DEVELOPMENT OF HYPERACUITY

该项目的目标集中在表征 猕猴空间视觉发育 这些猴子 一种动物模型，可用于测试关于 发育过程及其中断的神经基础 斜视性弱视 我们将研究 几个方面的空间视觉在正常的婴儿猴子和 实验性诱导斜视的猴子， 评价超敏的神经基础理论和 斜视性弱视的基本空间缺陷 一是 解决了正常新生儿中央凹处理和 斜视性视觉处理类似于正常周边， 并研究了基于场的空间赤字的性质， 实验用的内嗜性猴子 第二，我们将努力 确定视觉信息“采样”的性质， 正常的幼猴，并调查正常的 周边和斜视视觉系统在空间上是 采样不足。 第三，我们将进行生理和 我们对神经基础的解剖学研究 精神病检查。 这些实验涉及两种行为测试的标准方法。 测试：优先观察和操作条件反射。 所有 将通过这些方法之一获得心理物理数据。 生理学研究，将进行这些研究以评估 精神病理学定义的功能的神经基础，将 使用标准电生理记录来完成 技术. 猕猴被用于这些研究， 纵向数据可以在仔细控制的情况下获得， 条件，因此，潜在的神经功能可以 在视觉功能特征良好的动物中进行研究， 被证明与人类相似。

The goals of this project center on the characterization of spatial vision development in macaque monkeys. These monkeys form an animal model that can be used for testing hypotheses about the neural basis for the developmental processes and their disruption in strabismic amblyopia. We will be studying the development of several aspects of spatial vision in normal infant monkeys and in monkeys who have experimentally-induced strabismus in order to evaluate theories of the neural basis of hyperacuity and of the basic spatial deficit in strabismic amblyopia. First, we will address the idea that both normal neonatal foveal processing and strabismic visual processing resemble that in the normal periphery, and investigate the field-based nature of the spatial deficit in experimentally esotropic monkeys. Second, we will attempt to determine the nature of the "sampling" of visual information in normal infant monkeys and investigate the notion that the normal periphery and the strabismic visual system are spatially undersampled. Third, we will undertake physiological and anatomical studies of the neural basis of the effects we have examined psychophysically. The experiments involve two standard methods for behavioral testing: preferential looking and operant conditioning. All psychophysical data will be obtained by one of these methods. Physiological studies, which will be conducted in order to evaluate the neural bases of the psychophysically defined functions, will be accomplished using standard electrophysiological recording techniques. Macaque monkeys are used for these studies so that longitudinal data can be obtained under carefully controlled conditions, and so that the underlying neural function can be studied in animals whose visual function is well-characterized and demonstrated to be similar to that of humans.