Associate Provost for Research Boston University Medical Campus
NEI - National Eye Institute	Research Resources

Abstract

Abstract: DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): A fertile convergence of anatomical, electrophysiological, psychophysical, functional imaging and computational approaches has made visual motion one of the most active areas of research with a number of important well-defined problems that are yielding to rigorous investigation. We expect that the outcome of the research program proposed here will contribute in important ways to our understanding of the functional architecture of the human visual motion system by a) elucidating the nature and organization of the mechanisms involved in the visual guidance of navigation, and b) investigating whether a particular anatomical region is computationally necessary for specific visual functions. The method by which we will address this is through studying the performance of neurological patients with discrete lesions on talks specifically designed to address the cortical mechanisms believed to underlie visual navigation. How does locomotor guidance depend on optic flow, 3D scene structure, and the recognition of landmarks? Are motion and stereo integrated at different stages in this process? We have previously developed a psychophysical paradigm of computer generated motion stimuli designed to critically analyze motion. Within this paradigm we shall now develop a new set of tasks designed to examine the effect of discrete brain lesions in neurological patients on (1) the perception of speed and direction of complex motion patterns, discrimination of the center of motion, heading perception; (2) the interaction between stereopsis and global motion and how different cues for 3D perception are processed; (3) perceptual-motor actions. Progress in understanding the neural substrate and the mechanisms underlying specific deficits in motion for navigation will provide important clues for how perception is linked to action. The correlation of neuroimaging, neuro-ophthalmological, neurological and neuropsychological examinations with patients' performance on the psychophysical tasks of visual navigation described in this proposal will be useful for devising diagnostic and mediation strategies.

Thesaurus Terms:
motion perception, neural information processing, stroke, visual pathway, visual perception
brain injury, form /pattern perception, psychophysics, vision disorder, visual depth perception, visual feedback
behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, human subject, neuropsychological test

Institution:	BOSTON UNIVERSITY
	881 COMMONWEALTH AVENUE
	BOSTON, MA 02215
Fiscal Year:	2005
Department:	BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Project Start:	01-AUG-1989
Project End:	30-NOV-2006
ICD:	NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
IRG:	VISB