Biology subjects

de Haas, B.

Publications and source records attributed to de Haas, B..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

How the eyes move, not where they land, predicts what we remember across the lifespan

Where and how we move our eyes through a natural scene depends jointly on the scene and on the viewer. How the spatial and temporal organization of viewing changes across the lifespan, and whether those changes relate to memory, remains unclear. We recorded eye movements from a lifespan cohort (N = 179, ages 5-79) during free viewing of naturalistic scenes, then tested recognition across graded levels of image degradation. Characterizing each observer by how closely their viewing corresponded to that of age peers, young adults, and a stimulus-driven salience model, we found a developmental dissociation: consistency in where the eyes were directed increased monotonically with age, whereas consistency in how they moved -- saccade direction, length, and fixation duration -- followed an inverted-U peaking in young adulthood. Recognition sensitivity followed an inverted-U of the same form. Across all three reference frames, typicality in how the eyes moved, but not in their spatial targeting, predicted recognition.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Preliterate symbolic language processing sets the neural stage for learning to read

Formal writing is evolutionarily recent, yet the brains of literate adults contain regions - the OTS-words subregions - that respond more strongly to written text than other stimuli. We tested a novel solution to this multi-disciplinary paradox: Does symbolic language processing, which emerged early in human history, lay the neural foundation for reading? In a longitudinal fMRI study, we followed 17 children through their first year of literacy training and related neural responses to text, symbolic language processing, and emerging reading skills over time. We found that middle OTS-words is engaged in symbolic language processing before children learn to read, and that this early engagement predicts later text selectivity and reading ability. These findings suggest that literacy builds on a pre-existing neural scaffold linking vision and language.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Prior scene context reshapes feature reliance during rapid perception

Human perception is shaped by both sensory input and prior knowledge or expectations. But how does prior contextual information influence rapid visual processing? Here, we combined eye tracking with feature-based encoding models across two experiments to predict detection latencies in a core visual task: rapid face detection in natural scenes (N = 38 per experiment). In the first experiment, we manipulated the presence of faceless scene previews. In the second experiment, we additionally restricted peripheral visual input using a moving-window paradigm, thereby increasing reliance on prior information. Across both experiments, prior context facilitated face detection, particularly for challenging images. This facilitation was already evident in the very first eye movement, suggesting that previews shape perceptual strategies from the outset. To quantify what information guided behavior, we modeled detection latencies using a set of image-based predictors capturing (i) sensory information and (ii) a scene-derived spatial prior: the expected face location. Both predictor classes explained latency variation across images. Among sensory predictors, the difference in deep neural network responses induced by the presence of the face provided the strongest out-of-sample prediction of detection latency. Critically, when scene previews were available, the contribution of the spatial prior increased, while reliance on sensory-driven features was generally reduced. Together, these findings indicate that prior scene context shifts the balance of information used for rapid face detection from sensory-driven to expectation-based spatial guidance.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Flaws in Data Binning for Population Receptive Field Analyses

Data binning involves grouping observations into bins and calculating bin-wise summary statistics. It can cope with overplotting and noise, making it a versatile tool for comparing many observations. However, data binning goes awry if the same observations are used for binning (selection) and contrasting (selective analysis). This creates circularity, biasing noise components and resulting in artifactual changes in the form of regression towards the mean. Importantly, these artifactual changes are a statistical necessity. Here, we use (null) simulations and empirical repeat data to expose this flaw in the scope of post hoc analyses of population receptive field data. In doing so, we reveal that the type of data analysis, data properties, and circular data cleaning are factors shaping the appearance of such artifactual changes. We furthermore highlight that circular data cleaning and circular sorting of change scores are selection practices that result in artifactual changes even without circular data binning. These pitfalls might have led to erroneous claims about changes in population receptive fields in previous work and can be mitigated by using independent data for selection purposes. Our evaluations highlight the urgency for us researchers to make the validation of analysis pipelines standard practice. Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=116 SRC="FIGDIR/small/422942v3_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (33K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@11c0c73org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@7583d3org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@121cf6dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@b9340d_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG HighlightsO_LICircular data binning produces artifactual changes in the form of regression towards the mean C_LIO_LIAnalysis type, data properties, and circular data cleaning shape these artifactual changes C_LIO_LICircular data cleaning and sorting produce artifactual changes even without circular data binning C_LI

