Scholarly Publications - Psychology
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11693/115528
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Item Open Access More than words: Maternal mental state talk as a form of dynamic scaffolding supporting theory of mind(Taylor and Francis Group, 2025-05-22) Ilgaz, Hande; Bürümlü-Kısa, Elif; Evşen, Setenay; Gökçe, Nihal YıldızThis study longitudinally investigated the relation between maternal mental state (MS) language when narrating a familiar wordless storybook and preschoolers’ theory of mind (ToM) abilities. Mother-child dyads in Turkey participated in the study at two time points, approximately one year apart (121 dyads at Time 1, 81 dyads at Time 2). At each time point mothers narrated the storybook twice, over two sessions approximately one week apart. Familiarity was controlled by analyzing the second narration of the story. In addition, the study added to the literature with a comprehensive two-tier MS language scheme that coded for types of MS (e.g. desire, perception, cognition) and their referents (mother-child vs. story character). Parallel to previous findings, cognitive MS talk was related to children’s ToM. In line with expectations, the under-studied category of perception language was also consistently related to ToM. MS language with mother-child referents (MS-IR) was consistently negatively related to ToM whereas MS language with story character referents (MS-DC) was consistently positively related. However, both MS-IR and MS-DC, as well as EF, were found to positively predict children’s ToM at Time 2 when age, vocabulary, syntactic abilities, ToM at Time 1 and mother-reporter frequency of book reading at home were controlled. The findings are discussed from a sociocultural framework as supporting the conceptualization of MS language with different referents as sensitive support tools with complementary functions.Item Open Access Top-down modulation of visual action perception: distinct task effects in the action observation network(Springer, 2025-11-10) Eroğlu, Aslı; Ürgen, Burcu AyşenPerceiving others’ actions is essential for survival and social interaction. Cognitive neuroscience research has identified a network of brain regions crucial to visual action perception, known as the Action Observation Network (AON), comprising the posterior superior temporal cortex (pSTS), posterior parietal cortex, and premotor cortex. Recent research highlights the importance of integrating top-down processes, such as attention, to gain a deeper understanding of action perception. This study investigates how attention modulates the AON during human action perception. We conducted a two-session fMRI experiment with 27 participants. They viewed eight videos of pushing actions, varying in actor (female vs. male), effector (hand vs. foot), and target (human vs. object). In the first session, participants focused on specific features of the videos (actor, effector, or target). In the second, they passively viewed the videos. From the passive viewing session data, we defined regions of interest (ROIs) in the pSTS, parietal, and premotor cortices for each hemisphere. We then performed model-based representational similarity analysis (RSA) and decoding analysis. RSA results showed that only the task model, among all tested models, exhibited a significant correlation with neural representational similarity matrices (RDMs) across all ROIs, indicating a specific alignment between AON nodes and the ongoing task. Decoding analysis further showed that different task types uniquely affected each AON node, indicating feature- and region-specific interactions. These findings underscore that top-down attentional processes significantly alter neural representations within the AON, highlighting the dynamic interplay between attention and action perception in the brain.Item Open Access Retellings of emotional videos: the dynamics of gesture characteristics in diverse emotion categories(Routledge, 2025-06-12) Ceylan, Süleyman Can; Özer, Demet; Göksun, TilbeWe express and ground our emotions through multiple channels. Across these channels, gestures play a critical role in emotion communication, yet how characteristics of gestures change across different emotion categories is still not well understood. We investigated the gesture characteristics (i.e. frequency, type, hand use, location, and direction) when individuals talk about emotional content. In a within-subject design, speakers (n = 36) described video clips representing happiness, anger, sadness, and neutral emotions. Our results showed that more representational gestures were produced while retelling videos for happiness and neutral than anger and sadness. Participants used both hands more frequently than their left hands for the retelling of happiness and used both hands more frequently than the left or right hands for the retelling of anger. Furthermore, gestures were predominantly performed at the centre of the body across happiness, anger, and neutral categories, with a notable preference for the vertical axis in the happiness category. Overall, these results suggest that specific gesture characteristics can be reflected in different emotion categories.Item Open Access Correction to: ‘Perceiving object size in pictures involves high-level processing’ (2025), by Altan et al.