Sensation & Perception Teaching

Before the first bite: Do olfactory expectations shape gastric feelings and functions? More than passive sensory inputs, odors exert proactive influences on homeostasis and cognition. Ciccarone et al. propose that olfactory signals act as predictive priors for gastric interoception, ref...

Olfaction & Gustation: Before the first bite: Do olfactory expectations shape gastric feelings and functions?
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

Now published in Perception (@pec-ipe.bsky.social)!

Schulz-Hildebrandt, H. (2026). When purple perceived only at fixation: A fixation- and distance-dependent color illusion. Perception, 0(0). doi.org/10.1177/0301...

Here's a striking visual illusion - the 9 purple dots.

Focus your eyes on the top left dot. That one is more purple than the others, right? Now try another dot... that one becomes the purple one! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41744429/

A horse's whinny is produced through the combination of two distinct vocalizations: a low frequency from the vocal folds and a higher whistle with aerodynamic origins! 🧪

www.cell.com/current-biol...

The strongest version of this illusion I’ve seen! Absolute head-wrecker!

Cover of the book The Unity of Perception by Susanna Schellenberg

📚 Now reading: Schellenberg, Susanna, (2018) The Unity of Perception.

Will be compiling some quotes and thoughts over time. Pin📍or bookmark this thread if you want to follow along.

(thx to @olivia.science for this reading recommendation 🙏 )

1/🧵 susannaschellenberg.org/book/

This is how we first teach chirality to our undergrads !

*Atlas of the Munsell Color System* (1915) Munsell envisioned his atlas as a system akin to musical notation, which would liberate visual description from commercially-driven colour names.

Archaeologists use Munsell books to describe soil colour all the time. I never thought to dig deeper into this colour system!
🧪 🏺

Vicarious body maps bridge vision and touch in the human brain - Nature A mode of brain organization that connects visual and bodily reference frames may translate raw sensory impressions into more abstract formats that are useful for action, social cognition and semantic...

How does the brain integrate visual and somatosensory representations? A recent @nature.com paper presents a model that, when applied to ongoing co-activations during rest, results in detailed maps of body-part tuning that aligns with visual tuning 🧪 Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Can You See Sound? This Plate Proves It YouTube video by Museum of Science

What does sound look like? 🎼🧪

When sound waves pass through a Chladni plate, they cause it to vibrate, shifting sand into mesmerizing patterns that reveal how sound travels.

Infographic titled “What makes skunk spray stink?” It explains that thiol compounds cause the odor. Earlier research misidentified 1-butanethiol, but two major thiols were later confirmed: (E)-2-butene-1-thiol (38–40% of volatiles) and 3-methyl-1-butanethiol (18–26%). It also notes the presence of thioacetates and quinolines. A central image shows a skunk. A section describes why the smell worsens with water: thioacetates convert to thiols when wet. Another section explains odor removal: tomato juice is ineffective; a mixture of 3% hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish detergent oxidizes thiols to odorless sulfonic acids. It also mentions pericosine A, a compound that forms odorless thioethers with thiols.

Why does skunk spray smell so bad, and what are some science-backed methods for removing the stench? The latest edition of #PeriodicGraphics in @cenmag.bsky.social takes a look: cen.acs.org/biological-c...

#ChemSky 🧪

From Stinky Cheese To Cat Pee, Author Takes A 'Nose Dive' Into The Science Of Smell Harold McGee talks about how our sense of smell affects taste, why things smell the way they do and the ways different chemicals combine to create surprising (and sometimes distasteful) odors.

Olfaction: A "Nose Dive" Into Smell
www.npr.org/sections/hea...

For your enjoyment (by @jagarikin)

Acne basics | Pathophysiology & Treatment | 3D Animation YouTube video by Dr. Paulien Moyaert

Somatosenses and the Skin: Acne basics
youtu.be/xbEqpYTkuXg

The Magic of Making Sound YouTube video by Great Big Story

Audition: Sound identification and the art of foley
youtu.be/UO3N_PRIgX0?...

Olfaction: Olfactory ensheathing cells (glia) are used as a therapy for spinal cord injuries
2018 Review: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
2023 Mini-review: doi.org/10.1002/jnr....

The Incredible Mechanics That Make You Hear YouTube video by Clockwork

Audition: Molecular Hearing
youtu.be/DBxJs5CXazA?...

Neural Membrane Simulator: Neuromembrane (Log in as Guest)
neuromembrane.ca

Anatomy: Anatomy Learning Resource
anatomylearning.com

Where the Light Touches Your Eyes｜Phototransduction and Rhodopsin YouTube video by Clockwork

Vision: High-quality animations of phototransduction
youtu.be/LexKZva0s4I?...

How Your Brain Conducts the Symphony of Speech A tiny brain blip during silent speech revealed the shocking truth: Your brain plans words by imagining sounds, not movements. This discovery revolutionized speech science.

How your brain conducts the symphony of speech. My latest post on @psychtoday.bsky.social , excerpted and adapted from my forthcoming book, Wired for Words @mitpress.bsky.social

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wire...

How the brain splits up vision without you even noticing As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new MIT study shows.

How the brain splits up vision without you even noticing
As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new MIT study shows.
picower.mit.edu/news/how-bra...
#neuroscience

My blue is your blue: different people’s brains process colours in the same way A machine-learning tool can predict what colour a person is looking at when trained on the brain activity of others.

Color Vision: Different People's Brains Process Colours in the Same Way
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Predictive coding in the human olfactory system The human olfactory system is unusual. It deviates from the classical structure and function of other sensory cortices, and many of its basic computat…

Olfaction: Predictive Coding in the Human Olfactory System
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New manuscript that uses layer-fMRI to investigate the brain mechanism of afterimages.
By @sharifkronemer et al.,
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

How Does Pain Work? Dr. Sanjay Gupta Explains : Fresh Air CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta's new book examines the world of pain — why we feel it, and how we can treat it. He says distraction and meditation can be useful tools for managing pa...

Nociception: How does pain work? An interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
www.npr.org/2025/09/04/n...

After centuries of trying, we’ve yet to arrive at a perfect way to map colour | Aeon Videos From Newton’s circle to Schrödinger’s curved geometry, we’ve yet to arrive at a perfect way to map colour

Vision: After centuries of trying, we've yet to arrive at a perfect way to map colour (video)
aeon.co/videos/after...

Psychophysical Distinctions: Investigating “Just Noticeable Differences” | Science project | Education.com Learn about the field of psychophysics and to learn about "Just Noticeable Differences."

Psychophysics: Activity to investigate the Just Noticeable Difference using pennies.
www.education.com/science-fair...

A riveting audiovisual dive into what makes sounds harmonious, or not | Aeon Videos Dissonance and harmony might seem straightforward, but a deep dive into the physics reveals their delightful complexity

Audition: A riveting audiovisual dive into what makes sounds harmonious, or not
aeon.co/videos/a-riv...

Only Five People Have Seen This New Impossible Color Researchers discover a new color outside the range of human color vision, but you have to laser your retinas to see it

Vision: The Color Olo
www.scientificamerican.com/article/rese...