Attention Allocation for Voluntary Smooth Eye Movements

描述(申请人提供)：平滑追逐通常是研究小的，点刺激，但延伸的自然物体刺激外围视网膜，并具有感兴趣的特征。目前尚不清楚外围运动是如何与追踪相互作用的，也不知道在追逐过程中注意力是如何分配到特征上的。我们有证据表明，外周运动通过最大限度地减少眼跳来提高追踪力，而且注意力不会锁定在中心凹，而是可以灵活地分配到周边，当中心凹追逐负担减轻时。此外，飞行员的数据显示，仅仅转移人们对中心凹的注意力就能提高追踪力。因此，包含周边视网膜的运动系统可以更顺畅地驱动眼球追逐，并允许注意力过程同时监控局部运动特征，我们的试点数据支持这一假设。此外，我们发现，这些追踪和特征监控系统的注意资源似乎是分开的。具体目标是：目标1)追求过程中的注意分配是否灵活？实验将评估在操纵中心凹注意需求的条件下的注意力分配，同时控制低水平特征，如亮度瞬变。目标2)在追逐过程中，中心凹注意力是否会增加眼跳？在这个目标上的实验测量、追踪和操纵注意力和视网膜刺激的轨迹。目的3)多元素刺激是否同时支持独立的眼球和注意力运动？实验使用注意操作特征(AOC)分析来考察用于追踪和特征跟踪的注意资源是否独立。其他实验将确定是否只追查被关注的元素，如果是，是否仍然从两个来源引起关注。 公共卫生相关性：我们的项目与老年性黄斑病变(ARM)相关，ARM是一种可能导致中央视网膜永久性损害的眼病，因为它解决了中心凹以及外围因素对追踪的影响。在美国和其他工业化国家，ARM是导致严重视力障碍的主要原因，这一点被广泛接受。了解外周和中心凹信息在追赶过程中是如何处理的，这是帮助手臂患者学习保持对运动物体的清晰视觉的关键。以往研究中心性视力丧失的追踪研究都是使用小的斑点目标，并集中在如何利用他们新的首选视网膜轨迹(PRL)来追踪斑点。了解追赶过程中外周和中心凹的贡献有助于指导失去中心凹功能的手臂患者的眼球运动治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Smooth pursuit is usually studied with small, spot stimuli, yet extended natural objects stimulate peripheral retina and have features of interest. It is unknown how peripheral motion interacts with pursuit, or how attention is allocated to features during it. We have evidence that peripheral motion improves pursuit by minimizing saccades, and that attention is not locked to the fovea, but can be allocated flexibly to the periphery when the foveal pursuit burden is reduced. Furthermore, pilot data show that merely diverting attention from the fovea improves pursuit. It follows that a motion system incorporating peripheral retina can drive ocular pursuit more smoothly and allow an attentive process to simultaneously monitor local motion features, and our pilot data support this hypothesis. In addition we find that attentional resources for these pursuit and feature monitoring systems appear to be separate. Specific Aims are: Aim 1) Is attention allocation during pursuit flexible? Experiments will assess attention allocation under conditions that manipulate foveal attention demands while controlling for low-level features such as luminance transients. Aim 2) Does foveal attention increase saccades during pursuit? Experiments in this aim measure pursuit and manipulate attention and the locus of retinal stimulation. Aim 3) Do multi-element stimuli simultaneously support independent eye and attention movements? Experiments investigate whether attentional resources for pursuit and feature tracking are independent using attention operating characteristic (AOC) analysis. Other experiments will determine if only the attended elements are pursued, and if they are, if attention still arises from two sources. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Our project has relevance to Age-Related Maculopathy (ARM), an eye disease that can result in permanent damage of the central retina, since it addresses foveal as well as peripheral contributions to pursuit. It is widely accepted that ARM is the leading cause of severe visual impairment in the U.S. and in other industrialized countries. Understanding how peripheral and foveal information are processed during pursuit is key for helping patients with ARM learn to maintain clear vision of moving objects. Previous work studying pursuit with central visual loss has used small spot targets, and focused on how the spot was pursued with their new preferred retinal locus (PRL). Knowledge of peripheral and foveal contributions during pursuit could help guide oculomotor therapy on ARM patients who have lost use of their foveae.