Function of fixational instability during natural viewing

Boston University (Charles River Campus), Boston MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): During visual fixation, small eye movements of which we are usually not aware, prevent the maintenance of a steady direction of gaze. It is known that images tend to fade when retinal motion is eliminated in the laboratory. However, it has long been debated whether, during natural viewing, fixational eye movements do more than prevent the visual scene from fading. The results of experiments conducted during a previous Grant for Pilot Research indicate that fixational eye movements contribute to the perception of fine spatial detail, as predicted by our models and as speculated for more than a century. This proposal describes a program of research, which combines psychophysical experiments with human subjects, computational modeling of neurons in the early visual system, and statistical analysis of the visual input the retina to study the contributions of fixational eye movements in pattern vision. Psychophysical experiments will examine the detection and discrimination of stimuli presented, with and without retinal image motion, during the brief intersaccadic periods of natural visual fixation. To overcome the technical limitations of previous studies on retinal stabilization, experiments will rely on a new system of gaze-contingent display, which enables rigorous comparison between the two conditions of normal retinal motion and retinal stabilization. This system enables us to (a) selectively stabilize the stimulus after a saccade, a condition that preserves the normal fixational motion of the eye, (b) randomly alternate trials with and without retinal image motion, and (c) assess the accuracy of retinal stabilization independently of the subject's own judgment. Computational studies will examine the visual input signals experienced by subjects in the experiments, and simulate the responses of neurons in the retina, the lateral geniculate nucleus, and the striate cortex. For every experimental trial, a simulation will replicate neuronal activity during the sequence of eye movements performed by the subject. Subject performance and information about the stimulus transmitted by neuronal responses will be compared on a trial-by-trial basis. 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 treatment of the visual impairments commonly associated with such conditions.