ContentMAP: Unravelling the mysteries of the brain through everyday object recognition

Many people have likely asked themselves: ‘Why can we recognise people instantly?’ or ‘How do we know the difference between a knife and a fork?’ While the answer might seem straightforward – ‘because our brain has got used to it’ – in-depth knowledge about this process has been unknown for many years. ContentMAP (Content-topical mapping: the topographical organisation of object knowledge in the brain) emerged to shed light on some of the mysteries surrounding how the brain functions.

Led by the University of Coimbra (UC), the project began as an idea by Jorge Almeida. A professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPCEUC) and a researcher at the Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC), Jorge decided to return to Portugal after working at Harvard University, determined to "contribute to transforming psychology research and teaching at the University of Coimbra", says the Principal Investigator of ContentMAP.

With €1.8 million in funding, the ContentMAP research project set out to uncover how the brain gathers, processes and stores the information that allows us to quickly recognise objects. It was the first project in the field of psychology in Portugal to receive funding from the European Research Council, and its mission extended beyond providing scientific answers. It also aimed to serve as an ambassador for fundamental science, highlighting the importance of research into brain mechanisms for advancing applied knowledge.

Many people have likely asked themselves: ‘Why can we recognise people instantly?’ or ‘How do we know the difference between a knife and a fork?’ While the answer might seem straightforward – ‘because our brain has got used to it’ – in-depth knowledge about this process has been unknown for many years. ContentMAP (Content-topical mapping: the topographical organisation of object knowledge in the brain, emerged to shed light on some of the mysteries surrounding how the brain functions.

Led by the University of Coimbra (UC), the project began as an idea by Jorge Almeida. A professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPCEUC) and a researcher at the Centre for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioural Intervention (CINEICC), Jorge decided to return to Portugal after working at Harvard University, determined to "contribute to transforming psychology research and teaching at the University of Coimbra", says the Principal Investigator of ContentMAP.

Cognitive neuroscience – the field at the heart of this project – is a cornerstone of teaching and research at leading psychology faculties and centres around the world. But not yet in Portugal. For Jorge Almeida, that needs to change. “Psychology is also a laboratory science,” he stresses. “We need to understand how the brain works in order to move forward.”

The research team behind ContentMAP set out to explore how information is mapped in the human brain and how its rapid organisation enables us to identify everyday objects and tools quickly and efficiently. For six years, the team managed to identify 'how our brain takes in information, processes it, organises it, stores it — and, most importantly, how it uses that information in daily life so we can recognise things almost instantly', explains the neuroscientist who heads the Proaction Lab — the Laboratory for the Perception and Recognition of Objects and Actions. 'It's hard to imagine not being able to use the tools we rely on every day. The more we understand how the brain organises information, the closer we get to developing treatments for debilitating conditions,' he notes.

Throughout the laboratory work and a series of experiments involving volunteer participants — whose involvement was crucial to the project’s success — Jorge Almeida’s team succeeded in creating 'maps of different object properties in different parts of the brain', he reveals. He argues that this insight into the brain’s organisational structure is essential because, he says, “if we want to intervene in a specific situation, we first need to understand how the brain works”.

Although Jorge Almeida looks back positively on the six years of the project, he acknowledges that working in an emerging area of science also brought major challenges. “Breaking new ground comes with its own set of difficulties. Our team had to extract a lot of information that simply wasn’t available before, which required serious computing power, a deep understanding of data and new ways of working with it,” explains the professor. These efforts paid off, enabling the team to gain new insight into how we recognise familiar objects, particularly since the study revealed that not everyone identifies them in the same way. Most people can distinguish between a glass bottle and one made of a different material, for instance, but the process is not universal.

However, scientific outputs alone do not define a research project. For Jorge Almeida, it was the people behind ContentMAP who were key to its success. 'I wouldn't have achieved anything without them,' he says. He adds that one of the most rewarding aspects was seeing the research team grow: 'We’ve seen people flourish and bring their own research projects to the University of Coimbra.' Science communication also played a vital role in helping the team reach a broader audience, from schools to the general public, and showcase the many facets of psychology, extending far beyond clinical intervention. 'I think we’ve changed the way research in psychology is done at UC, and we’ve also helped to change people’s lives,' he reflects. This was only possible, he stresses, because they created a safe and fair environment free from discrimination.

Alongside the team’s academic and personal development, ContentMAP also paved the way for new basic science initiatives – including the ERA Chair CogBooster, a project designed to advance teaching and research in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Coimbra. 'I hope that thanks to projects like these, it becomes increasingly clear why we must invest in fundamental science – at least as much as we do in applied science,' Jorge Almeida argues. 'We shouldn’t just think about what’s useful right now. We also need to create knowledge, and once we have that, everything else follows.' For someone who describes himself as 'passionate about science', the goal is always the same: to open new spaces and launch new projects that help fundamental science gain greater recognition across Portugal.

_{Content Production and Editing: Catarina Ribeiro, DCM; Inês Coelho, DCM
Image and Video Editing: Ana Bartolomeu, DCM; Karine Paniza, DCM
Translation [PT - EN]: Diana Taborda, DCM}