(The Royal Society Publishing, 2025-11-26) Altan, Ecem; Boyacı, Hüseyin; Dakin, Steven C.; Schwarzkopf, D. SamuelSpatial context is critical for telling how big a visual object is, although it may also cause the perceived size to diverge dramatically from the true dimensions. Interestingly, responses in the primary visual cortex (V1) mirror such illusory perception; however, the stage of processing that leads to such neural correlates remains unknown. Here, we tested the involvement of higher level processing in a Ponzo-like illusion, by quantifying the effect of manipulating depth cues and inversion of the whole scene. We report a stronger illusion for realistic compared with simpler backgrounds, and for upright compared with inverted scenes (except for scenes where the target objects appeared on the ceiling or in the sky). Next, using functional MRI, we tested the effect of inversion on V1 responses. Inverted scenes elicited a smaller extent of activation in V1 compared with upright scenes, consistent with their perceived sizes. Taken together, since the inversion should disrupt the high-level processing while keeping the low-level features intact, our findings demonstrate that Ponzo-like illusions involve high-level processes that integrate contextual depth cues and visual experience, thereby modulating the object’s neural representation in V1.Item Open Access Distinct temporal dynamics of speech and gesture processing: Insights from event-related potentials across L1 and L2(American Psychological Association, 2026-01-15) Özer, Demet; Soyman, E.; Badakul, A. N.; Arslan, B.; Yılmaz, F. S.; Göksun, T.; Diaz, MicheleThis study examined the neural and behavioral processing of speech and iconic gestures across L1-Turkish and L2-English when participants attended the speech or gesture channel. We recorded electroencephalogram activity in Experiment 1 and reaction times in Experiment 2 (24 participants in each) during a mismatch task where concurrent speech and gesture expressed either matching or mismatching information in relation to a preceding action. Participants were asked to detect whether the gesture (gesture-focused task) or the speech (speech-focused task) was related to the preceding action. Speech was presented in Turkish or English in separate blocks. In Experiment 1, we focused on N400 and N2 components as indices of late semantic processing and early sequential matching, respectively. In the gesture-focused task, our results demonstrated a gesture mismatch effect, which was evident in more negative N400 amplitudes for mismatching than matching gestures only in the context of simultaneous matching speech. In the speech-focused task, we observed the N2 effect, which was apparent in more negative N2 amplitudes for mismatching than matching speech, regardless of the simultaneous gesture. These dynamics were largely reflected in reaction times in Experiment 2. These results point to potentially distinct neural and temporal dynamics in processing speech versus gestures and suggest that speech processing might be instantiated earlier, whereas gestures recruit later stages of processing. Notably, we observed some differential patterns across L1-Turkish and L2-English, suggesting that speech and gesture processing may operate differently across languages. Our findings highlight a complex interplay between modality, modality focus, language, and neural processing of multimodal information.Item Open Access Examining the role of Dark and Light Triad traits on sociosexuality(Routledge, 2025-05-11) Urgancı, B.; Sevi, B.; Doğruyol, B.; Sakman, EzgiSociosexual orientation—the tendency toward casual sex, is associ-ated with dispositional components of personality such as higherscores of Dark Triad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychop-athy). Yet, it remains unknown which specific Dark Triad traits andLight Triad traits (Kantianism, Humanism, and Faith in Humanity) pre-dict sociosexuality and its dimensions while controlling for the others.In the current study, using an online community sample (N = 308), weexamined the links between Dark Triad traits, Light Triad traits, overallsociosexuality, and sociosexuality dimensions (attitude, behavior,desire). Using hierarchical regression, we found that only psychopathyemerged as the predictor of behavior, desire, attitude dimensions,and sociosexuality total score. This effect held when controlling forage, sex, relationship status, the other two Dark personality traits, andthe Light Triad. Results suggest that individuals high on psychopathyhave a greater tendency toward