Binocular vision after long-term adaptation to ocular optics

众所周知，人眼的光学功能限制了视觉功能的许多方面，包括视力和 对比敏感度。关于眼睛的光学功能如何影响双目视觉，人们知之甚少。有明确的证据表明 光学对立体视觉和双目总和都有影响。有趣的是，眼球间的光学差异阻碍了一些 在促进他人的同时，双眼功能的各个方面。此外，我们之前的研究发现，在眼睛与 由像差、神经加工等异常大的光学缺陷引起的长时间视觉剥夺 视网膜图像的对比度和相位都发生了变化。我们的初步研究还表明，双筒望远镜 视觉功能，如双目求和、主观图像质量和立体分辨率由强大的 双眼神经与双眼的光学轮廓相互作用。我们现在准备好区分贡献 光学和神经因素对双目视觉的影响，包括圆锥角膜疾病患者 (KC)。在这种独特的情况下，正常发育的视觉系统在成年后会遭受光学退化，因此 为研究诱导光学像差对双眼视觉功能的适应性提供了机会。我们将利用 创新的先进矫正工具，双目自适应光学视觉模拟器和定制的巩膜透镜 近远期精密像差矫正/操作研究(1)光学对双目的影响 不同单目图像的组合，(2)双目光学对人类立体视觉的贡献和(3) 改进的光学和双眼知觉学习刺激的双眼神经可塑性。 目标1旨在研究不同视网膜图像的双目组合的机制 由眼睛之间的光学差异引起的。这是通过检验这样一个假设来实现的，即人类 视觉系统可以实现来自左眼和右眼图像的神经信号的双眼组合 通过在局部区域上操作的眼睛间过程来提高全球双目图像质量的方式 视觉空间以眼睛选择性的方式(1.1)，通过表征长时间的视觉优势引起的感觉优势的变化 对眼睛光学的术语适应(1.2)和通过检验不同的单眼像差改变相位的假设 双眼对宽带刺激的感知不同，导致双眼优势和双眼之间的差异 在一些严重的情况下会出现眼抑制。目标2是研究包括像差在内的光学和神经因素， 人类立体视觉中的凝视性眼球运动和长期神经适应。目标3将评估 在长期适应过程中发生的哪种双眼可塑性是可逆的，以及什么机制变化 一旦KC眼的双眼获得了无像差的图像质量，这种反转就是基础。 这些特定目标的成功完成将产生对人类双目视觉的基本见解， 具体地说，眼睛光学和双眼神经适应过程之间的关系。

It is well known that the optics of the human eye limit many aspects of visual function including visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Less is known about how the eyes’ optics affect binocular vision. There is clear evidence that optics affect both stereopsis and binocular summation. Interestingly, inter-ocular differences in optics impede some aspects of binocular function while facilitating others. Moreover, our previous studies found that in eyes with prolonged visual deprivation induced by the abnormally large optical defects such as aberrations, neural processing of both contrast and phase of retinal images are altered. Our preliminary studies have also shown that binocular visual functions e.g. binocular summation, subjective image quality and stereo-resolution are determined by strong binocular neural interaction with the optical profiles of the two eyes. We are now ready to distinguish contributions of optical and neural factors to binocular vision, including in patients with the corneal disease called keratoconus (KC). With this unique condition, a normally developed visual system suffers optical degradation in adulthood, thus providing opportunity to study adaptation to induced optical aberrations on binocular visual function. We will utilize innovative advanced correction tools, a binocular adaptive optics vision simulator and a customized scleral lens for short-term and long-term precise aberration correction/manipulation to study (1) the effects of optics on binocular combination of dissimilar monocular images, (2) contributions of binocular optics to human stereopsis and (3) binocular neural plasticity stimulated by improved optics and binocular perceptual learning. Aim 1 is designed to investigate the mechanisms that underlie binocular combination of dissimilar retinal images induced by inter-ocular differences in the eye’s optics. This is achieved by testing the hypothesis that the human visual system can achieve binocular combination of neural signals arising from left- and right-eye images in a manner that enhances the global binocular image quality via interocular processes operating over local regions of visual space in an eye-selective manner (1.1), by characterizing changes in sensory dominance induced by long- term adaptation to eye’s optics (1.2) and by testing the hypothesis that dissimilar monocular aberrations alter phase perception of a broadband stimulus differently in the two eyes, resulting in reduced binocular advantages and inter- ocular inhibition in some severe cases. Aim 2 is to investigate both optical and neural factors including aberrations, fixational eye movements and long-term neural adaptation in human stereopsis. Aim 3 will assess the extent to which binocular plasticity that occurs during long-term adaptation is reversible and what mechanistic changes underlie this reversal once aberration-free image quality in the two eyes is achieved in KC eyes. Successful completion of these specific aims will produce fundamental insights into human binocular vision, specifically the relationship between ocular optics and the binocular neural adaptive process.