naturalist

Why Naturalists, Materialists and Atheists Are Scared of 'Design in Nature' and 'Machine Metaphor'





naturalist

Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-East Asia and Australasia

Location: Electronic Resource- 




naturalist

Neuronal and Behavioral Responses to Naturalistic Texture Images in Macaque Monkeys

Corey M. Ziemba
Oct 16, 2024; 44:e0349242024-e0349242024
Systems/Circuits




naturalist

Neuronal and Behavioral Responses to Naturalistic Texture Images in Macaque Monkeys

The visual world is richly adorned with texture, which can serve to delineate important elements of natural scenes. In anesthetized macaque monkeys, selectivity for the statistical features of natural texture is weak in V1, but substantial in V2, suggesting that neuronal activity in V2 might directly support texture perception. To test this, we investigated the relation between single cell activity in macaque V1 and V2 and simultaneously measured behavioral judgments of texture. We generated stimuli along a continuum between naturalistic texture and phase-randomized noise and trained two macaque monkeys to judge whether a sample texture more closely resembled one or the other extreme. Analysis of responses revealed that individual V1 and V2 neurons carried much less information about texture naturalness than behavioral reports. However, the sensitivity of V2 neurons, especially those preferring naturalistic textures, was significantly closer to that of behavior compared with V1. The firing of both V1 and V2 neurons predicted perceptual choices in response to repeated presentations of the same ambiguous stimulus in one monkey, despite low individual neural sensitivity. However, neither population predicted choice in the second monkey. We conclude that neural responses supporting texture perception likely continue to develop downstream of V2. Further, combined with neural data recorded while the same two monkeys performed an orientation discrimination task, our results demonstrate that choice-correlated neural activity in early sensory cortex is unstable across observers and tasks, untethered from neuronal sensitivity, and therefore unlikely to directly reflect the formation of perceptual decisions.




naturalist

to write an economic naturalist paper

to write an economic naturalist paper




naturalist

November 5, 2024: INaturalist

Have you ever wished you knew the name of a strange plant on your local hiking trail, or the unassuming snake that's hanging out on the pavement? If so, consider downloading iNaturalist, an app that helps you identify local flora and fauna using a combination of AI and crowdsourcing.
 
The app is pretty simple to use. After creating an account, you can use iNaturalist to take photos of plants, animals, insects, and fungi. You'll then be prompted to identify what you saw based on some recommendations. Once you've made your selection, your photo is entered into a database that other citizen scientists can view. They'll refine your initial identification to make sure it's correct. Once there is general consensus about your observation, it earns "research grade" status and can be used by local researchers or conservation groups to help catalog biodiversity in the region.
 
I've always been fascinated by people who can identify their local flora and fauna, and iNaturalist has helped me refine my skills in this area. The app does have some limitations. It won't automatically identify poisonous plants or dangerous animals, for example. There is also a lag between initial identification and crowdsourced answers, so it shouldn't be used as an aid for wild foraging.  (Never, ever trust AI or an app to help you identify edible plants or mushrooms – just don't.) Despite these very minor drawbacks, I think that iNaturalist may be one of the best apps out there to help you learn more about the natural world outside your door. Give it a try!


Katie Duffy

Warehouse 23 News: An Era Of Gaming Goodness

From 1980 through 1985, Steve Jackson Games published The Space Gamer, chock full of articles, reviews, insight, and games. Now, The Space Gamer Bundle is available with all 50 issues from that era in a downloadable bundle at a great price. The past awaits at Warehouse 23!




naturalist

The amazing, naturalistic art of Leslie Fry

The imagery and placement of Leslie Fry's sculptures aim to increase awareness about the effects of human impact on the natural environment.



  • Arts & Culture

naturalist

How to become a backyard naturalist right now

Become a backyard naturalist by taking part in the City Nature Challenge.




naturalist

David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalist's best quotes

In celebration of his 94th birthday




naturalist

Nature Anatomy is a charming guide for the urban naturalist

A pull between city life and the slower pace of nature inspired author and illustrator Julia Rothmans to create “Nature Anatomy.”




naturalist

The charkha and the naturalist


Not only is the division between an outer world of 'things out there' and an inner world of 'thoughts and feelings' a false distinction rooted in a particular historical trajectory, it is also pernicious, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.




naturalist

Franz Joseph Gall: naturalist of the mind, visionary of the brain / Stanley Finger and Paul Eling

Hayden Library - BF869.G3 F56 2019




naturalist

Wanderings of a naturalist in India, the western Himalayas, and Cashmere / Andrew Leith Adams

Rotch Library - QH183.A2 2018




naturalist

Plastidules to humans: Leopoldo Maggi (1840-1905) and Ernst Haeckel's naturalist philosophy in the Kingdom of Italy: with an edition of Maggi's letters to Ernst Haeckel / Rainer Brömer ; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Theorie d

Online Resource




naturalist

Wanderings of a naturalist in India, the western Himalayas, and Cashmere / Andrew Leith Adams

Rotch Library - QH183.A2 2018




naturalist

An assessment of a naturalistic in-home training protocol to establish joint attention responding with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders