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。我们的印象是视野里到处都能看到细微的细节，但只有视觉中心才有高分辨率的视觉。我们如何看东西的其他一些方面也会随着视野的不同而不同，并影响日常活动，如开车或在杂乱的货架上寻找物品。我的研究旨在对视觉感知的这些方面以及大脑如何处理整个视野中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、视觉皮质的解剖组织和大脑该区域神经元的活动的测量。我们的跨学科研究将我们的视觉方式与处理视觉信息的神经元联系起来。我们使用创新的解剖学技术使皮质变得透明，这样就可以研究标记的神经元。这种创造透明大脑的新技术使我们能够研究大脑皮质视觉区域中的神经元及其连接网络，这是其他解剖学程序不可能做到的。透明大脑可以解决的一个明显问题是，视觉皮质中神经元的排列是否专门处理来自视觉中心的信息。目前的提案描述了几个项目，以检查中央和外围视野的视觉、解剖学和生理学特化。这些研究将澄清我们对整个视野中视觉感知变化的理解，以及作为我们如何观看的这些方面的基础的神经处理。

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.