1
|
Greene E, Morrison J. Human perception of flicker-fused letters that are luminance balanced. Eur J Neurosci 2024. [PMID: 38840566 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 04/20/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
The Talbot-Plateau law specifies what combinations of flash frequency, duration, and intensity will yield a flicker-fused stimulus that matches the brightness of a steady stimulus. It has proven to be remarkably robust in its predictions, and here we provide additional support though the use of a contrast discrimination task. However, we also find that the visual system can register flicker-fused letters when the combination of frequency and duration is relatively low. The letters are recognized even though they have the same physical luminance as background. We hypothesize that the letters elicit synchronous oscillations that encode for stimulus attributes, which prevents the letter from blending into the background.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ernest Greene
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Jack Morrison
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Krüppel S, Khani MH, Karamanlis D, Erol YC, Zapp SJ, Mietsch M, Protti DA, Rozenblit F, Gollisch T. Diversity of Ganglion Cell Responses to Saccade-Like Image Shifts in the Primate Retina. J Neurosci 2023; 43:5319-5339. [PMID: 37339877 PMCID: PMC10359029 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1561-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Saccades are a fundamental part of natural vision. They interrupt fixations of the visual gaze and rapidly shift the image that falls onto the retina. These stimulus dynamics can cause activation or suppression of different retinal ganglion cells, but how they affect the encoding of visual information in different types of ganglion cells is largely unknown. Here, we recorded spiking responses to saccade-like shifts of luminance gratings from ganglion cells in isolated marmoset retinas and investigated how the activity depended on the combination of presaccadic and postsaccadic images. All identified cell types, On and Off parasol and midget cells, as well as a type of Large Off cells, displayed distinct response patterns, including particular sensitivity to either the presaccadic or the postsaccadic image or combinations thereof. In addition, Off parasol and Large Off cells, but not On cells, showed pronounced sensitivity to whether the image changed across the transition. Stimulus sensitivity of On cells could be explained based on their responses to step changes in light intensity, whereas Off cells, in particular, parasol and the Large Off cells, seem to be affected by additional interactions that are not triggered during simple light-intensity flashes. Together, our data show that ganglion cells in the primate retina are sensitive to different combinations of presaccadic and postsaccadic visual stimuli. This contributes to the functional diversity of the output signals of the retina and to asymmetries between On and Off pathways and provides evidence of signal processing beyond what is triggered by isolated steps in light intensity.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Sudden eye movements (saccades) shift our direction of gaze, bringing new images in focus on our retinas. To study how retinal neurons deal with these rapid image transitions, we recorded spiking activity from ganglion cells, the output neurons of the retina, in isolated retinas of marmoset monkeys while shifting a projected image in a saccade-like fashion across the retina. We found that the cells do not just respond to the newly fixated image, but that different types of ganglion cells display different sensitivities to the presaccadic and postsaccadic stimulus patterns. Certain Off cells, for example, are sensitive to changes in the image across transitions, which contributes to differences between On and Off information channels and extends the range of encoded stimulus features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Steffen Krüppel
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Mohammad H Khani
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Dimokratis Karamanlis
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Yunus C Erol
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neurosciences, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sören J Zapp
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Matthias Mietsch
- Laboratory Animal Science Unit, German Primate Center, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- German Center for Cardiovascular Research, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Dario A Protti
- School of Medical Sciences (Neuroscience), The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Fernando Rozenblit
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Tim Gollisch
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence "Multiscale Bioimaging: from Molecular Machines to Networks of Excitable Cells" (MBExC), University of Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Wang C, Fang C, Zou Y, Yang J, Sawan M. Artificial intelligence techniques for retinal prostheses: a comprehensive review and future direction. J Neural Eng 2023; 20. [PMID: 36634357 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/acb295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Objective. Retinal prostheses are promising devices to restore vision for patients with severe age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa disease. The visual processing mechanism embodied in retinal prostheses play an important role in the restoration effect. Its performance depends on our understanding of the retina's working mechanism and the evolvement of computer vision models. Recently, remarkable progress has been made in the field of processing algorithm for retinal prostheses where the new discovery of the retina's working principle and state-of-the-arts computer vision models are combined together.Approach. We investigated the related research on artificial intelligence techniques for retinal prostheses. The processing algorithm in these studies could be attributed to three types: computer vision-related methods, biophysical models, and deep learning models.Main results. In this review, we first illustrate the structure and function of the normal and degenerated retina, then demonstrate the vision rehabilitation mechanism of three representative retinal prostheses. It is necessary to summarize the computational frameworks abstracted from the normal retina. In addition, the development and feature of three types of different processing algorithms are summarized. Finally, we analyze the bottleneck in existing algorithms and propose our prospect about the future directions to improve the restoration effect.Significance. This review systematically summarizes existing processing models for predicting the response of the retina to external stimuli. What's more, the suggestions for future direction may inspire researchers in this field to design better algorithms for retinal prostheses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chuanqing Wang
- Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research on Advanced Integrated-on-chips Neurotechnologies, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, People's Republic of China
| | - Chaoming Fang
- Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research on Advanced Integrated-on-chips Neurotechnologies, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, People's Republic of China
| | - Yong Zou
- Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jie Yang
- Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research on Advanced Integrated-on-chips Neurotechnologies, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, People's Republic of China
| | - Mohamad Sawan
- Center of Excellence in Biomedical Research on Advanced Integrated-on-chips Neurotechnologies, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310030, People's Republic of China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Stöckl AL, Foster JJ. Night skies through animals' eyes-Quantifying night-time visual scenes and light pollution as viewed by animals. Front Cell Neurosci 2022; 16:984282. [PMID: 36274987 PMCID: PMC9582234 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2022.984282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A large proportion of animal species enjoy the benefits of being active at night, and have evolved the corresponding optical and neural adaptations to cope with the challenges of low light intensities. However, over the past century electric lighting has introduced direct and indirect light pollution into the full range of terrestrial habitats, changing nocturnal animals' visual worlds dramatically. To understand how these changes affect nocturnal behavior, we here propose an animal-centered analysis method based on environmental imaging. This approach incorporates the sensitivity and acuity limits of individual species, arriving at predictions of photon catch relative to noise thresholds, contrast distributions, and the orientation cues nocturnal species can extract from visual scenes. This analysis relies on just a limited number of visual system parameters known for each species. By accounting for light-adaptation in our analysis, we are able to make more realistic predictions of the information animals can extract from nocturnal visual scenes under different levels of light pollution. With this analysis method, we aim to provide context for the interpretation of behavioral findings, and to allow researchers to generate specific hypotheses for the behavior of nocturnal animals in observed light-polluted scenes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Lisa Stöckl
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Zukunftskolleg, Universität Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - James Jonathan Foster
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| |
Collapse
|