Attention Allocation for Voluntary Smooth Eye Movements

描述（由申请人提供）：通常使用小的点刺激来研究平滑追踪，但扩展的自然物体刺激周边视网膜并具有感兴趣的特征。目前还不清楚周边运动如何与追求相互作用，或如何注意力分配到功能在it.We有证据表明，周边运动提高追求通过最大限度地减少扫视，注意力并没有锁定到中央凹，但可以灵活地分配到周边时，中央凹的追求负担减少。此外，飞行员的数据显示，仅仅是将注意力从中央凹上转移开，就能提高追踪效果。因此，结合周边视网膜的运动系统可以更顺利地驱动眼球追踪，并允许一个专注的过程，同时监测局部运动特征，我们的试点数据支持这一假设。此外，我们发现，这些追求和功能监控系统的注意力资源似乎是分开的。具体目标是：目标1）追求过程中的注意力分配是否灵活？实验将评估注意力分配的条件下，操纵中央凹的注意力需求，同时控制低级别的功能，如亮度瞬变。目标2）中央凹注意是否增加了追踪过程中的眼跳？在这个目标的实验测量追求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动和注意力运动？实验研究是否注意资源的追求和特征跟踪是独立的使用注意操作特性（AOC）分析。其他实验将确定是否只追求被关注的元素，如果是，注意力是否仍然来自两个来源。 公共卫生相关性：我们的项目与视网膜相关性黄斑病变（ARM）有关，这是一种可能导致中央视网膜永久性损伤的眼病，因为它解决了中央凹和外周对追求的贡献。普遍认为ARM是美国和其他工业化国家严重视力障碍的主要原因。了解在追踪过程中如何处理周边和中央凹信息是帮助ARM患者学习保持对移动物体清晰视觉的关键。以前的工作研究追求与中央视觉损失使用小斑点的目标，并专注于如何追求斑点与他们的新的首选视网膜轨迹（PRL）。在追踪过程中了解周边和中心凹的贡献有助于指导对已经失去中心凹使用的ARM患者进行眼科治疗。

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.