US-United Kingdom Cooperative Research: Optics and Movementsof Stomatoped Crustacean Eyes

该奖项将支持马里兰大学巴尔的摩分校的Thomas Cronin博士和英国苏塞克斯大学的Michael Land博士之间的合作研究。这项研究将集中在气孔甲壳类动物眼睛的光学和运动上。口足类甲壳类动物有不同寻常的特殊视觉系统，有两个独特的特征。首先，每只眼睛都是三重组织——一只眼睛的三个区域观察空间中的同一点。这种设计可用于距离感知和色调辨别；它也可能提供偏振视觉和一种不寻常的形式视觉。口足类动物视觉的另一个特征是眼睛可以扫描大范围的视野，但这并不需要两侧的协调。该研究将使用显微分光光度法检查眼睛不同区域的内部过滤器和视觉色素，并计算出它们对光谱灵敏度的贡献。利用干涉显微镜，研究人员将了解口足类动物如何在其视网膜上形成图像。最后，研究人员将学习如何使用Land博士开发的视频计算机接口方法来分析口足类动物在扫描、跟踪、固定和光动过程中的眼球运动。这些研究不仅有助于两大口足动物视觉研究实验室的协调研究，而且有望对视觉科学和人工智能在计算机/机器人视觉中的应用产生具有普遍意义的结果。

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Thomas Cronin, University of Maryland Baltimore County and Dr. Michael Land, University of Sussex, England. The research will focus on the optics and movements of stomatoped crustacean eyes. Stomatopod crustaceans have unusual and specialized visual systems, characterized by two unique features. First, each eye is triple in organization - three regions of one eye view the same point in space. This design may be used for distance perception and hue discrimination; it also may provide polarization vision and an unusual type of form vision. The other characteristic feature of stomatopod vision is that the eyes scan large visual fields, but do so without bilateral coordination. The proposed study will examine the internal filters and visual pigments of the various eye regions using microspectrophotometry, and work out their contributions to spectral sensitivity. Using interference microscopy, the investigators will learn how stomatopods form images on their retinas. Finally, the investigators will learn how the investigators will use a video computer interfacing method developed by Dr. Land to analyze stomatopod eye movements during scanning, tracking, fixation, and optokinesis. These studies will not only assist the two major laboratories working on stomatopod vision to coordinate their research, but also are expected to have results of general significance for vision science and for the application of artificial intelligence to computer/robotic vision.