Nonblurred regions show priority for gaze direction over spatial blur

Amblyopia and fixation eye movements

Amblyopia is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by abnormal visual experience in early life that affects 3-5% of the population. Amblyopia results in a host of monocular and binocular visual afferent function deficits including reduced visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, depth perception, interocular suppression, and efferent function abnormalities such as unstable and inaccurate fixation. Conventional treatments such as patching therapy and newer dichoptic treatments are not always successful as 30-40% of patients experience recurrence/regression of amblyopia. There are numerous review articles focused on visual afferent function deficits and treatment modalities and outcomes in amblyopia. Recently, the advent of high spatial and temporal resolution eye trackers has spurred studies on fixation eye movements (FEMs) in healthy controls and neurologic and ophthalmic disorders. In this focused review, we will summarize studies evaluating FEM abnormalities in amblyopia. We will first describe the common devices and techniques used to quantify fixation abnormalities, and then highlight the importance of systematically evaluating the eye movements under different viewing conditions and describe the parameters crucial in assessing FEM abnormalities in amblyopia. We will summarize the evidence suggesting that FEM abnormalities are not limited to the amblyopic eye only but also affects the fellow eye and that FEM abnormalities can serve as biomarkers to predict the impact of amblyopia on visual functions. Beyond diagnosis, we will discuss the treatment and prognostic implications of the evaluation of FEM abnormalities in clinical practice.

Joint effect of defocus blur and spatial attention

Defocus blur and spatial attention both act on our ability to see clearly over time. However, it is currently unknown how these two factors interact because studies on spatial resolution only focused on the separate effects of attention and defocus blurs. In this study, eleven participants performed a resolution acuity task along the diagonal 135˚/315˚ with horizontal, at 8˚ eccentricity for clear and blurred Landolt C images under various manipulations of covert endogenous attention. All the conditions were interleaved and viewed binocularly on a visual display. We observed that attention not just improves the resolution of clear stimuli, but also modulates the resolution of defocused stimuli for compensating the loss of resolution caused by retinal blur. Our results show, however, that as the degree of attention decreases, the differences between clear and blurred images largely diminish, thus limiting the benefit of an image quality enhancement. It also appeared that attention tends to enhance the resolution of clear targets more than blurred targets, suggesting potential variations in the gain of vision correction with the level of attention. This demonstrates that the interaction between spatial attention and defocus blur can play a role in the way we see things. In view of these findings, the development of adaptive interventions, which adjust the eye's defocus to attention, may hold promise.

Illuminated Focus: Vision Augmentation using Spatial Defocusing via Focal Sweep Eyeglasses and High-Speed Projector

Aiming at realizing novel vision augmentation experiences, this paper proposes the IlluminatedFocus technique, which spatially defocuses real-world appearances regardless of the distance from the user's eyes to observed real objects. With the proposed technique, a part of a real object in an image appears blurred, while the fine details of the other part at the same distance remain visible. We apply Electrically Focus-Tunable Lenses (ETL) as eyeglasses and a synchronized high-speed projector as illumination for a real scene. We periodically modulate the focal lengths of the glasses (focal sweep) at more than 60 Hz so that a wearer cannot perceive the modulation. A part of the scene to appear focused is illuminated by the projector when it is in focus of the user's eyes, while another part to appear blurred is illuminated when it is out of the focus. As the basis of our spatial focus control, we build mathematical models to predict the range of distance from the ETL within which real objects become blurred on the retina of a user. Based on the blur range, we discuss a design guideline for effective illumination timing and focal sweep range. We also model the apparent size of a real scene altered by the focal length modulation. This leads to an undesirable visible seam between focused and blurred areas. We solve this unique problem by gradually blending the two areas. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal by implementing various vision augmentation applications.

Effects of visual blur on microsaccades during visual exploration

Microsaccades shift the image on the fovea and counteract visual fading. They also serve as an optimal sampling strategy while viewing complex visual scenes. Microsaccade production relies on the amount of retinal error or acuity demand of a visual task. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of blur induced by uncorrected refractive error on visual search. Eye movements were recorded in fourteen healthy subjects with uncorrected and corrected refractive error while they performed a) visual fixation b) blankscene viewing c) visual search (spot the difference) tasks. Microsaccades, saccades, correctly identified differences and reaction times were analyzed. The frequency of microsaccades and correctly identified differences were lower in the uncorrected refractive error during visual search. No similar change in microsaccades was seen during blank-scene viewing and gaze holding tasks. These findings suggest that visual blur, hence the precision of an image on the fovea, has an important role in calibrating the amplitude of microsaccades during visual scanning.

Guidance in Cinematic Virtual Reality-Taxonomy, Research Status and Challenges

In Cinematic Virtual Reality (CVR), the viewer of an omnidirectional movie can freely choose the viewing direction when watching a movie. Therefore, traditional techniques in filmmaking for guiding the viewers’ attention cannot be adapted directly to CVR. Practices such as panning or changing the frame are no longer defined by the filmmaker; rather it is the viewer who decides where to look. In some stories, it is necessary to show certain details to the viewer, which should not be missed. At the same time, the freedom of the viewer to look around in the scene should not be destroyed. Therefore, techniques are needed which guide the attention of the spectator to visual information in the scene. Attention guiding also has the potential to improve the general viewing experience, since viewers will be less afraid to miss something when watching an omnidirectional movie where attention-guiding techniques have been applied. In recent years, there has been a lot of research about attention guiding in images, movies, virtual reality, augmented reality and also in CVR. We classify these methods and offer a taxonomy for attention-guiding methods. Discussing the different characteristics, we elaborate the advantages and disadvantages, give recommendations for use cases and apply the taxonomy to several examples of guiding methods.