New paper from Dr. Tianjiao Zhang accepted in eNeuro: comparing semantic representations during passive movie watching to those measured during naturalistic navigation. Attention in different task contexts alters semantic representations to optimize task performance. gallantlab.org

#eNeuro | Scene Perception–Memory Pairing Extends to the Superior Parietal Cortex https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0155-26.2026

Scene Perception–Memory Pairing Extends to the Superior Parietal Cortex

Visual scene analysis relies on a set of scene-selective regions in the posterior cerebral cortex (OPA, PPA, MPA), with a paired memory-responsive counterpart located in the anterior (LPMA, VPMA) or overlapping (MPMA) cortex. The interaction between these pairs of regions is thought to integrate visual input with mnemonic context. Recently, a fourth scene perception area in the superior parietal cortex (the superior place area, SPA) was identified, with a proposed role in visually guided navigation. Whether this region also has an anterior paired memory region is currently unknown. Across two independent fMRI datasets (total N  = 24, 14 females) using static or dynamic stimuli and distinct memory tasks, we show that recalling visual scenes evokes robust responses in a region immediately anterior and dorsal to SPA (referred to here as the superior place memory area, SPMA). During resting-state fMRI, SPA preferentially coupled with the other scene perception areas, while SPMA preferentially coupled with the other place memory areas. At the whole-brain level, seed-based connectivity revealed that SPA sits at the confluence of four processing streams spanning regions implicated in egocentric scene perception, map-based navigation, perspective taking, and goal-directed movement. These findings extend the perception–memory motif associated with visual scene processing to a fourth cortical surface. The widespread anatomical coupling between scene perception and memory processes reflects the importance of this interaction for flexible, context-grounded navigation.

doi.org

Nottingham staff will strike on 30 September and 1 October as University Council meets to decide the future of jobs and courses. Further strike action will run from 5 October to 11 December. Management can still stop this: rule out compulsory redundancies and protect teaching and research.

University of Nottingham Staff to Strike as Council Decides Future of Jobs

Staff at the University of Nottingham will strike on 30th September and 1st October, as the University's governing Council meets to decide the final Future Nottingham Phase 2 (FN2) restructuring plans...

uonucu.org

Many of you will have seen the recent post about changes at OSF. If you'd like to learn more about how to use other services (particularly Zenodo) to share data and code, see my book chapter on resource sharing. bettercode-book.org/book-sharing...

New paper! We found basic scene selectivity arises across the scene network early in infancy (i.e., by ~3.5 months old), prior to independent navigation experience www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The cortical scene processing network emerges in infancy, prior to independent navigation experience | PNAS

Sighted people rely on vision to recognize and navigate the local environment. By adulthood, human cortex contains at least three regions that resp...

pnas.org

👁️🧠🧪 Vision takes time. But how does visual information flow through the human brain? Our new PLOS Computational Biology paper uses population receptive field (pRF) modelling to bring the spatial precision of fMRI to MEG, revealing the temporal dynamics of visual areas. 📖 doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Non-invasive mapping of the temporal processing hierarchy in the human visual cortex

Author summary Vision doesn’t happen instantaneously, but unfolds over time. While we understand a lot about how the brain processes visual space, understanding how the brain processes information ove...

doi.org

#JNeurosci: Using a data-driven analysis of fMRI responses to natural images, @levandyck.bsky.social @martinhebart.bsky.social & @kathadobs.bsky.social identified interpretable dimensions that explain activity in face-, body-, & scene-selective areas https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0038-26.2026

🚨 New publication in collab with Shayna Rosenbaum's lab: "Aphantasia is associated with spatial memory and navigation difficulties in complex virtual environments" Our test SeaHeroQuest shows a correlation between nav performance and mental imagery (VVIQ) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Now out in Nature Neuroscience: "Fixation duration on natural scenes is explained by memory encoding not processing demand". www.nature.com/articles/s41... Our eyes don't linger because recognition is hard; they linger to remember. Let me take you on a quick tour. 🧵

Fixation duration on natural scenes is explained by memory encoding not processing demand - Nature Neuroscience

By combining magnetoencephalography and eye tracking, this study sheds light on why people fixate on some parts of natural scenes longer than others. Rather than visual complexity, fixation durations ...

nature.com

New paper out in NeuroImage, w/ @ra-neuro.bsky.social & Tim Andrews @yorkpsychology.bsky.social Statistically efficient neural encoding of natural object variability shapes the temporal dynamics of visual processing Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Code: osf.io/6w5ef

Statistically efficient neural encoding of natural object variability shapes the temporal dynamics of visual processing

Object perception unfolds dynamically over millisecond timescales, yet the organisational principles that shape the emerging neural responses are not …

sciencedirect.com

Finally, today is the day: Josefine Zerbe will present and release our new multi-echo 7T fMRI dataset LAION-fMRI during #VSS2026, with >30 fMRI session per subject and unprecedented stimulus diversity. Come to Talk Room 1 (Scene perception) today at 5:15. Details will follow in a separate thread!

