Visual functions across the lifespan

视力障碍是一种非常可怕的残疾。然而，眼睛和视觉系统似乎能够在功能和结构上适应各种环境影响。这意味着有可能有利地改变结果，从而预防或减少视力损害。这项研究的长期目标是了解视觉和视觉系统的发展过程，以及这些过程在多大程度上可以通过视觉体验或适应来改变。为了了解正常的发育过程，必须能够测量所讨论的视觉功能。这并不总是容易的，有些人群比其他人群更难评估。因此，我的主要目标之一是测量通常被忽视的人群（如儿童和老年人）的视觉功能，如敏锐度和眼球运动。必须知道随年龄的正常变化，以便将其与疾病的情况区分开来。我们希望知道这一点，以便当有意或无意的干预中断了正常的事件过程中，我们可以预测与一些信心的结果，甚至可能改变它。第二个目标是研究改变视觉经验/适应眼睛的发展和/或视觉性能的影响。

Visual impairment is a highly feared disability. However, the eyes and visual system appear to be capable of both functional and structural adaptation to a variety of environmental influences. This means that there is the potential to favorably alter outcomes and thus prevent or reduce visual impairment. The long-term objective of this research is to understand the developmental processes of vision and the visual system and the extent to which these processes can be altered by visual experience or adaptation. To understand the normal developmental process one must be able to measure the visual functions in question. This is not always easy and some populations are more difficult to evaluate than others. One of my main goals therefore is to measure visual functions such as acuity and eye movements in populations that typically have been neglected, such as children and the elderly. It is essential that the normal variation with age be known in order that it may be distinguished from the case of disorder. We wish to know this so that when either intentional or inadvertent intervention interrupts the normal course of events we can predict with some confidence the outcome or possibly even alter it. A second goal is to study the effects of altered visual experience/adaptation on eye development and/or visual performance.