A team of researchers have made a new and stunning finding that infants are able to see faces because of their mother's scent.&nbsp;

Researchers from different institutes carried out a study to understand how babies use the scent of their mothers to perceive faces. The study's findings are intriguing and never heard of.

The researchers discovered that the infant's this specific ability sees great improvement between four and 12 months.&nbsp;

However, older infants are able to primarily use visual information for perceiving faces and do not need concurrent cues.

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Université de Bourgogne's Center for Taste, Smell and Feeding Sciences (CSGA) associate professor of psychology and neuroscience Dr Arnaud Leleu said, “I have a longstanding interest in how sensory perception works in the human brain. Despite its apparent simplicity (e.g., we open our eyes to see), perception is a complex neurocognitive ability derived from past experience with various stimulations coming from all the senses at the same time.”

Dr&nbsp;Leleu said how the young infant brain treats the multisensory inputs is important to understanding perception in the different senses and how it develops in adulthood.

<h2>Babies' brains and their sensory perception</h2>

Dr&nbsp;Leleu carried out the research to investigate how the development of visual perception is shaped by the olfaction in the infant's brain.

In the study, it was discovered that the rapid perception of faces which increases by the odour of the mother declined when infants grew older and were able to efficiently perceive faces just by visual cues.

Dr&nbsp;Leleu underlined the early exposure to concurrent sensory inputs' importance from&nbsp;different modalities to enhance perceptual learning in the babies.

Watch:&nbsp;Nigeria Bomb Attack: Woman with baby on her back carries out suicide attack

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-nigeria-bomb-attack-woman-with-baby-on-her-back-carries-out-suicide-attack-736891/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

“Together with the large body of research on multisensory perception in infants, our findings reveal the importance of the early exposure to concurrent sensory inputs from different modalities for perceptual learning,” Dr Leleu said.

“Such early exposure to repeated intersensory associations is also a building block for the later development of higher-level abilities such as semantic memory, language and conceptual reasoning. It is therefore important to expose infants to a variety of cues related to the same objects as early as possible," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

A team of researchers have made a new and stunning finding that infants are able to see faces because of their mother's scent. Researchers from different institutes carried out a study to understand how babies use the scent of their mothers to perceive faces.

A team of researchers have made a new and stunning finding that infants are able to see faces because of their mother's scent. Researchers from different institutes carried out a study to understand how babies use the scent of their mothers to perceive faces. The study's findings are intriguing and never heard of. The researchers discovered that the infant's this specific ability sees great improvement between four and 12 months. However, older infants are able to primarily use visual information for perceiving faces and do not need concurrent cues. Also Read: Babies' movements tracked with 'intelligent onesies' could help diagnose autism, ADHD Université de Bourgogne's Center for Taste, Smell and Feeding Sciences (CSGA) associate professor of psychology and neuroscience Dr Arnaud Leleu said, “I have a longstanding interest in how sensory perception works in the human brain. Despite its apparent simplicity (e.g., we open our eyes to see), perception is a complex neurocognitive ability derived from past experience with various stimulations coming from all the senses at the same time.” Dr Leleu said how the young infant brain treats the multisensory inputs is important to understanding perception in the different senses and how it develops in adulthood. Babies' brains and their sensory perception Dr Leleu carried out the research to investigate how the development of visual perception is shaped by the olfaction in the infant's brain. In the study, it was discovered that the rapid perception of faces which increases by the odour of the mother declined when infants grew older and were able to efficiently perceive faces just by visual cues. Dr Leleu underlined the early exposure to concurrent sensory inputs' importance from different modalities to enhance perceptual learning in the babies. Watch: Nigeria Bomb Attack: Woman with baby on her back carries out suicide attack “Together with the large body of research on multisensory perception in infants, our findings reveal the importance of the early exposure to concurrent sensory inputs from different modalities for perceptual learning,” Dr Leleu said. “Such early exposure to repeated intersensory associations is also a building block for the later development of higher-level abilities such as semantic memory, language and conceptual reasoning. It is therefore important to expose infants to a variety of cues related to the same objects as early as possible," he added. (With inputs from agencies)

Babies use scent of their mothers to 'see' faces of people: Study

A rare and unheard disorder has been detected in a man in the United States in which the faces of other people appear&nbsp;distorted and demonic&nbsp;to him even though he has always had a sharp vision.

This rare disease was detected in the man one fine day in November 2020 when&nbsp;he noticed, out of the blue, that the faces of people started appearing demonic to him.

