High resolution, high field strength MRI studies of the mechanisms and architecture underlying human stereoscopic vision

功能磁共振成像（fMRI）可以用来可视化人类受试者的大脑活动。当大脑的某个区域变得活跃时，细胞就开始发射动作电位来传递信息。该区域需要增加的氧气流量来为这种活动提供燃料。由于含氧（新鲜）血液和脱氧血液具有不同的磁性，因此可以使用这两种物质的比例来测量大脑活动的变化。用于观察人类大脑的技术，包括其功能和联系，都在不断发展，使我们能够获得越来越多的信息。这个项目的目的是确定我们如何使用我们的两只眼睛看到深度。有许多信息片段可以告诉我们物体之间的相对位置，但是如果在两只眼睛的图像之间人为地引入细微的差异，比如在？魔眼?图片，一个物体可能会跳？在没有任何其他信息的情况下。使用类似于魔眼图片的刺激，我们将研究3个主要问题：1)我们将观察正常人群，看看大脑的不同区域是否专门用于处理深度感知的不同阶段。我们还将调查大脑的反应是否与人们看深度的能力有关。深度感知缺陷是很常见的，因为在儿童早期，由于斜视而导致的两只眼睛不对准是很常见的。还是?弱视?能阻止双眼神经元的发育；那些对双眼信息敏感的人。虽然这些情况通常可以通过手术矫正，但并非所有儿童都能恢复双眼视力。我们将研究这些缺乏双眼视觉的受试者的神经反应，以研究他们的大脑如何与正常双眼视觉的人不同地处理信息。功能磁共振成像所能看到的细节取决于各种因素，但一个重要的因素是用于实验的磁铁的强度。在牛津大学，我们非常幸运，因为我们可以使用一块非常强大的磁铁来研究被认为是深度感知基础的精细组织。

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used to visualise activity in the brains of human subjects. When a region of the brain becomes active the cells begin to fire action potentials to communicate information. An increased flow of oxygen is required in that local region to fuel this activity. Since oxygenated (fresh) and de-oxygenated blood have different magnetic properties, it is possible to use the ratio of these two substances to measure changes in brain activity. The techniques used for looking at the human brain, both its function and its connections, are constantly evolving, allowing us to gain more and more information.This project is designed to determine how we use our 2 eyes to see in depth. There are many pieces of information that can tell us where objects are in relation to each other, but if a slight difference is introduced between the images of the two eyes artificially, such as in ?Magic Eye? pictures, an object may ?jump? out without any other information available. Using stimuli that are similar to Magic Eye pictures we will investigate 3 main issues:1) We will look in the normal population to see whether different areas of the brain are specialised for processing different stages of depth perception. We will also investigate whether the responses of the brain are related to how good people are at seeing depth. 2) Deficits in depth perception are common, as any misalignment of the two eyes during early childhood due to ?squint? or ?lazy eye? can prevent the development of binocular neurons; those sensitive to input from both eyes. Although these conditions can often be corrected surgically, not all children regain their binocular vision. We will investigate the neural responses in such subjects lacking binocular vision to examine how their brains process information differently from people with normal binocular vision.3) The amount of detail that can be seen with fMRI depends on various factors, but an important one is the strength of the magnet used for the experiments. We are very fortunate in Oxford as we will have access to a very strong magnet that we will use to investigate the very fine organisation believed to underlie the perception of depth.