For the First Time Research Shows How the Brain Relies on Precise Timing to Perceive Brightness

Groundbreaking research at Vanderbilt University is the first to be able to locate the areas of the brain responsible for the way we see borders and surfaces. It has also been able to chart the timing of their activity. The research shows that when the brain has questions about what we see, the brain will fill in the gaps by outlining the borders of the object and then coloring or filling in the area of the object.

This issue has been the object of debate with experts in the field of neuroscience for years with two trends of thought going back and forth. Do we see the outline of the object first and fill in the details, like coloring in a picture in a child's coloring book, or is the opposite true and we actually see the surface of the object first and then grow it out until we hit the outline?

The researchers answered this question by examining the individual neurons( nerve cells) in the visual cortex, which is the part of the brain associated with vision. The results of the research confirmed that the first statement was true.

They used an example of the China's Song dynasty vase that is shown in the picture. They use very faint contrast borders in order to give the illusion of shading on a background that is actually only one color. This is known as edge induction it is believed to be the process that helps us to distinguish objects that are in dim light, or when looking through fog, or through dappled light, an example of which it the kind of light that filters through the trees in a forest. It is in conditions like these that the researches believe out brain first focuses on the edge of the object and subsequently fills in the details of the rest of the object. Look at the vase. You will see the contrasting border and the brain will perceive that the areas within the border are also of that contrasting color, but in fact they are the same color as the rest of the background.