The nose, ears and mouth in everyone's face appeared stretched back and deep grooves appeared on the chins, cheeks and foreheads.

“My first thought was I woke up in a demon world. You can’t imagine how scary it was,” said 59-year-old Sharrah, of Clarksville, Tennessee, as reported by NBC News.

Sharrah's one acquaintance, who taught visually impaired people, said to him that he is likely to have been suffering from prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO.&nbsp;

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The man felt that his symptoms matched the disease and was formally diagnosed last year.

<h2>What is PMO?&nbsp;</h2>

PMO is an extremely rare neurological disorder in which a person suffers in his/her perception that makes other people's faces appear distorted in size, shape, size, colour or texture.

The distortions are only seen when the person, suffering from the ailment, sees the other person in real and not in photographs or on computer screens.

The case gave scientists a chance to visualise how the warped faces appeared for someone with PMO. Dartmouth College's researchers created a digital representation of what Sharrah has been seeing. The digital representation was published in The Lancet on Thursday (Mar 21).&nbsp;

For creating the visual images, Sharrah was asked by the researchers to describe how the photograph of people appeared different from their real-life faces.

Watch:&nbsp;Gravitas: 'Flesh-eating disease' spreading at record rate in Japan

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-flesh-eating-disease-spreading-at-record-rate-in-japan-700596/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Then, image-editing software was used by the researchers to modify the pictures and match them with the description given by Sharrah.

In some cases, the PMO symptoms get resolved after a few weeks or days and in others, it can linger for years. Sharrah added that he continues to see demonic faces.

Till now, there are less than 100 published case reports of people suffering from PMO. According to the researchers, the dysfunction in the brain network which manages facial processing leads to the disease.&nbsp;

In some cases, it has also been linked to migraines, epilepsy, head trauma and stroke but others have been found to suffer PMO without any structural changes in their brains.

The study’s lead author and PhD&nbsp;student Antonio Mello, who works in the Social Perception Lab, at Dartmouth, said that others have also approached their lab and informed about the PMO symptoms which differ significantly from Sharrah's symptoms.&nbsp;

Some people "have seen face distortions since they remember, since they were a child,” said Mello. "For them at least, it’s impossible to find a single event that was responsible," he added.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

A rare and unheard disorder has been detected in a man in the United States in which the faces of other people appear distorted and demonic to him even though he has always had a sharp vision.

A rare and unheard disorder has been detected in a man in the United States in which the faces of other people appear distorted and demonic to him even though he has always had a sharp vision. This rare disease was detected in the man one fine day in November 2020 when he noticed, out of the blue, that the faces of people started appearing demonic to him. The nose, ears and mouth in everyone's face appeared stretched back and deep grooves appeared on the chins, cheeks and foreheads. “My first thought was I woke up in a demon world. You can’t imagine how scary it was,” said 59-year-old Sharrah, of Clarksville, Tennessee, as reported by NBC News. Sharrah's one acquaintance, who taught visually impaired people, said to him that he is likely to have been suffering from prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO. Also Read: Are you into intermittent fasting? It's linked to chances of death due to heart attack, stroke, says study The man felt that his symptoms matched the disease and was formally diagnosed last year. What is PMO? PMO is an extremely rare neurological disorder in which a person suffers in his/her perception that makes other people's faces appear distorted in size, shape, size, colour or texture. The distortions are only seen when the person, suffering from the ailment, sees the other person in real and not in photographs or on computer screens. The case gave scientists a chance to visualise how the warped faces appeared for someone with PMO. Dartmouth College's researchers created a digital representation of what Sharrah has been seeing. The digital representation was published in The Lancet on Thursday (Mar 21). For creating the visual images, Sharrah was asked by the researchers to describe how the photograph of people appeared different from their real-life faces. Watch: Gravitas: 'Flesh-eating disease' spreading at record rate in Japan Then, image-editing software was used by the researchers to modify the pictures and match them with the description given by Sharrah. In some cases, the PMO symptoms get resolved after a few weeks or days and in others, it can linger for years. Sharrah added that he continues to see demonic faces. Till now, there are less than 100 published case reports of people suffering from PMO. According to the researchers, the dysfunction in the brain network which manages facial processing leads to the disease. In some cases, it has also been linked to migraines, epilepsy, head trauma and stroke but others have been found to suffer PMO without any structural changes in their brains. The study’s lead author and PhD student Antonio Mello, who works in the Social Perception Lab, at Dartmouth, said that others have also approached their lab and informed about the PMO symptoms which differ significantly from Sharrah's symptoms. Some people "have seen face distortions since they remember, since they were a child,” said Mello. "For them at least, it’s impossible to find a single event that was responsible," he added. (With inputs from agencies)

Rare disorder makes this man see 'demonic' faces. Here's what it is

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the IT officials held joint searches on Friday at BRS leader K Kavitha's residence located at Banjara Hills in Telangana's Hyderabad in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, official sources said. After the searches, the ED took Kavitha into their custody and shifting her to Delhi for questioning.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to be arrested in next 3-4 days? faces arrest in Excise scam case?

