INs and OUTs of faces in consciousness: a study of the temporal evolution of consciousness of faces during binocular rivalry

Contents of consciousness change over time. However, the study of dynamics in consciousness has been largely neglected. Aru and Bachmann have recently brought to the attention of scientists dealing with consciousness the relevance of making inquiries about its temporal evolution. Importantly, they also pointed out several experimental questions as guidelines for researchers interested in studying the temporal evolution of consciousness, including the phases of formation and dissolution of content. They also suggested that these two phases could be characterized by asymmetric inertia. The main objective of the present investigation was to approximate the dynamics of these two phases in the context of conscious face perception. To this aim, we tested the time course of content transitions during a binocular rivalry task using face stimuli and asked participants to map their subjective experience of transitions from one content to the other through a joystick. We then computed metrics of joystick velocity linked to content transitions as proxies of the formation and dissolution phases. We found a general phase effect such that the formation phase was slower than the dissolution phase. Furthermore, we observed an effect specific to happy facial expressions, such that their contents were slower to form and dissolve than that of neutral expressions. We further propose to include a third phase of stabilization of conscious content between formation and dissolution

Towards a Muon Collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work.Comment: 118 pages, 103 figure

Towards a muon collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work

Erratum: Towards a muon collider

The original online version of this article was revised: The additional reference [139] has been added. Tao Han’s ORICD ID has been incorrectly assigned to Chengcheng Han and Chengcheng Han’s ORCID ID to Tao Han. Yang Ma’s ORCID ID has been incorrectly assigned to Lianliang Ma, and Lianliang Ma’s ORCID ID to Yang Ma. The original article has been corrected

Towards a muon collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work

Elaborazione cosciente delle espressioni facciali e il contributo dei segnali somestetici: Studio dalla dinamica della rivalità binoculare

Questo lavoro si prefigge di dare un contributo teorico alla teoria della cognizione incarnata ed alla scienza della coscienza. Presi insieme, entrambi gli ambiti di ricerca sollevano importanti domande riguardanti non solo ciascuno di essi, ma la loro interazione. Riguardo al contributo dato alla teoria della cognizione incarnata, gli esperimenti svolti usando la mimica facciale (Esperimento 1 ed Esperimento 2), testeranno il modello proposto da Wood e colleghi (2016). Questo modello propone che segnali sensorimotori possano fornire un feedback alle aree visive e giocare un ruolo nel modulare l’elaborazione visiva delle espressioni emotive del volto. Il possibile ruolo della mimica facciale nella percezione consapevole di espressioni facciali emotive è quasi totalmente trascurato. I miei risultati confermano l'importanza della mimica nell'elaborazione consapevole delle espressioni facciali. Da quanto finora noto, l'integrazione delle informazioni tra le aree sensorimotorie e le aree visive modula l'esperienza delle espressioni facciali. In relazione alla scienza della coscienza, questo lavoro esplorerà i meccanismi temporali della coscienza. Un'attenzione particolare sarà data ai meccanismi relativi al contenuto della coscienza una volta che tale contenuto sia stato costruito. La modulazione dell'esperienza cosciente è osservata in due modi diversi: l'effetto di stabilizzazione (Esperimenti da 1 a 3), ovvero la durata del contenuto in consapevolezza, e l'effetto di disformazione (Esperimenti 4 e 5), ovvero la dissoluzione di un contenuto dalla consapevolezza. Propongo che questi due effetti debbano essere implementati nel decorso temporale della coscienza proposto da Aru e Backmann (2017) in quanto descrivono la possibile evoluzione del contenuto consapevole (rimanere consapevole o abbandonare la consapevolezza).This work aims to give a theoretical contribution to embodied cognition theory and science of consciousness. Taken together, these two fields of research raise important questions regarding each field as well as their interaction. Regarding the contribution to the embodied cognition theory, experiments using mimicry (Experiment 1 and Experiment 2), will test the model proposed by Wood and colleagues (2016). This model proposes that sensorimotor signals may feedback to visual areas and play a role in modulating the visual processing of emotional faces. The possible role of facial mimicry in conscious perception of emotional facial expressions is almost totally neglected. My findings confirm the importance of mimicry in conscious processing of facial expressions. So far, integration of information between sensorimotor (i.e., mimicry) and visual areas modulates experience of facial expressions. Regarding science of consciousness, this work will explore the consciousness time-course mechanisms. A particular focus is given to the mechanisms related to the content of consciousness once such content is built up. Conscious experience modulation is observed in two different ways: the stabilization effect (Experiments 1 to 3), that is the duration of a content in consciousness, and the disformation effect (Experiments 4 and 5), that is the process of fading away of a content from consciousness. I propose these two effects need to be implemented in the consciousness time-course proposed by Aru and Backmann (2017) as they describe the possible evolution of the conscious content (i.e., remain or leave consciousness)

INs and OUTs of Faces in Consciousness: A study of the temporal evolution of consciousness of faces during binocular rivalry

Contents of consciousness change over time. However, the study of dynamics in consciousness has been largely neglected. Aru and Bachmann have recently brought to the attention of scientists dealing with consciousness the relevance of making inquiries about its temporal evolution. Importantly, they also pointed out several experimental questions as guidelines for researchers interested in studying the temporal evolution of consciousness, including the phases of formation and dissolution of content. They also suggested that these two phases could be characterized by asymmetric inertia. The main objective of the present investigation was to approximate the dynamics of these two phases in the context of conscious face perception. To this aim, we tested the time course of content transitions during a binocular rivalry task using face stimuli and asked participants to map their subjective experience of transitions from one content to the other through a joystick. We then computed metrics of joystick velocity linked to content transitions as proxies of the formation and dissolution phases. We found a general phase effect such that the formation phase was slower than the dissolution phase. Furthermore, we observed an effect specific to happy facial expressions, such that their contents were slower to form and dissolve than that of neutral expressions. We further propose to include a third phase of stabilization of conscious content between formation and dissolution