Development and Plasticity of Spatial Vision: Examining Structure and Function

我的研究考察了决定我们如何在视野中看到视觉模式的因素。我们有在视野各处都能看到精细细节的印象，但只有视觉中心具有高分辨率视觉。我们如何看东西的许多其他方面也因视野而异，影响着日常活动，比如开车或在杂乱的架子上找东西。我的研究旨在为视觉感知的这些方面以及大脑如何处理来自整个视野的视觉信息的一般原理提供新的见解。我的研究结合了视觉感知的测量，视觉皮层的解剖组织，以及大脑中那个区域的神经元活动。我们的跨学科研究将我们的视觉与处理视觉信息的神经元联系起来。我们使用创新的解剖技术使皮层透明，这样标记的神经元就可以被研究。这种创造透明大脑的新技术使我们能够以其他解剖学方法无法实现的方式研究皮层视觉区域的神经元及其连接网络。有一个显而易见的问题可以用透视大脑来解决，那就是视觉皮层中神经元的排列是否专门用于处理来自视觉中心的信息。目前的提案描述了几个项目，以检查视觉，解剖和生理专业化跨越中央和外围视野。这些研究将澄清我们对整个视野中视觉感知变化的理解，以及我们如何看待这些方面的神经处理。

My research examines factors that determine how we see visual patterns across the visual field. We have the impression of seeing fine details everywhere in the visual field, but only the center of vision has high resolution vision. A number of other aspects of how we see also vary across the visual field and impact day-to-day activities such as driving or finding an item on a cluttered shelf. My studies aim to provide new insights into general principles about those aspects of visual perception and how the brain processes visual information from the whole visual field. My research combines measures of visual perception, anatomical organization of the visual cortex, and activity of neurons in that area of the brain. Our interdisciplinary studies link how we see with the neurons that process visual information. We use innovative anatomical techniques to render the cortex transparent so labeled neurons can be studied. This new technique for creating a see-through brain allows us to study the neurons and their network of connections in the visual area of the cortex in ways that are not possible with other anatomical procedures. One obvious questions that can be addressed with the see-through brain is whether the arrangement of neurons in visual cortex is specialized to process information from the center of vision. The current proposal describes several projects to examine visual, anatomical, and physiological specialization across central and peripheral visual fields. These studies will clarify our understanding of variations in visual perception across the visual field and the neural processing that underlies those aspects of how we see.