Binocular vision after long-term adaptation to ocular optics

众所周知，人眼的光学限制了视觉功能的许多方面，包括视敏度和视觉灵敏度。 对比敏感度人们对眼睛的光学系统如何影响双眼视觉知之甚少。有明确的证据表明 光学影响立体视觉和双眼总和。有趣的是，眼间的光学差异阻碍了一些 同时促进其他方面的双眼功能。此外，我们以前的研究发现， 由异常大的光学缺陷如像差、神经加工和视觉刺激引起的长时间视觉剥夺 视网膜图像的对比度和相位都被改变。我们的初步研究还表明， 视觉功能，例如双眼总和、主观图像质量和立体分辨率，由强 双眼神经相互作用与双眼的光学轮廓。我们现在准备区分贡献 光学和神经因素对双眼视觉的影响，包括患有称为圆锥角膜的角膜疾病的患者 （KC）。在这种独特的情况下，正常发育的视觉系统在成年后会发生光学退化， 提供了研究诱导的光学像差对双眼视觉功能的适应的机会。我们将利用 创新的先进矫正工具，双目自适应光学视觉模拟器和定制的巩膜透镜， 短期和长期的精确像差校正/操作，以研究（1）光学对双眼的影响 不同单目图像的组合，（2）双目光学对人类立体视觉的贡献，以及（3） 双眼神经可塑性刺激的改善光学和双眼知觉学习。 目的1是研究双眼不同视网膜图像组合的机制 这是由眼睛光学系统中的眼间差异引起的。这是通过检验假设来实现的， 视觉系统可以实现由左眼和右眼图像产生的神经信号的双目组合， 通过在局部区域上操作的两眼间过程来增强全局双目图像质量的方式， 视觉空间的眼睛选择性的方式（1.1），通过表征的变化，在感觉优势诱导的长， 术语适应眼睛的光学（1.2），并通过测试假设，不同的单眼像差改变相位 两眼对宽带刺激的感知不同，导致双眼优势减少， 在一些严重的情况下会出现眼部抑制。目的2是研究光学和神经因素，包括像差， 固视眼球运动和人类立体视觉的长期神经适应。目标3将评估 在长期适应过程中发生的双眼可塑性是可逆的， 一旦在KC眼中实现双眼无像差的图像质量，这是这种逆转的基础。 这些具体目标的成功完成将产生对人类双眼视觉的基本见解， 特别是眼睛光学和双眼神经适应过程之间的关系。

It is well known that the optics of the human eye limit many aspects of visual function including visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. Less is known about how the eyes’ optics affect binocular vision. There is clear evidence that optics affect both stereopsis and binocular summation. Interestingly, inter-ocular differences in optics impede some aspects of binocular function while facilitating others. Moreover, our previous studies found that in eyes with prolonged visual deprivation induced by the abnormally large optical defects such as aberrations, neural processing of both contrast and phase of retinal images are altered. Our preliminary studies have also shown that binocular visual functions e.g. binocular summation, subjective image quality and stereo-resolution are determined by strong binocular neural interaction with the optical profiles of the two eyes. We are now ready to distinguish contributions of optical and neural factors to binocular vision, including in patients with the corneal disease called keratoconus (KC). With this unique condition, a normally developed visual system suffers optical degradation in adulthood, thus providing opportunity to study adaptation to induced optical aberrations on binocular visual function. We will utilize innovative advanced correction tools, a binocular adaptive optics vision simulator and a customized scleral lens for short-term and long-term precise aberration correction/manipulation to study (1) the effects of optics on binocular combination of dissimilar monocular images, (2) contributions of binocular optics to human stereopsis and (3) binocular neural plasticity stimulated by improved optics and binocular perceptual learning. Aim 1 is designed to investigate the mechanisms that underlie binocular combination of dissimilar retinal images induced by inter-ocular differences in the eye’s optics. This is achieved by testing the hypothesis that the human visual system can achieve binocular combination of neural signals arising from left- and right-eye images in a manner that enhances the global binocular image quality via interocular processes operating over local regions of visual space in an eye-selective manner (1.1), by characterizing changes in sensory dominance induced by long- term adaptation to eye’s optics (1.2) and by testing the hypothesis that dissimilar monocular aberrations alter phase perception of a broadband stimulus differently in the two eyes, resulting in reduced binocular advantages and inter- ocular inhibition in some severe cases. Aim 2 is to investigate both optical and neural factors including aberrations, fixational eye movements and long-term neural adaptation in human stereopsis. Aim 3 will assess the extent to which binocular plasticity that occurs during long-term adaptation is reversible and what mechanistic changes underlie this reversal once aberration-free image quality in the two eyes is achieved in KC eyes. Successful completion of these specific aims will produce fundamental insights into human binocular vision, specifically the relationship between ocular optics and the binocular neural adaptive process.