Linking the Role of Early Perceptual Competition in Motor Output Efficiency

当前提案中的研究围绕着眼球运动是如何编程和执行的，以及什么样的刺激会影响这些过程。它将研究视觉系统从早期刺激选择过程中获得的功能益处。一个突出的进化解释是，早期的刺激优先级发生是为了允许随后的运动和动作准备，也就是说，早期的视觉输入被选择来驱动随后的运动输出。本研究项目的目的是探索早期刺激选择在启动控制后续眼球运动的后续神经信号中的作用。这项工作将通过连接两个研究得很好的，但往往不相关的研究领域，推进视觉和运动认知领域。通过理解视觉刺激如何放大随后的运动动作，依靠大脑感知和运动中心之间的相互作用，有可能开发出新的康复技术。这项研究还将进一步发展一般的眼球运动和编程测量技术，并有助于我们理解在日常复杂的任务中，如驾驶汽车或在人群中寻找个人，是什么刺激因素影响了眼球运动的表现。

The research in the current proposal revolves around how eye movements are programmed and executed and what types of stimuli can influence these processes. It will investigate the functional benefits obtained from early stimulus selection processes by the visual system. One prominent evolutionary account is that early stimulus prioritization occurs to allow for the subsequent preparation of locomotion and action, that is, early visual input is selected to drive subsequent motor output. The objective of this research program will explore the role of early stimulus selection in priming subsequent neural signals that control subsequent eye movements. This work will advance the field of visual and motor cognition by bridging two well studied, but often unconnected, fields of research. Through understanding how a visual stimulus can amplify subsequent motor action, there is potential for new developments in rehabilitative techniques relying on interactions between perceptual and motor centres of the brain.This research will also further develop general eye movement and programming measurement techniques and contribute to our understanding of what stimulus factors affect oculomotor performance during every day, but complicated, tasks such as driving a car or searching for an individual in a crowd.