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Does retinal configuration make the head and eyes of foveate birds move?

ABSTRACT: Animals move their heads and eyes to compensate for movements of the body and background, search, fixate, and track objects visually. Avian saccadic head/eye movements have been shown to vary considerably between species. We tested the hypothesis that the configuration of the retina (i.e., changes in retinal ganglion cell density from the retinal periphery to the center of acute vision-fovea) would account for the inter-specific variation in avian head/eye movement behavior. We characterized retinal configuration, head movement rate, and degree of eye movement of 29 bird species with a single fovea, controlling for the effects of phylogenetic relatedness. First, we found the avian fovea is off the retinal center towards the dorso-temporal region of the retina. Second, species with a more pronounced rate of change in ganglion cell density across the retina generally showed a higher degree of eye movement and higher head movement rate likely because a smaller retinal area with relatively high visual acuity leads to greater need to move the head/eye to align this area that contains the fovea with objects of interest. Our findings have implications for anti-predator behavior, as many predator-prey interaction models assume that the sensory system of prey (and hence their behavior) varies little between species.

SUBMITTER: Moore BA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5228126 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Does retinal configuration make the head and eyes of foveate birds move?

Moore Bret A BA Tyrrell Luke P LP Pita Diana D Bininda-Emonds Olaf R P OR Fernández-Juricic Esteban E

Scientific reports 20170112

Animals move their heads and eyes to compensate for movements of the body and background, search, fixate, and track objects visually. Avian saccadic head/eye movements have been shown to vary considerably between species. We tested the hypothesis that the configuration of the retina (i.e., changes in retinal ganglion cell density from the retinal periphery to the center of acute vision-fovea) would account for the inter-specific variation in avian head/eye movement behavior. We characterized ret ...[more]

PMID: 28079062

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Project description:IntroductionRetinal detachment is a sight-threatening emergency, with more than half of those affected suffering permanent visual impairment. A diagnostic test to identify eyes at risk before vision is threatened would enable exploration of prophylactic treatment. This report presents the use of irregularities in retinal shape, quantified from optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, as a biomarker for retinal detachment.MethodsOCT images were taken from posterior and mid-peripheral retina of 264 individuals [97 after a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD), 99 after vitrectomy for retinal detachment and 68 after laser for a retinal tear]. Diagnoses were taken from history, examination and OCT. Retinal irregularity was quantified in the frequency domain, and the distribution of irregularity across the regions of the eye was explored to identify features exhibiting the greatest difference between retinal detachment and PVD eyes. Two of these features plus axial length were used to train a quadratic discriminant analysis classifier. Classifier performance was assessed by its sensitivity and specificity in identifying retinal detachment eyes and visualised with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.ResultsValidation set specificity was 84% (44/52 PVD eyes correctly labelled) and sensitivity 35% (23/64 retinal detachment eyes identified, p = 0.02). Area under the ROC curve was 0.75 (95% confidence intervals 0.58-0.85). Retinal detachment eyes were significantly more irregular than PVD eyes in the superior retina (0.70 mm versus 0.49 mm, p < 0.05) and supero-temporal retina (1.12 mm versus 0.80 mm, p < 0.05). Lower sensitivity (16/68, 24%) was seen for eyes with a retinal tear without detachment, that were intermediate in size between retinal detachment and PVD eyes. Axial length on its own was a poor classifier. Neither irregularity nor classification were affected by surgery for retinal detachment or the development of PVD.ConclusionsThe classifier identified 1/3 of retinal detachment eyes in this sample. In future work, these features can be evaluated as a test for retinal detachment prior to PVD.

Dataset Information

Does retinal configuration make the head and eyes of foveate birds move?

Publications

Does retinal configuration make the head and eyes of foveate birds move?

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