uncommitted relationships.Item Embargo Formal thought disorder and familial risk in first-episode psychosis: a study of cortical thickness and neuroimaging-transcriptomic association analysis(Elsevier, 2026-01-16) Çabuk, Tuğçe; Zhang, Y.; Palaniyappan, L.; Şahin Çevik, Didenur; Avcı, H.; Çakmak, I. B.; Yılmaz Kafalı, H.; Şenol, B.; Karlı Oğuz, K.; Toulopoulou, TimotheaFormal thought disorder (FTD), a prominent feature of schizophrenia, encompasses disruptions in thought, language, and communication. This study examines cortical thickness (CT) alterations in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients (N = 24), their siblings (SIB) (N = 21), and healthy controls (CON) (N = 21) to explore potential neural correlates of FTD. Using structural MRI, we analyzed whole-brain CT and its relationship with positive and negative FTD measured by Thought and Language Index. Out-of-sample spatial correlations of gene expression with regional CT were also performed using a transcriptomic dataset. FEP had significant CT reductions in right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) compared with SIB and CON and in superior frontal gyrus (SFG) compared to CON; but SIB did not differ from CON. GLM analyses demonstrated that negative FTD exerted a significant main effect on CT in the MFG and SFG. By contrast, positive FTD showed no significant associations with CT. Neuroimaging-transcriptomic association analysis identified key biological pathways linked to cortical morphology. These findings emphasize the specific association between negative FTD and CT alterations in frontal brain regions, confirming prior reports. Future research should examine larger cohorts and investigate additional FTD subtypes to further elucidate neural correlates and potential familial risks of schizophrenia.Item Embargo A multilab investigation into the N2pc as an indicator of attentional selectivity: direct replication of Eimer(Elsevier, 2025-06-11) Constant M.; Mandal A.; Asanowicz D.; Panek B.; Kotlewska I.; Yamaguchi M.; Gillmeister H.; Kerzel D.; Luque D.; Molinero S.; Vázquez-Millán A.; Pesciarelli F.; Borelli E.; Ramzaoui H.; Beck M.; Somon B.; Desantis A.; Castellanos M.C.; Martín-Arévalo E.; Manini G.; Capizzi M.; Gokce A.; Özer, Demet; Soyman E.; Yılmaz E.; Eayrs J.O.; London R.E.; Steendam T.; Frings C.; Pastötter B.; Szaszkó B.; Baess P.; Ayatollahi S.; León Montoya G.A.; Wetzel N.; Widmann A.; Cao L.; Low X.; Costa T.L.; Chelazzi L.; Monachesi B.; Kamp S.-M.; Knopf L.; Itier R.J.; Meixner J.; Jost K.; Botes A.; Braddock C.; Li D.; Nowacka A.; Quenault M.; Scanzi D.; Torrance T.; Corballis P.M.; Laera G.; Kliegel M.; Welke D.; Mushtaq F.; Pavlov Y.G.; Liesefeld H.R.The N2pc is widely employed as an electrophysiological marker of an attention allocation. This interpretation was largely driven by the observation of an N2pc elicited by an isolated relevant target object, which was reported as Experiment 2 in Eimer (1996). All subsequent refined interpretations of the N2pc had to take this crucial finding into account. Despite its central role for neurocognitive attention research, there have been no direct replications and only few conceptual replications of this seminal work. Within the context of #EEGManyLabs, an international community-driven effort to replicate the most influential EEG studies ever published, the present study was selected due to its strong impact on the study of selective attention. We revisit the idea of the N2pc being an indicator of attentional selectivity by delivering a high powered direct replication of Eimer's work through analysis of 779 datasets acquired from 22 labs across 14 countries. Our results robustly replicate the N2pc to form stimuli, but a direct replication of the N2pc to color stimuli technically failed. We believe that this pattern not only sheds further light on the functional significance of the N2pc as an electrophysiological marker of attentional selectivity, but also highlights a methodological problem with selecting analysis windows a priori. By contrast, the consistency of observed ERP patterns across labs and analysis pipelines is stunning, and this consistency is preserved even in datasets that were rejected for (ocular) artifacts, attesting to the robustness of the ERP technique and the feasibility of large-scale multilab EEG (replication) studies.Item Open Access Spatial working memory is critical for gesture processing: Evidence from gestures with varying semantic links to speech(Springer, 2025-02-10) Özer, Demet; Özyürek, Aslı; Göksun, TilbeGestures express redundant or complementary information to speech they accompany by depicting visual and spatial features of referents. In doing so, they recruit both spatial and verbal cognitive resources that underpin the processing of visual semantic information and its integration with speech. The relation between spatial and verbal skills and gesture comprehension, where gestures may serve different roles