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Heritability of visual cortex architecture and perception

How much of the functional organization of our visual system is inherited? Here we tested the heritability of retinotopic maps in human visual cortex using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We demonstrate that retinotopic organization shows a closer correspondence in monozygotic (MZ) compared to dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, suggesting a partial genetic determination. Using population receptive field (pRF) analysis to examine the preferred spatial location and selectivity of these neuronal populations, we estimate a heritability around 30% for polar angle preferences and spatial selectivity, as quantified by pRF size, in extrastriate areas V2 and V3. Our findings are consistent with heritability in both the macroscopic arrangement of visual regions and stimulus tuning properties of visual cortex. This could constitute a neural substrate for variations in a range of perceptual effects, which themselves have been found to be at least partially genetically determined. These findings also add convergent evidence for the hypothesis that functional map topology is linked with cortical morphology. HighlightsO_LIWe analyzed retinotopic maps from monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs C_LIO_LIVisual field maps in V1-V3 are more similar in monozygotic twins C_LIO_LIHeritability is greater in V1 and V3 for polar angle and population receptive field sizes C_LIO_LIEccentricity maps show lesser degree of heritability C_LIO_LIFurther evidence for link between cortical morphology and topology of retinotopic maps C_LI Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=182 HEIGHT=200 SRC="FIGDIR/small/077545v4_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (77K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@ceacd6org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@b51604org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@b860f8org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@e67398_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Individual differences in visual salience vary along semantic dimensions

What determines where we look? Theories of attentional guidance hold that image features and task demands govern fixation behaviour, while differences between observers are noise. Here, we investigated the fixations of > 100 human adults freely viewing a large set of complex scenes. We found systematic individual differences in fixation frequencies along six semantic stimulus dimensions. These differences were large (> twofold) and highly stable across images and time. Surprisingly, they also held for first fixations directed towards each image, commonly interpreted as bottom-up visual salience. Their perceptual relevance was documented by a correlation between individual face salience and recognition skills. The dimensions of individual salience and their covariance pattern replicated across samples from three different countries, suggesting they reflect fundamental biological mechanisms of attention. Our findings show stable individual salience differences along semantic dimensions, with meaningful perceptual implications. Salience reflects features of the observer as well as the image.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Population receptive field tuning properties of visual cortex during childhood

Improvements in visuospatial perception such as contrast sensitivity and Vernier acuity continue until late in childhood, but the neural mechanisms driving these age-related changes are currently unclear. One contributing factor could be the protracted development of spatial tuning of neuronal populations across the visual cortex. Here we tested this possibility using population receptive field (pRF) mapping (Dumoulin and Wandell, 2008) in 6-to 12-year-old children and adults. We fitted pRF models to BOLD signals measured in areas V1-V4 and V3a during fMRI whilst participants watched wedge and ring stimuli traversing the visual field. Cortical magnification and the width of pRF tuning functions changed with viewing eccentricity in all participants. However, there were no age-related changes in pRF size, shape, cortical magnification, or map consistency across any of the visual areas measured. These results suggest that visuospatial perception in late childhood beyond age 6 years is not substantially limited by low-level spatial tuning properties of neuronal populations in visual cortex. Instead, performance improvements in this period may reflect more efficient use of the spatial information available in the visual system when forming perceptual judgments. These findings are an important step towards disentangling which neural mechanisms contribute to the eventual emergence of mature spatial vision, and for understanding the processes that determine the scope for visual plasticity at different stages of life.

neuroscience↗