Reaching with Central Field Loss

描述（由申请人提供）：年龄相关性黄斑变性（AMD）是我国老年人视力损害的主要原因。在健康的视力中，中央凹在收集视觉世界的高分辨率信息方面起着至关重要的作用。在准备和执行到达动作时，我们使用这些信息来定位物体。当中央凹和周围组织停止功能时，中心视觉出现盲点（或暗点），AMD患者必须采用新的眼手协调策略。AMD患者眼动控制的研究大多集中在“偏心视觉”（即使用周边视觉看物体）和阅读策略上。在制作三明治或倒一杯茶等日常工作中，手眼协调要发挥作用，必须进行重要的适应性调整，对此几乎没有任何研究。随着我们逐渐了解适应对AMD患者有益（或损害）的功能结果，我们可以利用这些信息来改善康复计划。本提案的工作分为三个目标。第一个检查在多大程度上达到延迟和错误可以归因于正常的视力下降的外围。第二项研究考察了中央脑野丧失如何导致眼动方向错误，从而损害眼手协调。第三个目的是检查眼动和伸展适应是否以及如何作为年龄和疾病持续时间的函数发生。我们将构建一个关于正常、AMD和青少年黄斑变性（JMD）观察者在大年龄范围内（40-100岁）的到达和眼球运动的数据集。我们将公开分享这个数据集，以便我们和其他人可以将其作为一种资源来研究年龄、疾病和手眼协调的适应策略等因素。本研究结果将进一步加深我们对中央野丢失对功能影响的认识，对感觉运动整合的基础研究人员也具有重要意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of visual impairment in our elder population. In healthy vision, the fovea plays a critical role in gathering high resolution information about the visual world. We use this information for localizing objects during the preparation and execution of reaching movements. When the fovea and surrounding tissues cease to function, a blindspot (or scotoma) occurs in central vision, and AMD patients must adopt new eye-hand coordination strategies. Most research in eye movement control for AMD patients has concentrated on "eccentric viewing" (i.e. using peripheral vision to see objects) and on reading strategies. Almost no research has been conducted on the important adaptations that must take place for eye-hand coordination to be effective in daily tasks, such as making a sandwich or pouring a cup of tea. As we develop our understanding of adaptations that benefit (or impair) functional outcome for AMD patients, we can utilize this information to improve rehabilitation programs. The work in this proposal is divided into three aims. The first examines to what extent reaching delays and errors can be attributed to normal acuity decline in the periphery. The second examines how central field loss contributes to misdirected eye movements that impair eye-hand coordination. The third aim examines whether and how oculomotor and reaching adaptation occurs as a function of age and disease duration. We will construct a dataset on reaching and eye movements collected from normal, AMD and juvenile macular degeneration (JMD) observers over a large age range (40-100). We will share this dataset publicly so that we and others may use it as a resource to investigate the factors of age, disease and adaptive strategies on eye- hand coordination. The outcomes of this study will further our understanding of the functional impact of central field los, and will also be of significance to basic researchers in sensorimotor integration.