DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL FUNCTION

该项目的目标集中在表征 猕猴空间视觉的发展。 这些猴子 一种动物模型，可用于测试关于 视觉发展的神经基础及其破坏 弱视，其通常被定义为由于以下原因导致的视力丧失： 发育过程中的异常视觉状况。 我们一直在研究 正常幼猴的视觉发育和 实验诱导弱视，以评估理论， 神经对发育的限制以及 弱视 我们之前分析了斜视的性能， 屈光参差的猴子在各种空间任务，以建立程度 他们的缺陷与对比模式有关， 灵敏度损失 我们发现，在大多数情况下， 对比敏感度损失可以解释空间分辨率的损失。 准确性弱视，并认为赤字模式表明， 皮质基质 我们记录了电生理特性 弱视猴初级视皮层（V1）神经元的数量， 以确定弱视缺陷的神经基础。 我们有 发现斜视和屈光参差的结果不同 猴子 斜方猴的代表性相当均衡 而屈光参差的猴子有一个 对弱视眼的明显偏见。 对于这两个组，空间 并对比由神经元驱动的神经元的响应特性。 弱视眼与那些由 非弱视眼。

The goals of this project center on characterization of the development of spatial vision in macaque monkeys. These monkeys form an animal model that can be used for testing hypotheses about the neural basis for the development of vision and its disruption by amblyopia, which is generally defined as a loss of vision due to abnormal visual conditions during development. We have been studying visual development in normal infant monkeys and in monkeys that have experimentally induced amblyopia in order to evaluate theories about the neural limitations on development and the disruption caused by amblyopia. We previously analyzed the performance of strabismic and anisometropic monkeys on various spatial tasks to establish the extent to which their deficits were related to the pattern of contrast sensitivity losses. We have found that in most cases, the pattern of contrast sensitivity loss can account for the loss of spatial precision in amblyopes, and that the pattern of deficits suggests a cortical substrate. We have recorded electrophysiological properties of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) of amblyopic monkeys, to try to identify the neural basis for the amblyopic deficits. We have found a different pattern of results from strabismic and anisometropic monkeys. The strabismic monkeys have fairly balanced representation of the two eyes in V1 whereas the anisometropic monkeys have a distinct bias against the amblyopic eye. For both groups, the spatial and contrast response properties of the neurons driven by the amblyopic eyes were poor compared with those driven by the non-amblyopic eye.