Project description
Exploring how the brain builds scenes from individual objects
Tremendous progress has been made in understanding how the human brain processes both isolated objects and full-scale, complex scenes. One relevant level of visual organisation that has received very little attention to date is the 'object-constellation', defined here as a familiar configuration of objects bearing conceptual relevance to each other (e.g. a fork and knife arranged either side of a plate). What are the neural mechanisms underlying our fast and accurate recognition of these commonly-encountered objects groups? The EU-funded FromObjectsToScenes project will use functional brain imaging to systematically investigate this outstanding issue, shedding new light on the statistical regularities in our natural environments that the brain is specialised to exploit.
Objective
Human visual recognition is remarkably efficient. With just a single glance, we can identify our surroundings as a forest, a street, or an office, or determine whether a specific object contained in the scene is a deer, a car, or a computer. Uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying such fast and accurate recognition has been a core initiative in cognitive neuroscience, such that the structural and functional characteristics of object-selective and scene-selective cortex are now well understood. Yet there is a surprising and substantial gap in our understanding of the intermediate representational space between objects and scenes: One relevant level of visual organisation that has received very little attention to date is the 'object-constellation', defined here as a familiar configuration of objects bearing conceptual relevance to each other (e.g. a fork and knife arranged either side of a plate). Just as the visual system exploits physical regularities in Gestalt-like grouping, we hypothesise that the learned statistical regularities contained in object-constellations give rise to a higher-order perceptual unit, the neural basis of which has yet to be explored. This project will bring advanced neurocognitive methods to bear on the question of how the brain processes familiar object-constellations, using fMRI and MEG to characterise the spatiotemporal profile of object-constellation representation in the human brain. In providing the first systematic investigation of the neural representation of object-constellations, this work will shed new light on the statistical regularities the brain is specialised to exploit, and advance our understanding of the intermediary representational space between single-objects and whole-scenes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
6525 XZ Nijmegen
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.