(Press-News.org) New artificial intelligence-generated images that appear to be one thing, but something else entirely when rotated, are helping scientists test the human mind.
The work by Johns Hopkins University perception researchers addresses a longstanding need for uniform stimuli to rigorously study how people mentally process visual information.
“These images are really important because we can use them to study all sorts of effects that scientists previously thought were nearly impossible to study in isolation—everything from size to animacy to emotion,” said first author Tal Boger, a PhD student studying visual perception.
“Not to mention how fun they are to look at,” adds senior author Chaz Firestone, who runs the university’s Perception & Mind Lab.
The team adapted a new AI tool to create “visual anagrams.” An anagram is a word that spells something else when its letters are rearranged. Visual anagrams are images that look like something else when rotated. The visual anagrams the team created include a single image that is both a bear and a butterfly, another that is an elephant and a rabbit, and a third that is both a duck and a horse.
“This is an important new kind of image for our field,” said Firestone. “If something looks like a butterfly in one orientation and a bear in another—but it’s made of the exact same pixels in both cases—then we can study how people perceive aspects of images in a way that hasn’t really been possible before.”
The findings are published today in Current Biology.
The team ran initial experiments exploring how people perceive the real-world size of objects. Real-world size has posed a longstanding puzzle for perception scientists, because one can never be certain if subjects are reacting to an object’s size or to some other more subtle visual property like an object’s shape, color or fuzziness.
“Let’s say we want to know how the brain responds to the size of an object. Past research shows that big things get processed in a different brain region than small things. But if we show people two objects that differ in how big they are—say, a butterfly and a bear—those objects are also going to differ in lots of other ways: their shape, their texture, how bright or colorful they are, and so on,” Firestone explained. “That makes it hard to know what’s really driving the brain’s response. Are people reacting to the fact that bears are big and butterflies are small, or is it that bears are rounder or furrier? The field has really struggled to address this issue.”
With the visual anagrams, the team found evidence for many classic real-world size effects, even when the large and small objects used in their studies were just rotated versions of the same image.
For example, previous work has found that people find images more aesthetically pleasing when they are depicted in ways that match their real-world size—preferring, say, pictures of bears to be bigger than pictures of butterflies. Boger and Firestone found that this was also true for visual anagrams: When subjects adjusted the bear image to be its ideal size, they made it bigger than when they adjusted the butterfly image to be its ideal size—even though the butterfly and the bear are the very same image in different orientations.
The team hopes to use visual anagrams to study how people respond to animate and inanimate objects and expects the technique to have many possible uses for future experiments in psychology and neuroscience.
“We used anagrams to study size, but you could use them for just about anything,” Firestone said. “Animate and inanimate objects are processed in different areas of the brain too so you could make anagrams that look like a truck in one orientation but a dog in another orientation. The approach is quite general, and we can foresee researchers using it for many different purposes.”
END
Seeing double: Clever images open doors for brain research
New ‘visual anagrams’ expand ability to test human perception
2025-10-06
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Inhaler-related greenhouse gas emissions in the US
2025-10-06
About The Study: Inhaler-related emissions in the U.S. have increased over the past decade. Policymakers and regulators seeking to reduce emissions should identify targeted solutions aimed at shifting utilization to currently marketed dry powder and soft mist inhalers while facilitating the entry of newer, affordable metered-dose products containing propellants with low global warming potential.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, William B. Feldman, MD, DPhil, MPH, email wfeldman@mednet.ucla.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jama.2025.16524)
Editor’s ...
UCLA Health study finds inhalers for asthma and COPD drive significant greenhouse gas emissions
2025-10-06
Inhalers are the frontline treatment for asthma and COPD, but they come with a steep environmental cost, according to a new UCLA Health study — the largest to date quantifying inhaler-related emissions in the United States.
Researchers found that inhalers have generated over 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually over the past decade, equivalent to the emissions of roughly 530,000 gas-powered cars on the road each year.
The study, published in JAMA, analyzed emissions from the three types of inhalers approved for asthma or COPD from 2014 to 2024. It found that metered-dose inhalers were the most ...
A surgical handover system for patient physiology and safety
2025-10-06
About The Study: In this cohort study, implementation of the sickest patients first (SIPS) surgical handover system (introduction, situation, background, assessment, recommendation; prioritize; summarize) was associated with improvements in handover quality, patient physiology, and staff perceptions of safety without prolonging handover meetings.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jessica M. Ryan, MB, email jessicaryan@rcsi.com.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.38896)
Editor’s ...
Cardiovascular health changes in young adults and risk of later-life cardiovascular disease
2025-10-06
About The Study: In this prospective cohort study of young adults, unfavorable patterns of cardiovascular health (CVH) change through young adulthood were associated with marked elevations in risk for incident cardiovascular disease (CVD). These data suggest that achieving and maintaining high CVH throughout young adulthood through strategies of primordial prevention are important for prevention of later-life CVD.
Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., ...
