Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, they measured the animals’ brain activity as they responded to pictures of other monkeys’ faces.

Those faces fell into three categories: personally familiar ones belonging to monkeys that the macaques had lived with for years; visually familiar ones whose pictures they had seen hundreds of times; and totally unfamiliar ones.

Unexpectedly, the macaque face processing network showed more activity in response to the faces of long-time acquaintances. Faces that were only visually familiar, meanwhile, actually caused a reduction of activity in some areas, the researchers said.

Further, the faces of animals whom the macaques had known for years prompted the activation of two previously unknown face-selective areas—region of the brain associated with declarative memory, which consists of facts and events that can be consciously recalled, and area associated with social knowledge, such as information about individuals and their position within a social hierarchy.

This is “a specific form of memory, that is highly developed in primates, and certainly in humans”, Freiwald said.

When the researchers showed the macaques blurry images of personally familiar faces, which gradually became sharply defined over the course of half a minute or so, the activity of previously known face-processing areas increased steadily over time.

But the new areas first showed little or no initial increase in activity, followed by a sudden surge—an all-or-nothing response that evokes what Landi calls “the sudden ‘aha’ moment” we experience when we recognise a familiar face.

The new findings “opens a window to explore the interaction between face perception, memory, and social knowledge”, Landi said.

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy Image

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Other new features include a rewind mode for videos, which will allow users to play video in reverse, and hashtag stickers to visit hashtag pages.

Facebook has been amping up its camera tool to take on Snapchat’s features such as disappearing messages and face-tracking filters, which are hugely popular among its teenage and millennial users.

The world’s largest social media network has already added several Snapchat-like features such as Stories, which allows users to upload pictures and video slideshows that disappear after 24 hours.

Instagram said in April over 200 million people used Stories daily.

Snap, in its first earnings report as a listed company, said it had 166 million daily active users as of March 31.

Snap’s shares have been on a roller-coaster ride since their market debut on March 1. The stock plunged about 23 per cent last week after the company posted disappointing quarterly results.

However, it recouped some of those losses after several institutional investors including George Soros and Daniel Loeb disclosed stakes in the company.

Snapchat’s shares fell 1.5 percent to $20.42 in early trading on Tuesday, while Facebook’s shares were little changed.

Reuters

Picture source: Alamy Image

Picture used for illustrative purposes alone

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According to a report in MacRumors on Friday, Apple’s attempt to boost its presence in China began last September with the opening of its first R&D centre in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park, often referred to as “China’s Silicon Valley”.

“We are looking forward to working with more local partners and academic institutions through the expansion of R&D centres in China,” Dan Riccio, Senior Vice President (Hardware Engineering) at Apple, was quoted as saying.

“We are honoured to have access to excellent talent and a positive entrepreneurial spirit in the region, where our developers and suppliers will be working together,” Riccio added.

With the investment of $508 million, Apple will have four centres in China in total.

Apple’s gets most of its products manufactured in China and also sources its best electronics engineers from the there.

“So it seems logical that Apple would go beyond partnering with local firms in China by creating its own research centres. This way, Apple has a foot on the ground and gets the best of both worlds,” the report noted.—IANS

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