in relation to speech is yet to be explored. This study examined the role of spatial and verbal skills in processing gestures that expressed redundant or complementary information to speech during the comprehension of spatial relations between objects. Turkish-speaking adults (N=74) watched videos describing the spatial location of objects that involved perspective-taking (left-right) or not (on-under) with speech and gesture. Gestures either conveyed redundant information to speech (e.g., saying and gesturing “left”) or complemented the accompanying demonstrative in speech (e.g., saying “here,” gesturing “left”). We also measured participants’ spatial (the Corsi block span and the mental rotation tasks) and verbal skills (the digit span task). Our results revealed nuanced interactions between these skills and spatial language comprehension, depending on the modality in which the information was expressed. One insight emerged prominently. Spatial skills, particularly spatial working memory capacity, were related to enhanced comprehension of visual semantic information conveyed through gestures especially when this information was not present in the accompanying speech. This study highlights the critical role of spatial working memory in gesture processing and underscores the importance of examining the interplay among cognitive and contextual factors to understand the complex dynamics of multimodal language.Item Open Access Higher-order visuospatial processing abilities in cerebral visual impairment: Behavioral assessment and neurophysiological mechanisms(Annual Reviews Inc., 2025-06-09) Merabet, Lotfi B.; Manley, Claire E.; Pamir, ZahideCerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a brain-based visual disorder associated with early injury and maldevelopment of visual processing pathways and areas. The clinical profile of visual dysfunctions observed in CVI is broad and complex. In this review, we discuss how visuospatial processing deficits represent a core feature of this condition, focusing on evidence from behavioral studies investigating complex motion processing and visual search abilities. Results from functional and structural neuroimaging studies have also provided important insight into putative neurophysiological mechanisms associated with these functional visual impairments. We propose that higher-order visual processing dysfunctions in CVI result from an impaired interplay between bottom-up (stimulus-driven) and top-down (goal-driven) processing mechanisms that leads to characteristic challenges in interpreting and interacting with the surrounding visual environment.Item Open Access Predictive processing in biological motion perception: evidence from human behavior(Sage Publications Ltd., 2025-07-15) Elmas, Hüseyin Orkun; Er, Sena; Rezaki, Ada Dilek; İzgi, Ayşesu; Urgen, Buse M.; Boyacı, Hüseyin; Ürgen, Burcu AyşenBiological motion perception plays a crucial role in understanding the actions of other animals, facilitating effective social interactions. Although traditionally viewed as a bottom-up driven process, recent research suggests that top-down mechanisms, including attention and expectation, significantly influence biological motion perception at all levels, particularly highlighted under complex or ambiguous conditions. In this study, we investigated the effect of expectation on biological motion perception using a cued individuation task with point-light display (PLD) stimuli. We conducted three experiments investigating how prior information regarding action, emotion, and gender of PLD stimuli modulates perceptual processing. We observed a statistically significant congruency effect when preceding cues informed about action of the upcoming biological motion stimulus; participants performed slower in incongruent trials compared to congruent trials. This effect seems to be mainly driven from the 75% congruency condition compared to the non-informative 50% (chance level) validity condition. The congruency effect that was observed in the action experiment was absent in the emotion and gender experiments. These findings highlight the nuanced role of prior information in biological motion perception, particularly emphasizing that action-related cues, when moderately reliable, can influence biological motion perception. Our results are in line with the predictive processing framework, suggesting that the integration of top-down and bottom-up processes is context-dependent and influenced by the nature of prior information. Our results also emphasize the need to develop more comprehensive frameworks that incorporate naturalistic, complex and dynamic, stimuli to build better models of biological motion perception.Item Open Access The ‘task’ of mind-wandering splits both multiple demand and default mode regions and ramps-up the deactivating regions(Elsevier, 2025-09-09) Giray, İrem; Farooqui, Ausaf AhmedThe activation of multiple demand (MD) regions to diverse tasks has been