Drew Barrymore has come under fire after announcing that she has started work on the fourth season of her daytime talk show, despite the ongoing strikes by writers and actors in Hollywood.

Drew Barrymore faces backlash as she announces talk show return

A southern Chinese court has sentenced four people, including at least two Hong Kong journalists, to prison on charges of running an illegal business after they reportedly sent copies of their sensitive political magazines to mainland China. 
 
A court in Shenzhen said today the four received prison sentences of up to five years each. The sentencing, following the high-profile temporary disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers, raises questions about the semi-autonomous territory&#39;s status as a free press haven for material banned on the mainland. 
 
Two of those convicted in Shenzhen included Hong Kong magazine publisher Wang Jianmin and editor Guo Zhongxiao, who were arrested in 2014 in the border city, according to Hong Kong media. 
 
The two men published New Way Monthly and Faces, two journals that often delved into high-level Communist Party power struggles. 
 
It&#39;s unclear whether the two other convicted people were Hong Kong residents or what role they played at the publications. 
 
Reports cited Wang&#39;s lawyers as saying their clients were not running a mail-order business and had sent only eight copies of the magazines to friends in China. Wang was also convicted on collusion and bribery charges. 
 
Hong Kong has served for decades, as a clearing house for information about sensitive mainland topics, and publishers once considered themselves beyond Beijing&#39;s reach. 
 
But the free-wheeling scene has been chilled by a series of run-ins with mainland authorities in the past year, including the disappearance of the booksellers from the Causeway Bay firm Mighty Current. 
 
Publishers at an annual Hong Kong book fair, the largest of its kind in Asia, said this month that printers and distributors were increasingly unwilling to handle sensitive titles for fear of political repercussions. 
 
The booksellers went missing one after the other, only to turn up months later under the control of mainland Chinese authorities. Four of the men have been released and a fifth is still detained. 
 
The Independent Commenters Association and the Hong Kong Journalists Association voiced concern in a joint statement and said Beijing has selectively targeted Wang and Guo, as well as Mighty Current and a third publisher called Morning Bell Press, to &quot;clean the origin&quot; of mainland political gossip in Hong Kong. 
 
The groups urged mainland authorities to &quot;respect the rule of law and the principal of &#39;one country two systems,&#39;&quot; the agreement that outlines the former British colony&#39;s relationship with Beijing. 
 
(PTI)

Chinese court has sentenced four people to prison on charges of running an illegal business

A southern Chinese court has sentenced four people, including at least two Hong Kong journalists, to prison on charges of running an illegal business after they reportedly sent copies of their sensitive political magazines to mainland China. A court in Shenzhen said today the four received prison sentences of up to five years each. The sentencing, following the high-profile temporary disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers, raises questions about the semi-autonomous territory's status as a free press haven for material banned on the mainland. Two of those convicted in Shenzhen included Hong Kong magazine publisher Wang Jianmin and editor Guo Zhongxiao, who were arrested in 2014 in the border city, according to Hong Kong media. The two men published New Way Monthly and Faces, two journals that often delved into high-level Communist Party power struggles. It's unclear whether the two other convicted people were Hong Kong residents or what role they played at the publications. Reports cited Wang's lawyers as saying their clients were not running a mail-order business and had sent only eight copies of the magazines to friends in China. Wang was also convicted on collusion and bribery charges. Hong Kong has served for decades, as a clearing house for information about sensitive mainland topics, and publishers once considered themselves beyond Beijing's reach. But the free-wheeling scene has been chilled by a series of run-ins with mainland authorities in the past year, including the disappearance of the booksellers from the Causeway Bay firm Mighty Current. Publishers at an annual Hong Kong book fair, the largest of its kind in Asia, said this month that printers and distributors were increasingly unwilling to handle sensitive titles for fear of political repercussions. The booksellers went missing one after the other, only to turn up months later under the control of mainland Chinese authorities. Four of the men have been released and a fifth is still detained. The Independent Commenters Association and the Hong Kong Journalists Association voiced concern in a joint statement and said Beijing has selectively targeted Wang and Guo, as well as Mighty Current and a third publisher called Morning Bell Press, to "clean the origin" of mainland political gossip in Hong Kong. The groups urged mainland authorities to "respect the rule of law and the principal of 'one country two systems,'" the agreement that outlines the former British colony's relationship with Beijing. (PTI)

