Modulation of Microsaccades and Correlated Neural Responses as a Function of Viewing Task

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。人们经常惊讶地发现，他们的眼睛从不停止移动，即使他们盯着他们的目光。更令人惊讶的是：如果我们的眼睛停止移动，我们就会对静止的物体视而不见，这是由于大脑中一种被称为“神经适应”的过程。因为我们80%的时间都在盯着我们的视线，所以我们对静止物体的大部分视觉体验都是由注视性眼球运动驱动的。因此，眼动的生理和感知对于理解克服神经适应和维持视觉意识的神经机制至关重要。一种被称为微扫视的注视性眼球运动，会在视觉系统神经元中产生神经活动的爆发，并抵消适应和视觉衰退。然而，迄今为止还没有研究从知觉或生理的角度确定微眼球动态（速率、速度和大小）在高级视觉过程中的作用。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，巴罗神经学研究所的苏珊娜·马丁内斯-康德博士及其同事将通过确定微眼球动态与各种高水平观看任务之间的关系来解决这一知识空白。该项目将测量在不同注意力/认知需求的观看任务中的微跳动，并将检查在这种观看条件下与微跳动相关的神经活动。因为我们的大部分视觉体验都发生在注视过程中，所以理解注视眼运动在感知和认知中的作用是至关重要的。这项研究将确定观看条件如何改变微跳的动态，以及它们对神经活动和成功完成任务的影响。这项申请的资金将用于支持巴罗神经学研究所的一个新研究小组，该小组可以为神经科学领域的本科生、研究生和博士后学员提供研究培训机会。它将通过出版物向科学和非专业受众广泛传播研究成果，从而提高公众对科学的理解。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).People are often surprised to learn that their eyes never stop moving, even when they fixate their gaze. Even more surprising: if our eyes did stop moving, we would become blind to stationary objects due to a brain process called "neural adaptation". Since we fixate our gaze about 80% of the time, fixational eye movements are responsible for driving most of our visual experience of stationary objects. The physiology and perception of fixational eye movements are therefore critical to understanding the neural mechanisms that overcome neural adaptation and maintain visual awareness. A type of fixational eye movement, called microsaccades, produces bursts of neural activity in visual system neurons and counteracts adaptation and visual fading. However, no study to date has determined the role of microsaccadic dynamics (rate, velocity, and magnitude) on high-level visual processes, from either a perceptual or a physiological viewpoint. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde and colleagues at the Barrow Neurological Institute will address this gap in knowledge by determining the relationship between microsaccadic dynamics and a variety of high-level viewing tasks. The project will measure microsaccade dynamics during viewing tasks with varying attentional/cognitive demands and will also examine the neural activity that occurs in correlation to microsaccades during such viewing conditions.Because much, if not most, of our visual experience occurs during fixation, understanding the role of fixational eye movements in perception and cognition is of utmost importance. This research will determine how viewing conditions differentially modify the dynamics of microsaccades, as well as their impact on neural activity and successful task completion. The funding from this application will be used to support a new research group at the Barrow Neurological Institute which can provide research training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral trainees in neuroscience. It will broadly disseminate results through publications to scientific as well as lay audiences, thus enhancing scientific understanding by the public.