Neurovision Neural Bases Of Binocular Vision And Coordination And Their Implications In Visual Training Programs

Binocular vision is achieved by five neurovisual systems originating in the retina but varying in their destination within the brain. Two systems have been widely studied: the retino-tectal or retino-collicular route, which subserves an expedient and raw estimate of the visual scene through the magnocellular pathway, and the retino-occipital or retino-cortical route, which allows slower but refined analysis of the visual scene through the parvocellular pathway. But there also exist further neurovisual systems: the retino-hypothalamic, retino-pretectal, and accessory optic systems, which play a crucial role in vision though they are less understood. The retino-pretectal pathway projecting onto the pretectum is critical for the pupillary or photomotor reflex. The retino-hypothalamic pathway projecting onto the suprachiasmatic nucleus regulates numerous behavioral and biological functions as well as circadian rhythms. The accessory optic system targeting terminal lateral, medial and dorsal nuclei through the paraoptic fasciculus plays a role in head and gaze orientation as well as slow movements. Taken together, these neurovisual systems involve 60% of brain activity, thus highlighting the importance of vision in the functioning and regulation of the central nervous system. But vision is first and foremost action, which makes perception impossible without movement. Binocular coordination is a prerequisite for binocular fusion of the object of interest on the two foveas, thus ensuring visual perception. The retino-collicular pathway is sufficient to elicit reflexive eye movements with short latencies. Thanks to its motor neurons, the superior colliculus activates premotor neurons, which themselves activate motor neurons of the oculomotor, trochlear and abducens nuclei. At a higher level, a cascade of neural mechanisms participates in the control of decisional eye movements. The superior colliculus is controlled by the substancia nigra pars reticulata, which is itself gated by subcortical structures such as the dorsal striatum. The superior colliculus is also inhibited by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex through a direct prefrontotectal tract. Cortical areas are crucial for the triggering of eye movements: the frontal eye field, supplementary eye field, and parietal eye field. Finally the cerebellum maintains accuracy. The focus of the present research topic, entitled Neural bases of binocular vision and coordination and their implications in visual training programs, is to review the most recent findings in brain imaging and neurophysiology of binocular vision and coordination in humans and animals with frontally-placed eyes. The emphasis is put on studies that enable transfer of knowledge toward visual training programs targeting visual field defects (e.g., hemianopia) and binocular functional disorders (e.g., amblyopia).

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, Living Machines 2016, held in Edinburgh, UK, in July 2016. The 34 full and 27 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 63 submissions.The theme of the conference encompasses biomimetic methods for manufacture, repair and recycling inspired by natural processes such as reproduction, digestion, morphogenesis and metamorphosis.

This book presents an interdisciplinary overview of the main facts and theories that guide contemporary research on visual perception. While the chapters cover virtually all areas of visual science, from philosophical foundations to computational algorithms, and from photoreceptor processes to neuronal networks, no attempt has been made to provide an exhaustive treatment of these topics. Rather, researchers from such diverse disciplines as psychology, neurophysiology, anatomy, and clinical vision sciences have worked together to review some of the most important correlations between perceptual phenomena and the underlying neurophysiological processes and mechanisms. The book is thus intended to serve as an advanced text for graduate students and as a guide for all vision researchers to understanding current progress outside their specialized fields of interest. ï Examines parallel processing of visual informationï Discusses links between physiologically-measured receptive fields and psychophysically-measured perceptive fieldsï Presents a spatial sampling by the retina and cortical modulesï Covers signal transduction and the sites of adaptationï Describes a single-cell analysis of attentionï Discusses computational models of vision

This is a comprehensive survey of binocular vision, with an emphasis on its role in the perception of a three-dimensional world. The central theme is biological vision. Machine vision and computational models are discussed where they contribute to an understanding of living systems.

One of the most remarkable things about seeing is how effortless this complex task appears to be. This book provides a comprehensive overview of research on the myriad complexities of this task. Coverage includes such classic topics as color, spatial, and binocular vision, areas that have seen a recent explosion of new information such as motion vision, image formation and sampling, and areas where new tools have allowed a better investigation into processes (e.g. neural representation of shape, visual attention). Seeing is a needed reference for researchers specializing in visual perception and is suitable for advance courses on vision.

This stimulating volume on vision extends well beyond the traditional areas of vision research and places the subject in a much broader philosophical context. The emphasis throughout is to integrate and illuminate the visual process. The first three parts of the volume provide authoritative overviews on computational vision and neural networks, on the neurophysiology of visual cortex processing, and on eye-movement research. Each of these parts illustrates how different research perspectives may jointly solve fundamental problems related to the efficiency of visual perception, to the relationship between vision and eye-movements and to the neurophysiological 'codes' underlying our visual perceptions. In the fourth part, leading vision scientists introduce the reader to some major philosophical problems in vision research such as the nature of 'ultimate' codes for perceptual events, the duality of psycho-physics, the bases of visual recognition and the paradigmatic foundations of computer-vision research.

"Binocular vision" literally means vision with two eyes, and refers to the special attributes of vision with both eyes open, rather than one eye only. Our perception under binocular conditions represents a highly complex co-ordination of motor and sensory processes and is markedly different from and more sophisticated than vision with one eye alone. This book reviews our ability to use both eyes, while also providing basic information on the development of binocular vision and on the clinical disorders that interfere with our depth perception, such as strabismus and amblyopia. This book also describes the development of eye movement control, particularly those that are important for reading. In addition, the authors of this book review the phenomenon of ocular dominance (OD) in the light of the types of test used to identify it; question whether inter-test agreement of OD in an individual might be anticipated, and address some practical implications of OD as demonstrated in healthy eyes and in cases where there is compromised binocular function. Other chapters in this book disclose new methodologies in congenital nystagmus eye movements analysis and evaluate heterophoria as an important element of assessment of binocular vision disorders.