Two Hong Kong magazine executives jailed in China

A US army soldier who participated in a scheme to buy guns and send them to a security detail for the president and vice president of Indonesia plead guilty to several charges in federal court. 
 
Audi Sumilat pleaded guilty Tuesday and will be sentenced in October, the US attorney&#39;s office in New Hampshire said yesterday. 
The 36-year-old faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. 
 
One of Sumilat&#39;s co-conspirators also has been charged and is scheduled to be tried on July 19.&nbsp;Assistant US Attorney Bill Morse said there have been cases in New Hampshire and other states involving international firearms trafficking to countries including Ghana, Canada and Mexico.&nbsp;&quot;But this is the first case that I&#39;m aware of in which the intended beneficiaries of the trafficking were representatives of a foreign government,&quot; Morse said. 
 
Authorities said Sumilat joined a conspiracy to buy guns in Texas and New Hampshire for members of the Indonesian Presidential Guard, who are tasked with providing security to the president and vice president but could not lawfully buy the weapons themselves. 
Sumilat admitted he and three guard members came up with a plan in 2014, when they were stationed together for training in Fort Benning, Georgia. 
 
Sumilat said he bought guns in Texas and shipped them to a co-conspirator in New Hampshire, who delivered them to guard members on visits to Washington DC, and to the UN General Assembly in New York. The guns were to be smuggled out of the United States. 
Sumilat pleaded guilty to making false statements in records required to be kept by federal firearms dealers for telling gun dealers the weapons were for him and for smuggling firearms from the US. 
 
To have legally exported the guns, Sumilat was required to get an exporter&#39;s license and a license covering the specific guns exported. No licenses were issued. 
 
New Hampshire US Attorney Emily Gray Rice said the consequences of international gun trafficking can be grave.&nbsp;&quot;Firearms exported overseas illegally can easily end up in the wrong hands,&quot; she said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;International gun trafficking will be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible to protect innocent individuals, both American and foreign, from the criminal use of US weapons abroad.&quot; 
 
(AP)

Sumilat pleaded guilty in federal court, and faces a sentence of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine

A US army soldier who participated in a scheme to buy guns and send them to a security detail for the president and vice president of Indonesia plead guilty to several charges in federal court. Audi Sumilat pleaded guilty Tuesday and will be sentenced in October, the US attorney's office in New Hampshire said yesterday. The 36-year-old faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. One of Sumilat's co-conspirators also has been charged and is scheduled to be tried on July 19. Assistant US Attorney Bill Morse said there have been cases in New Hampshire and other states involving international firearms trafficking to countries including Ghana, Canada and Mexico. "But this is the first case that I'm aware of in which the intended beneficiaries of the trafficking were representatives of a foreign government," Morse said. Authorities said Sumilat joined a conspiracy to buy guns in Texas and New Hampshire for members of the Indonesian Presidential Guard, who are tasked with providing security to the president and vice president but could not lawfully buy the weapons themselves. Sumilat admitted he and three guard members came up with a plan in 2014, when they were stationed together for training in Fort Benning, Georgia. Sumilat said he bought guns in Texas and shipped them to a co-conspirator in New Hampshire, who delivered them to guard members on visits to Washington DC, and to the UN General Assembly in New York. The guns were to be smuggled out of the United States. Sumilat pleaded guilty to making false statements in records required to be kept by federal firearms dealers for telling gun dealers the weapons were for him and for smuggling firearms from the US. To have legally exported the guns, Sumilat was required to get an exporter's license and a license covering the specific guns exported. No licenses were issued. New Hampshire US Attorney Emily Gray Rice said the consequences of international gun trafficking can be grave. "Firearms exported overseas illegally can easily end up in the wrong hands," she said in a statement. "International gun trafficking will be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible to protect innocent individuals, both American and foreign, from the criminal use of US weapons abroad." (AP)

US soldier smuggles guns for Indonesian President's security detail

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