Function of Fixational Instability During Natural Viewing

自然观看过程中注视不稳定性的作用

• 批准号: 8370910
• 负责人: MICHELE RUCCI
• 金额: $ 38.56万
• 依托单位: BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS)
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8370910
• 关键词: Address; Advocate; Behavior; Characteristics; Chronic; Clinical; Code; Comprehension; Computer Simulation; Dependence; Detection; Discrimination; Dyskinetic syndrome; Dyslexia; Exposure to; Eye; Eye Movements; Frequencies; Funding; Funding Agency; Goals; Human; Image; Impairment; Individual; Laboratories; Lateral Geniculate Body; Lead; Link; Location; Microscopic; Modeling; Motion; Neurons; Outcome; Perception; Performance; Phase; Play; Process; Psychophysiology; Research; Rest; Retina; Retinal; Role; Sensory Process; Signal Transduction; Simulate; Staging; Stimulus; Sum; System; Testing; Theoretical Studies; United States National Institutes of Health; Vision; Vision Disorders; Vision research; Visual; Visual Acuity; Visual Perception; Visual Psychophysics; Visual impairment; Visual system structure; Work; attenuation; experience; experimental analysis; flexibility; gaze; luminance; neural model; neuromechanism; operation; prevent; relating to nervous system; research study; response; retinal stimulation; sample fixation; spatiotemporal; statistics; treatment strategy; vision development; visual information

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our eyes are never at rest. We are normally not aware that microscopic eye movements continually jitter the location of gaze, even when attending to a single point in the scene. It is known that visual percepts tend to fade when retina image motion is eliminated in the laboratory. However, it has also been hypothesized that, during natural viewing, fixational eye movements do more than prevent the visual scene from fading. Several findings from our recent NIH-funded research, including a spatial equalization of the temporal energy impinging on the retina during viewing of natural scenes, suggest that the fixational motion of the eye plays an important role in the processing of visual information. Building upon our recent results, this project addresses three fundamental questions: (Aim 1) How is spatial information encoded in the modulations of luminance resulting from fixational eye movements? (Aim 2) How is this information extracted and interpreted by the visual system? (Aim 3) Is the spatiotemporal redistribution of input energy flexible, so that it can be adjusted according to the task? To link the perceptual influences of fixational eye movements to their effect on the neural coding of visual information, this project integrates visual psychophysics in humans, analysis of retinal input, and neural modeling. Psychophysical experiments will rely on a flexible, sophisticated system for gaze-contingent display, which we have developed and extensively tested, to examine detection and discrimination performance under controlled retinal image motion. Statistical, computational, and modeling studies will examine the visual input signals experienced by subjects during high- acuity visual tasks and simulate the responses of neurons in the retina and lateral geniculate nucleus. These studies have the potential to force a radical shift in our understanding of retinal coding, replacing the traditional view of a purely sensory processing stage with a new view, in which perception and behavior are much more intimately tied than previously thought. Furthermore, a number of visual disorders manifest abnormal fixational eye movements. In addition to advancing our basic understanding of visual perception, a comprehension of the functional implications of fixational instability may lead to new treatment approaches for the visual impairments commonly associated with such conditions. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: During natural viewing, humans continually perform microscopic eye movements. These movements are abnormal in various pathological conditions with reduced visual capabilities. By investigating the visual functions of microscopic eye movements, this project will advance the understanding of normal human vision as an integrated sensorimotor process and may open the way to new treatment approaches for the visual impairments commonly associated with such conditions.

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的眼睛永远不会休息。我们通常不会意识到微观眼球运动会不断地抖动注视位置，即使在关注场景中的单个点时也是如此。众所周知，当在实验室中消除视网膜图像运动时，视觉感知往往会减弱。然而，也有人假设，在自然观看过程中，注视眼球运动的作用不仅仅是防止视觉场景褪色。我们最近由美国国立卫生研究院资助的研究的几项发现，包括在观看自然场景时撞击视网膜的时间能量的空间均衡，表明眼睛的注视运动在视觉信息的处理中发挥着重要作用。基于我们最近的结果，该项目解决了三个基本问题：（目标 1）如何在注视眼球运动产生的亮度调制中编码空间信息？ （目标 2）视觉系统如何提取和解释这些信息？ （目标3）输入能量的时空重新分配是否灵活，以便可以根据任务进行调整？为了将注视眼球运动的感知影响与其对视觉信息神经编码的影响联系起来，该项目整合了人类视觉心理物理学、视网膜输入分析和神经建模。心理物理学实验将依赖于我们开发并广泛测试的灵活、复杂的注视相关显示系统，以检查受控视网膜图像运动下的检测和辨别性能。统计、计算和建模研究将检查受试者在高敏锐度视觉任务期间经历的视觉输入信号，并模拟视网膜和外侧膝状核中神经元的反应。这些研究有可能迫使我们对视网膜编码的理解发生根本性的转变，用一种新的观点取代纯粹感觉处理阶段的传统观点，在这种观点中，感知和行为比以前想象的更加紧密地联系在一起。此外，许多视觉障碍表现为异常的注视眼球运动。除了增进我们对视觉感知的基本理解之外，对注视不稳定的功能影响的理解可能会导致针对通常与此类情况相关的视觉障碍的新治疗方法。 公共健康相关性：在自然观看过程中，人类不断地进行微观眼球运动。这些运动在视觉能力下降的各种病理条件下都是异常的。通过研究微观眼球运动的视觉功能，该项目将促进对正常人类视觉作为一个综合感觉运动过程的理解，并可能为通常与此类疾病相关的视觉障碍的新治疗方法开辟道路。