linked to the demands of making task-related cognitive control changes – keeping it focussed on task, controlling attention and working memory, organizing and maintaining a task model that will control the sequence and identity of what is to be done when, etc. Demanding tasks that require such control are also accompanied by a deliberative cognition whereby cognitive changes do not occur automatically and have to be made deliberately. We investigated whether the deliberativeness of cognition activates MD regions regardless of task-related demands. When not engaged in demanding tasks, the mind wanders. We asked participants to do the same during task periods, and to differentiate from rests, we asked them to deliberately and intensely wander their minds across random thoughts. We found that a set of MD regions – pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA), anterior insula, and posterior part of the middle frontal gyrus – activated during these periods, and another set – intraparietal sulcus, right anterior prefrontal cortex – deactivated. In fact, some of the activating regions (e.g., preSMA) activated more during this task than in response to robust working memory updating demands. Dissociations were also present in the Default Mode Network (DMN). Parts of the temporoparietal junction deactivated while posterior cingulate and medial prefrontal regions activated. Lastly, we found that the deactivating regions ramped-up their activity across the ‘task’ duration, showing that this ramp-up, previously linked to demands of sequentially organizing extended tasks, occurs during any construed task, including those without such demands.Item Open Access Testing the identical effect on predicted and actual memory through pictorial stimuli(Hogrefe Publishing, 2025-06-11) Besken, Miri; Filiz, GizemPeople tend to predict better memory for identical word pairs (e.g., DOG DOG) than related ones (e.g., DOG-CAT), despite remembering related pairs more accurately-a phenomenon known as the identical effect. Across three experiments, we examined whether this illusion extends to pictorial materials and investigated the roles of processing fluency and a priori beliefs. Participants studied image pairs that were identical, exemplars, related, unrelated, or rotated (in Experiment 3). After each pair, they made judgments of learning (JOLs), and memory was later tested by a cued four-alternative forcedchoice (4-AFC) recognition test. Consistently, identical image pairs received higher JOLs than related ones, despite equivalent or poorer recall. Identical pairs were also identified more quickly, reflecting greater processing fluency. However, identification speed did not consistently predict JOLs, suggesting that processing fluency alone cannot explain the illusion. These findings indicate that both processing fluency and beliefs influence JOLs, with beliefs about the pair types playing a central role.Item Open Access Effect of polygenic scores on the relationship between psychosis and cognition(Nature Publishing Group, 2025-11-21) Varney, Lauren; Jedlovszky, Krisztina; Wang, Baihan; Murtough, Stephen; Cotic, Marius; Richards-Belle, Alvin; Saadullah Khani, Noushin; Lau, Robin; Abidoph, Rosemary; McQuillin, Andrew; Thygesen, Johan H.; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z.; Bender, Stephan; Crespo-Facorro, Benedicto; Hall, Jeremy; Iyegbe, Conrad; Kravariti, Eugenia; Lawrie, Stephen M.; Mata, Ignacio; McDonald, Colm; Murray, Robin M.; Prata, Diana; Toulopoulou, Timothea; van Haren, Neeltje EM; Bramon, ElviraCognitive impairment is an important but often under-researched symptom in psychosis. Both psychosis and cognition are highly heritable and there is evidence of a genetic effect on the relationship between them. Using samples of adults (N = 4 506) and children (N = 10 981), we investigated the effect of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder polygenic scores on cognitive performance, and intelligence and educational attainment polygenic scores on psychosis presentation. Schizophrenia polygenic score was negatively associated with visuospatial processing in adults (beta: −0.0569; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.0926, −0.0212) and working memory (beta: −0.0432; 95% CI: −0.0697, −0.0168), processing speed (beta: −0.0491; 95% CI: −0.0760, −0.0223), episodic memory (betas: −0.0581 to −0.0430; 95% CIs: −0.0847, −0.0162), executive functioning (beta: −0.0423; 95% CI: −0.0692, −0.0155), fluid intelligence (beta: −0.0583; 95% CI: −0.0847, −0.0320), and total intelligence (beta: −0.0458; 95% CI: −0.0709, −0.0206) in children. Bipolar disorder polygenic score was not associated with any cognitive domains studied. Lower polygenic scores for intelligence were associated with greater odds of psychosis in adults (odds ratio [OR]: 0.886; 95% CI: 0.811–0.968). In children, lower polygenic scores for both intelligence (OR: 0.829; 95% CI: 0.777–0.884) and educational attainment (OR: 0.771; 95% CI: 0.724–0.821) were associated with greater odds of psychotic-like experiences. Our findings suggest that polygenic scores for both cognitive phenotypes and psychosis phenotypes are implicated in the relationship between psychosis and cognitive performance. Further research is needed to determine the direction of this effect and the mechanisms by which it occurs.Item Open Access Collecting behavioural data across countries during pandemics: development of the COVID-19 risk assessment tool(Springer New York LLC, 2025-07-14) Peters, Gjalt-Jorn; Kwasnicka, Dominika; ten Hoor, Gill A.; Crutzen, Rik; Varol, Tugce; Warner, Lisa Marie; Algargoosh, Mahdi; Ali, Eskinder Eshetu; Anwar, Mudassir; Asih, Sali Rahadi; Baltas, Zuhal Feryal; Berry, Emma; Beyene, Kebede; Campbell, Katarzyna Anna; Carneiro, Bruno Moreira; Castillo-Eito, Laura; Chan, Amy Hai Yan; Chan, Samuel Suk-Hung; Cipolletta, Sabrina; DeSmet, Ann; Dewi, Triana Kesuma; Dima, Alexandra Lelia; Encantado, Jorge; Epton, Tracy; Figueiredo, João; Fracaroli, Gustavo DalCin; Gauchet, Aurelie; Gebretekle, Gebremedhin Beedemariam; Gérain, Pierre; Godinho, Cristina Albuquerque; Graham-Wisener, Lisa; Green, James A.; Groarke, Jenny M.; Gültzow, Thomas; Guven, Elif Basak; Hermans, Roel C. J.; Hermsen, Sander; Inauen, Jennifer; Kassianos, Angelos P.; Kazantseva, Tatiana Valerievna; Keyaerts, Els; König, Laura Maria; Lange, Daniela; Lauwerier, Emelien; Lie, Yongchan; Liem, Andrian; Luszczynska, Aleksandra; Marques, Marta M.; Moore, Hannah Catherine; Noone, Chris; Nurmi, Johanna; Nurwanti, Ratri; Ozbay, Elif Suna; Palacz-Poborczyk, Iga; Pedruzzi, Rebecca Anne; Poppe, Louise; Porter, Lucy Mabel; Powell, Daniel; Rinaldi, Bruna Salati Nan; Ruffault, Alexis; Schmitz, Carsten; Scholz, Urte; Schweitzer, Ana-Maria; Ok, Yasemin Selekoğlu; Shree, Medha; Silva, Carolina C.; Sokang, Yasinta Astin; Tam, Albert W.; Tang, Mei Yee; Tomaino, Silvia Caterina Maria; van Beurden, Samantha Barbara; Verweij, Stefan; Vluggen, Stan; Watkins, Rochelle E.; Zörgő, Szilvia; Roozen, SylviaTools that can be used to collect behavioural data during pandemics are needed to inform policy and practice. The objective of this project was to develop the Your COVID-19 Risk tool in response to the global spread of COVID-19, aiming to promote health behaviour change. We developed an online resource based on key behavioural evidence-based risk factors related to contracting and spreading COVID-19. This tool allows for assessing risk and provides instant support to protect individuals from infection. The Risk Estimation Questions assessed users’ location, age, gender, work environment, day-to-day behaviours currently performed, and conditions under which these behaviours would change. Users were also asked to estimate how often they keep their distance from others in public and regularly wash their hands, and the procedures they follow to do so. A multidisciplinary research team of more than 150 international experts developed the tool. Over 60,000 users in more than 150 countries have assessed their risk and provided data. The majority of respondents reported that they almost always keep their distance from others in public places, and most participants reported washing their hands after touching public or shared surfaces or when entering buildings. The tool, data, and results were openly shared to support government and health agencies developing behaviour change interventions. This tool creates a blueprint for similar digital infrastructure that can be replicated and used in future pandemics.Item Open Access Replicability of a resting-state functional connectivity study in profound early blindness(Frontiers Research Foundation, 2025-04-28) Nadvar, Negin; Bauer, Corinna; Pamir, Zahide; Merabet, Lotfi B.; Koppelmans, Vincent; Weiland, JamesIt has been shown that the choice of preprocessing pipelines to remove contamination from functional magnetic resonance images can significantly impact the results, particularly in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) studies. This underscores the critical importance of replication studies with different preprocessing methodologies. In this study, we attempted to reproduce the rsFC results presented in an original study by Bauer et al. in 2017 on a group of sighted control (SC) and early blind (EB) subjects. By using the original dataset, we utilized another widely used software package to investigate how applying different implementations of the original pipeline (RMin model) or a more rigorous and extensive preprocessing stream (RExt model) can alter the whole-brain rsFC results. Our replication study was not able to fully reproduce the findings of the original paper. Overall, RExt shifted the distribution of rsFC values and reduced functional network density more drastically compared with RMin and the original pipeline. Remarkably, the largest rsFC effects appeared to primarily belong to certain connection pairs, irrespective of