"The study provides a unique insight into how the human brain separates the simple act of seeing a face from the emotional spark of recognition" Case report co-authored by researchers @yorkpsychology.bsky.social incl @dmwatson.bsky.social, published open access in Cortex doi.org/10.1016/j.co... 🔓 📄

Double take: Scientists solve the mystery of “hyperfamiliar” faces

Imagine walking down the high street and feeling a powerful spark of recognition for almost every person you pass.

york.ac.uk

Join us in wishing a massive happy 100th birthday to the man who has inspired millions of people around the world to care about nature and look after our planet - the incredible Sir David Attenborough! 🎉

My paper with @mikearcaro.bsky.social exploring the organization of the visual system in newborn infants is now out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social !

Neuron@cp-neuron.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I'm in @theobserveruk.bsky.social today looking at why so many unis are in financial trouble and what the government needs to do to save HE. observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Why saving universities is far more than academic

Modern Britain needs young people with degrees – here’s how to make sure they still have somewhere to study them

observer.co.uk

***4-year Career Development Research Fellowship in Psychology now available at Oxford!*** Open to all areas of Psychology, including Cognitive/Behavioural Neuroscience. PhD in last three years, or be about to submit (some exceptions apply). Deadline: 21st May. www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/vac...

Career Development Research Fellowship

Career Development Research Fellowship in Psychology for full-time research offered by St John’s College to early career researchers who have recently completed or are close to completion of a doctora...

sjc.ox.ac.uk

📣 Job alert: We are recruiting a Prof in Neuroscience with MRI expertise to join us at @unirdg-cinn.bsky.social and @unirdg-psych.bsky.social. See tinyurl.com/2kdjph8v for details. Contact me for info/chat. Please spread the word #neuroskyence #neurojobs

Professor of Neuroscience at University of Reading

Apply for the Professor of Neuroscience role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

tinyurl.com

Optical Bench Equipment. A stash of old optical bench equipment has turned up in a cupboard at the Exeter psychology department. If it could possibly be of use to you, please contact Stephen Lea (s.e.g.lea@exeter.ac.uk) or Agnieszka Kaczmar (a.kaczmar2@exeter.ac.uk).

New review from our group out in Nature Reviews Psychology: Determinants of individual navigation ability with my excellent co-author: @emre-yavuz-21.bsky.social

Nature Reviews Psychology@natrevpsychol.nature.com · 7mo ago

Determinants of individual navigation ability Review by Emre Yavuz & Hugo J. Spiers go.nature.com/4sHHH3A

New paper in Neuropsychologia 🎉 Patterns of functional connectivity differentiate individuals and individual regions in face and scene selective networks With @kiranoad.bsky.social @bartholomewquinn.bsky.social & Tim Andrews, @yorkpsychology.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/a/1mhTF_fKKq...

A thesis student is looking at parasocial attachment to generative AI in undergraduate and postgraduate students. The questionnaire will take about 10 minutes. Please pass the study link on to anyone who might be interested. exp.psy.gla.ac.uk/project?para...

Excited that this work with @serences.bsky.social and @timbrady.bsky.social is now out! Our Gabor-wavelet model better predicted voxel responses in scene regions than 3D models. Does this mean that scene areas aren’t “for” processing 3D scene structure? NO, we argue. 1/ dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

A 2D Gabor-wavelet baseline model out-performs a 3D surface model in scene-responsive cortex

Author summary To gain a more complete picture of human visual processing, it is critical to understand the precise format of representations of naturalistic visual scenes. Recent work has approached ...

dx.plos.org

Cold you say? The River Foss next to the Hall is frozen!

#JNeurosci: Using fMRI, Han and Epstein explored how people integrate different kinds of views to form mental maps of places, revealing two sets of brain regions involved in integrating views of landmarks into existing mental maps of a virtual city. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0187-25.2025

Energy efficiency drives evolution, and humans may have evolved pleasure-based signals to optimize actions. Does this extend to aesthetic pleasure? Yes! Strong evidence in silico and humans, out in PNAS Nexus: tinyurl.com/3kbu8xw4 With Yikai Tang and Wil Cunningham. @uoftpsychology.bsky.social

What makes visual stimuli memorable? Wilma Bainbridge, @keisukefukuda.bsky.social, Lore Goetschalckx, and I investigate the role of processing fluency for memorability in a new review paper in Nature Reviews Psychology. Check it out! rdcu.be/eSyjz

Memorability of visual stimuli and the role of processing efficiency

Nature Reviews Psychology - Certain items are better remembered than others across individuals, a property known as memorability. In this Review, Bainbridge and colleagues detail memorability...

rdcu.be

Investigating individual-specific topographic organization has traditionally been a resource-intensive and time-consuming process. But what if we could map visual cortex organization in thousands of brains? Here we offer the community with a toolbox that can do just that! tinyurl.com/deepretinotopy

Still think this was one of the best power moves of all time www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

#JNeurosci: Lu et al. show that two brain regions—retrosplenial complex and superior parietal lobe—represent facing direction when people perform a naturalistic navigation task in a virtual-reality city. @russellepstein.bsky.social @gkaguirre.com @zhenganglu.bsky.social vist.ly/4chuk