Is the human visual system capable of directly perceiving quantum phenomena? Can we capture special properties of light associated with its quantum nature? If so, does this perception influence our behavior? Does it manifest consciously?
These are some of the central questions of this innovative research in the field of neurophysics, which aims to investigate the limits of the interaction between physics and neuroscience. Since its inception in 2021, the project has brought together a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, and neuroscience, promoting an integrated approach to investigate such phenomena.
The group has made progress in developing experimental setups, quantum measurements, and data integration with investigations of psychophysical responses. Activities are conducted simultaneously at four locations: IDOR (RJ and SP), UFRJ, and UFMG – a collaborative structure that strengthens the consolidation of research at the national level.
The Neurophysics project proposes to investigate, with unprecedented precision, the fundamental mechanisms of spatial and temporal integration of the human visual system in the regime of few photons.
This is research at the interface between psychophysics, sensory neuroscience, and quantum optics, aimed at understanding how the human visual system processes light stimuli under extreme conditions, close to the absolute threshold of vision.
Since the 19th century, classical laws of psychophysics have described the temporal and spatial summation of light perceived by the observer. However, the precise way in which the visual system integrates individual photons in time and space remains an open question.
Recent advances in directional light sources and high-precision spatial and temporal modulation systems now allow us to revisit these laws under more precise control of luminance, spectrum, temporal and spatial distribution of the light stimulus. This is what our multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary project proposes.
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