the pipeline used, likely demonstrating immunity of the larger effects and the true results against suboptimal processing. This may highlight the significance of results verification across different computational streams in pursuit of the true findings.Item Open Access Motivational whack-a-mole: foundational boxes cannot be unpacked(Cambridge University Press, 2025-01-31) Özgan, Ezgi; Allen, Jedediah W.P.The proposed "black-box" problem and its solution are drawn from the same substance-oriented framework. This framework's assumptions have consequences that re-create the black-box problem at a foundational level. Specifically, Murayama and Jach's solution fails to explain novel behavior that emerges through an organism's development. A process-oriented theoretical shift provides an ontological explanation for emergent behavior and eliminates the black-box problem altogether.Item Open Access Distraction by a human or a robot: Effects of perceptual load and action type(I E E E Computer Society, 2025-04-30) Özsu, Ataol Burak; Pekçetin, Tuǧçe Nur; Faydalı, Defne Şiir; Ürgen, Burcu AyşenThis study investigates how humans process and attend to robot actions compared to human actions under varying cognitive demands. Using a perceptual load paradigm, we examined whether robots capture attention similarly to humans and how this is influenced by the nature of their actions. Participants performed a letter detection task while being presented with task-irrelevant videos of either human or robot agents performing communicative or noncommunicative actions. Results demonstrated that both humans and robots captured attention through their actions, particularly when these actions were communicative. Under high perceptual load conditions, human distractors caused more interference than robot distractors, suggesting that agent identity becomes particularly important when cognitive resources are limited. These findings provide insights into how humans process robot actions in attentiondemanding situations and may have important implications for designing robot behaviors in operational contexts.Item Open Access Predictive processing inbiological motion perceptionin audiovisual context(Sage Publications Ltd., 2025-03-28) Uçkan, Cemre; Ürgen, Burcu AyşenVisual perception of biological motion (BM) is essential in comprehending our environment. Despitethe well-established contribution of cross-modal priming to our understanding of BM perception, theinfluence of expectations in audiovisual settings remains unexplored. The present study investigatesthe impact of congruent and incongruent auditory cues on detecting BMs presented in point-light dis-plays, exploring the impact of predictive processing on BM perception in the audiovisual context.Participants viewed either congruent auditory priors, which gave the correct information aboutthe BM, or incongruent priors. They were required to detect the BMs as fast and accurately as pos-sible. Our findings revealed shorter reaction times in congruent trials than incongruent ones althoughaccuracy remained unaffected by congruency. Overall, our results highlight that while prior informa-tion can facilitate faster detection of human motion, it does not necessarily enhance accuracy.Item Open Access Uncovering atypical gaze patterns in cerebral visual impairment: New insights from an exploratory gaze-based analysis(Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, 2026-01) Sağlam, Nilsu; Merabet, Lotfi B.; Pamir, ZahideIndividuals with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) often struggle with visuospatial processing, particularly in highly cluttered or complex environments. These challenges are commonly assessed through visual search tasks, using global measures such as reaction time (RT), accuracy, and search area. Accordingly, impaired search performance in CVI manifests as longer RTs, lower accuracy, and broader search areas. However, rather than elucidating the underlying mechanism of the impaired search process, these measures decode its outcome. In the present study, we utilized eye-tracking data to compute detailed measures of fixation count and duration, aiming to characterize gaze pattern sequences and determine whether prolonged RTs in CVI stem from slower visual scanning or increased fixation counts. Our reanalysis of two previously published datasets reveals that longer RTs in CVI arise from elevated fixation counts, specifically on distractors, rather than from slower visual scanning. Our findings indicate recurrent disruptions in maintaining gaze on the target, likely reflecting difficulties in sustaining attention on the target, suppressing distractors, and preventing inhibition of return. Together, these findings highlight an inefficient search pattern that is more biased toward distractors than focused on targets. By revealing these underlying mechanisms, gaze-based measures offer a deeper understanding of visuospatial processing deficits in CVI.