Dataset Information

Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in a virtual reality environment.

ABSTRACT: Stereopsis is the rich impression of three-dimensionality, based on binocular disparity-the differences between the two retinal images of the same world. However, a substantial proportion of the population is stereo-deficient, and relies mostly on monocular cues to judge the relative depth or distance of objects in the environment. Here we trained adults who were stereo blind or stereo-deficient owing to strabismus and/or amblyopia in a natural visuomotor task-a 'bug squashing' game-in a virtual reality environment. The subjects' task was to squash a virtual dichoptic bug on a slanted surface, by hitting it with a physical cylinder they held in their hand. The perceived surface slant was determined by monocular texture and stereoscopic cues, with these cues being either consistent or in conflict, allowing us to track the relative weighting of monocular versus stereoscopic cues as training in the task progressed. Following training most participants showed greater reliance on stereoscopic cues, reduced suppression and improved stereoacuity. Importantly, the training-induced changes in relative stereo weights were significant predictors of the improvements in stereoacuity. We conclude that some adults deprived of normal binocular vision and insensitive to the disparity information can, with appropriate experience, recover access to more reliable stereoscopic information.This article is part of the themed issue 'Vision in our three-dimensional world'.

SUBMITTER: Vedamurthy I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4901458 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in a virtual reality environment.

Vedamurthy Indu I Knill David C DC Huang Samuel J SJ Yung Amanda A Ding Jian J Kwon Oh-Sang OS Bavelier Daphne D Levi Dennis M DM

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20160601 1697

Stereopsis is the rich impression of three-dimensionality, based on binocular disparity-the differences between the two retinal images of the same world. However, a substantial proportion of the population is stereo-deficient, and relies mostly on monocular cues to judge the relative depth or distance of objects in the environment. Here we trained adults who were stereo blind or stereo-deficient owing to strabismus and/or amblyopia in a natural visuomotor task-a 'bug squashing' game-in a virtual ...[more]

PMID: 27269607

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Project description:IntroductionUltra low vision (ULV) refers to profound visual impairment where an individual cannot read even the top line of letters on an ETDRS chart from a distance of 0.5 m. There are limited tools available to assess visual ability in ULV. The aim of this study was to develop and calibrate a new performance test, Wilmer VRH, to assess hand-eye coordination in individuals with ULV.MethodsA set of 55 activities was developed for presentation in a virtual reality (VR) headset. Activities were grouped into 2-step and 5-step items. Participants performed a range of tasks involving reaching and grasping, stacking, sorting, pointing, throwing, and cutting. Data were collected from 20 healthy volunteers under normal vision (NV) and simulated ULV (sULV) conditions, and from 33 participants with ULV. Data were analyzed using the method of successive dichotomizations (MSD), a polytomous Rasch model, to estimate item (difficulty) and person (ability) measures. MSD was applied separately to 2-step and 5-step performance data, then merged to a single equal interval scale.ResultsThe mean ±SD of completion rates were 98.6 ± 1.8%, 78.2 ± 12.5% and 61.1 ±34.2% for NV, sULV and ULV, respectively. Item measures ranged from -1.09 to 5.7 logits and - 4.3 to 4.08 logits and person measures ranged from -0.03 to 4.2 logits and -3.5 to 5.2 logits in sULV and ULV groups, respectively. Ninety percent of item infits were within the desired range of [0.5,1.5], and 97% of person infits were within that range. Together with item and person reliabilities of 0.94 and 0.91 respectively, this demonstrates unidimensionality of Wilmer VRH. A Person Item map showed that the items were well-targeted to the sample of individuals with ULV in the study.DiscussionWe present the development of a calibrated set of activities in VR that can be used to assess hand-eye coordination in individuals with ULV. This helps bridge a gap in the field by providing a validated outcome measure that can be used in vision restoration trials that recruit people with ULV, and to assess rehabilitation outcomes in people with ULV.

Project description:Spatial navigation is influenced by landmarks, which are prominent visual features in the environment. Although previous research has focused on finding advantages of landmarks on wayfinding via experimentation; however, less attention has been given to identifying the key attributes of landmarks that facilitate wayfinding, including the study of neural correlates (involving electroencephalogram, EEG analyses). In this paper, we combine behavioral measures, virtual environment, and EEG signal-processing to provide a holistic investigation about the influence of landmarks on performance during navigation in a maze-like environment. In an experiment, participants were randomly divided into two conditions, Landmark-enriched (LM+; N = 17) and Landmark-devoid (LM-; N = 18), and asked to navigate from an initial location to a goal location in a maze. In the LM+ condition, there were landmarks placed at certain locations, which participants could use for wayfinding in the maze. However, in the LM- condition, such landmarks were not present. Beyond behavioral analyses of data, analyses were carried out of the EEG data collected using a 64-channel device. Results revealed that participants took less time and committed fewer errors in navigating the maze in the LM+ condition compared to the LM- condition. EEG analyses of the data revealed that the left-hemispheric activation was more prominent in the LM+ condition compared to the LM- condition. The event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) of the theta frequency band, revealed activation in the left posterior inferior and superior regions in the LM+ condition compared to the LM- condition, suggesting an occurrence of an object-location binding in the LM+ condition along with spatial transformation between representations. Moreover, directed transfer function method, which measures information flow between two regions, showed a higher number of active channels in the LM- condition compared to the LM+ condition, exhibiting additional wiring cost associated with the cognitive demands when no landmark was available. These findings reveal pivotal role of the left-hemispheric region (especially, parietal cortex), which indicates the integration of available sensory cues and current memory requirements to encode contextual information of landmarks. Overall, this research helps to understand the role of brain regions and processes that are utilized when people use landmarks in navigating maze-like environments.

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Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in a virtual reality environment.

Publications

Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in a virtual reality environment.

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