Nurse workload and missed nursing care in neonatal intensive care units
2025-10-06
About The Study: In this cross-sectional study, nurses’ subjective workload and shift-level staffing ratios exerted direct effects on reliable care delivery. High subjective workload and staffing ratios greater than 2 infants per nurse should be targets for workload reduction in neonatal intensive care units.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Heather L. Tubbs-Cooley, Ph.D., email tubbscooley.1@osu.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.3647)
Editor’s ...
How to solve the remote work stalemate – dissertation offers tools for successful hybrid work
2025-10-06
The remote work debate often focuses only on leadership or the employee, but according to a new doctoral dissertation from the University of Vaasa, Finland, the prerequisites for success are found in a broader context. Johanna Jansson's research in the field of human resource management reveals that successful remote work is built on three foundations: overall organisational design, the supervisor-subordinate relationship, and the employee's own role. When these three foundations are in balance, both company ...
Chip-based phonon splitter brings hybrid quantum networks closer to reality
2025-10-06
WASHINGTON — Researchers have created a chip-based device that can split phonons — tiny packets of mechanical vibration that can carry information in quantum systems. By filling a key gap, this device could help connect various quantum devices via phonons, paving the way for advanced computing and secure quantum communication.
“Phonons can serve as on-chip quantum messages that connect very different quantum systems, enabling hybrid networks and new ways to process quantum information in a compact, scalable format,” said research team ...
Texas Children’s researchers create groundbreaking tool to improve accuracy of genetic testing
2025-10-06
HOUSTON (Oct. 6, 2025) – Researchers at Texas Children’s Neurological Research Institute (NRI) and Baylor College of Medicine have developed a powerful new tool within the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) to sharpen the accuracy of genetic testing – a breakthrough with direct implications for patient diagnoses and care worldwide.
The work, published in Nature Communications, applies a method called local ancestry inference (LAI), which breaks the genome into ancestry-specific segments to provide more accurate insights into genetic differences.
“This research updates our genomic resources to better reflect the ...
Milken Institute, Ann Theodore Foundation announce more than $2.5 million in new funding for sarcoidosis research and launch new call for proposals
2025-10-06
October 6, 2025 (Washington, DC)—The Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC), in partnership with the Ann Theodore Foundation (ATF), today announced that the Ann Theodore Foundation Breakthrough Sarcoidosis Initiative (ATF-BSI) has awarded five grants totaling more than $2.5 million to interdisciplinary research teams. Concurrently, the two partners have launched ATF-BSI’s fifth round of philanthropic funding via a new request for proposals (RFP) related to sarcoidosis ...
Boston University professor to receive 2025 Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award
2025-10-06
Embargoed until 7 a.m. CT/8 a.m. ET, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025
DALLAS, Oct. 6, 2025 — Emelia J. Benjamin, M.D., FAHA, professor of medicine at Boston University (BU), will receive the 2025 Eugene Braunwald Academic Mentorship Award at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025. The meeting, to be held Nov. 7-10, 2025, in New Orleans, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science. Dr. Benjamin will be recognized with the award during the Presidential Session on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025.
Named for legendary cardiologist Eugene ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
New software tool MARTi fast-tracks identification and response to microbial threats
Rare brain cell may hold the key to preventing schizophrenia symptoms
A new tool to find hidden ‘zombie cells’
New Cleveland Clinic research finds up to 5% of Americans carry genetic mutations associated with cancer risk
Once tadpoles lose lungs, they never get them back
Small group of users drive invasive species awareness on social media
One bad safety review can tank an Airbnb booking — Even among thousands of positive ones, new study finds
Text-based system speeds up hospital discharges to long-term care
California schools are losing tree canopy
How people learn computer programming
Exploring a mechanism of psychedelics
Scientists can now explore mechanisms behind attachment issues
Researchers watched students’ brains as they learned to program
An AI-powered lifestyle intervention vs human coaching in the diabetes prevention program
AI-powered diabetes prevention program shows similar benefits to those led by people
New study may transform diagnosis of Britain’s number one cancer
Stillbirths in the United States
How animals get their spots, and why they are beautifully imperfect
Stillbirths in the U.S. higher than previously reported, often occur with no clinical risk factors
Durability of 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines against JN.1 subvariants
Online unsupervised Tai Chi intervention for knee pain and function in people with knee osteoarthritis
A nose for microbes: how hunger tunes the brain
TRF1 protein loss reduces body fat and improves metabolic health in mice without shortening telomeres
JMIR Medical Education invites submissions on bias, diversity, inclusion, and cultural competence in medical education
SwRI receives $9.9 million contract to assess reliability of F-16 landing gear components
Computer scientists build AI tool to spot risky and unenforceable contract terms
Self-affirmations can boost well-being, study finds
New certification helps clinicians advance digital cardiac care
Why earthquakes sometimes still occur in tectonically silent regions
Music therapy during surgery reduces anesthetic use and stress responses
[Press-News.org] Seeing double: Clever images open doors for brain researchNew ‘visual anagrams’ expand ability to test human perception