Université de Fribourg

Divergent solutions to visual problem solving across mammalian species

Mustafar, Faiz ; Harvey, Michael A. ; Khani, Abbas ; Arató, József ; Rainer, Gregor

In: eNeuro, 2018, vol. 5, no. 4, p. -

Our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of learning and behavior relies on the use of invasive techniques, which necessitate the use of animal models. However, when different species learn the same task, to what degree are they actually producing the same behavior and engaging homologous neural circuitry? This question has received virtually no recent attention, even as the...

Université de Fribourg

Distinct frequency specialization for detecting dark transients in humans and tree shrews

Khani, Abbas ; Mustafar, Faiz ; Rainer, Gregor

In: Cell Reports, 2018, vol. 23, no. 8, p. 2405–2415

Despite well-known privileged perception of dark over light stimuli, it is unknown to what extent this dark dominance is maintained when visual transients occur in rapid succession, for example, during perception of moving stimuli. Here, we address this question using dark and light transients presented at different flicker frequencies. Although both human participants and tree shrews...

Université de Fribourg

Enhanced visual exploration for real objects compared to pictures during free viewing in the macaque monkey

Mustafar, Faiz ; Luna, Paolo De ; Rainer, Gregor

In: Behavioural Processes, 2015, vol. 118, p. 8–20

The question of whether animals perceive pictures as representation of real objects remains still unsolved. Object-picture perception is generally studied requiring animals to learn some information about real objects and transfer that knowledge to the pictorial domain, or vice versa. Here, we tackle the issue of object-picture perception from a different perspective, examining visual exploration...