Piloten in extremen Situationen untersuchen, Flugsimulatoren verbessern und damit einen Beitrag zur Sicherheit im Luftverkehr leisten. Wissenschaftler vom Tübinger Max-Planck-Institut für biologische Kybernetik steuern die biologischen Grundlagen bei: Sie versuchen herauszufinden, warum die Piloten in Extremsituationen oft die Orientierung verlieren und wie Gleichgewichts- und Sehsinn zusammenarbeiten.
Tiny laser-scanning microscope images brain cells in freely moving animals
By building a tiny microscope small enough to be carried around on a rats head, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, have found a way to study the complex activity of many brain cells simultaneously while animals are free to move around. With this new technology scientists can actually see how the brain cells operate while the animal is behaving naturally, giving rise to immense new insights into the understanding of perception and attention.
(PNAS, Online Early Edition, November 2, 2009)
Scientists from Tübingen, Germany, show that people really walk in circles when lost
It is a common theme in many books and films: when people get lost in a desert or a jungle, they end up walking in circles. No matter how hard they try, at some point they will cross their own tracks and despair, because they realize that they will never make it back to civilization. Surprisingly enough, the belief that people walk in circles when lost is mainly based on anecdotal evidence and has never been studied systematically in a real desert or forest. (Current Biology, 2009, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.07.053)
MPI für biologische Kybernetik
July 21st,
2009, 8pm
Talk
by Christian Wallraven and Jürgen Wertheimer: The world within our heads
Dr.
Christian Wallraven, Physiker am Max-Planck-Institut für
biologische Kybernetik, und Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wertheimer,
Literaturwissenschaftler an der Universität Tübingen,
werden darüber diskutieren, welche Tücken die
Wahrnehmung für uns bereithält. Wie funktionieren
optische Illusionen? Wie können wir aus Gesichtern Emotionen
ablesen? Wieso können bestimmte literarische Texte
Gefühle in uns wecken, während uns andere
völlig kalt lassen? Die beiden Wissenschaftler werden
darüber sprechen, wie sich Geistes- und Lebenswissenschaftler
gerade im Feld der Wahrnehmungsforschung aneinander annähern
können. Im Anschluss an die Vorträge erfolgt eine Podiumsdiskussion. Sie wird von Ulrike Pfeil, Schwäbisches Tagblatt, moderiert.
20:00
Uhr, Kupferbau (Ecke Hölderlin-
/Gmelinstraße, Tübingen)
Der Eintritt ist frei.
Christoph
Kayser, der seit Anfang 2008 am Max-Planck-Institut
für biologische Kybernetik in Tübingen eine
Nachwuchsgruppe zum Thema 'Neuronale Grundlagen der Sinnesintegration'
leitet, wurde heute mit dem Attempto-Preis der Universität
Tübingen ausgezeichnet. Der mit je 7.500 Euro dotierte Preis
wird jedes Jahr an zwei Nachwuchswissenschaftler aus dem
Bereich der Neurowissenschaften für herausragende Arbeiten
über Hirnleistungen und deren Störungen vergeben. Die
Arbeiten müssen an der Universität Tübingen
oder an mit der Universität verbundenen Einrichtungen, wie den
Tübinger Max-Planck-Instituten, entstanden sein.
Detlef
Weigel and Nikos Logothetis have been elected to the American National
Academy of Sciences
Detlef Weigel, director of the
Department of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute for
Developmental Biology, and Nikos Logothetis, director of the Department
of Neurophysiology at the neighbouring Max Planck Institute for
Biological Cybernetics, have been elected to the US National Academy of
Sciences. The Academy announced this yesterday as part of their 146th
annual meeting in Washington DC. Membership of the American Academy of
Sciences is one of the highest honours for scientists in the USA and is
awarded for sustained outstanding research work. While Detlef Weigel,
as a US citizen, has been elected as an active member, Nikos Logothetis
receives the award as a foreign partner.
Scientists in
Tübingen have proven for the first time that
widely-distributed networks of nerves in the brain can fundamentally
reorganize as required. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological
Cybernetics in Tübingen have succeeded in demonstrating for
the first time that the activities of large parts of the brain can be
altered in the long term. The breakthrough was achieved
through the experimental stimulation of nerve cells in the hippocampus.
Using a combination of functional magnetic resonance tomography,
microstimulation and electrophysiology, the scientists were able to
trace how large populations of nerve cells in the forebrain reorganize.
This area of the brain is active when we remember something or orient
ourselves spatially. The insights gained here represent the first
experimental proof that large parts of the brain change when learning
processes take place. (Current Biology, March 10, 2009)
February
26th, 2009 Here`s
looking at you, fellow! Humans and monkeys are experts in face
recognition making them even more akin than previously thought.
Already Charles Darwin investigated facial expressions of monkeys in
order to find out how closely related humans and monkeys really are.
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics have
now shown that rhesus monkeys and humans employ the same strategies to
process faces of conspecifics: both species look first at the eyes of
conspecifics, whereas for non-conspecific faces they let their gaze
wander over the whole face. This means that for both species during
evolution the same perceptual mechanisms have developed in the brain.
It must have therefore been adventitious also for our next of kin to
process faces of conspecifics with a dedicated perceptual strategy.
(Current Biology, Feb 26th, 2009)
Cognitive and Computational Psychophysics Blockpraktikum (4 SWS)
Thursday, March 18 to Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Spemannstr. 38
Pre-meeting (compulsory): Thursday February 25, 2010, 4:00 pm
Max Planck Guesthouse, Spemannstr. 36
