Biomedical subjects

L Marran

Publications and source records attributed to L Marran.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

The effect of target proximity on the aniso-accommodative response.

Aniso-accommodation (unequal binocular accommodation) to lens-induced anisometropia has been demonstrated by subjective and objective measurement techniques (Marran and Schor, Vision Res. 38(22), 3601-3619). The gain of the response was significantly reduced for some subjects when aniso-accommodation was stimulated by a target at 1 m compared to a target at 20 cm, even when the targets viewed were matched in retinal image size, convergence levels and aniso-accommodative stimuli. The two conditions did differ in both the accommodative level and proximity of the target. Thus the higher gain of the response in the 20 cm condition could have arisen from either high proximity, high accommodative level or a combination of both. In this investigation, target proximity and accommodative level were manipulated independently while extra-retinal cues such as absolute disparity and image size were held constant. The results show that high target proximity alone rather than accommodative level or a combination of the two was responsible for the distance dependent effect demonstrated by subjects. Furthermore, accommodative level did not affect the response when target proximity was held constant. Subjects who demonstrated invariant aniso-accommodation with changes in viewing distance also demonstrated invariant aniso-accommodation with experimental manipulation of target proximity at the target distances tested, as would be expected. These results suggest that high level processing, rather than a reflex blur response, is involved in aniso-accommodation. This conclusion is strengthened by the previous finding of long reaction and response times, 11 and 15 s respectively, to step aniso-accommodative stimuli (Marran and Schor, Vision Res. 38(22), 3601-3619). Since the experimental target provided subjects with visual feedback of the relative blur of the dichoptically viewed letters, subjects had access to perceptual blur information cues. Some subjects seemed to have required both aniso-blur and proximity to exercise this volitional response. Those subjects who showed a distance invariant aniso-accommodative response may have been able to use perceived aniso-blur alone and their ability to disregard proximal cues may have resulted from greater experience with the aniso-accommodative stimuli. Alternatively, these subjects may have had a lower threshold to proximal stimuli and experienced target proximity at the more distant (1 m) viewing condition.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

PubMed1998

Lens induced aniso-accommodation.

Despite the evidence for consensual accommodation in response to consensual accommodative stimuli, only a few studies have investigated the binocular accommodative response to unequal (aniso) accommodative stimuli. Past studies investigating an unequal binocular accommodative response (aniso-accommodation) to aniso-accommodative stimuli have been limited by viewing conditions and measurement technique making the results, which were equivocal, difficult to interpret. This investigation addressed these limitations by the following design parameters: (1) monocular dichoptic blur cuese were provided in the binocular stimulus target to provide subjects feedback on their aniso-accommodative response and to alert the investigator of a monocular blur suppression response; (2) a training period was provided; (3) in the subjective method, each eye's stigma was positioned near the dichoptic letter viewed by the other eye. By this method, a true aniso-accommodative response could be differentiated from successive consensual responses; (4) a large range of aniso-accommodative stimuli was used, 0.50-3.0 D, presented in incremental steps of 0.5 D, allowing measurement of an average 0.75 D aniso-accommodative response for the highest (3.0 D) aniso-accommodative stimulus; (5) aniso-accommodation was measured as a function of viewing distance. For four of seven subjects, the gain of the aniso-accommodative response was significantly greater at near than at far viewing distances; (6) aniso-accommodation was confirmed objectively with measures of the response to steady state and step aniso-accommodative stimuli, using a binocular SRI Dual Purkinje Eye Tracker Optometer System. The aniso-accommodative response to step stimuli showed a very long latency period (about 11 s) and a response time of 4.5 s. A potential benefit of aniso-accommodation would be to overcome small amounts of uncorrected anisometropic refractive error. This would preserve fine stereo acuity which is impaired by unequal intraocular image contrast. Aniso-accommodation also may provide an appropriate efferent feedback signal for each eye's unique refractive error which could be used to guide developmental isometropization (attainment of equal refractive error in the two eyes.).

Accommodation, Ocular↗

PubMed1997

Multiaccommodative stimuli in VR systems: problems & solutions.

Virtual reality environments can introduce multiple and sometimes conflicting accommodative stimuli. For instance, with the high-powered lenses commonly used in head-mounted displays, small discrepancies in screen lens placement, caused by manufacturer error or user adjustment focus error, can change the focal depths of the image by a couple of diopters. This can introduce a binocular accommodative stimulus or, if the displacement between the two screens is unequal, an unequal (anisometropic) accommodative stimulus for the two eyes. Systems that allow simultaneous viewing of virtual and real images can also introduce a conflict in accommodative stimuli: When real and virtual images are at different focal planes, both cannot be in focus at the same time, though they may appear to be in similar locations in space. In this paper four unique designs are described that minimize the range of accommodative stimuli and maximize the visual system's ability to cope efficiently with the focus conflicts that remain: pinhole optics, monocular lens addition combined with aniso-accommodation, chromatic bifocal, and bifocal lens system. The advantages and disadvantages of each design are described and recommendation for design choice is given after consideration of the end use of the virtual reality system (e.g., low or high end, entertainment, technical, or medical use). The appropriate design modifications should allow greater user comfort and better performance.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

PubMed1995

Moving the retina: choroidal modulation of refractive state.

The chick eye is able to change its refractive state by as much as 7 D by pushing the retina forward or pulling it back; this is effected by changes in the thickness of the choroid, the vascular tissue behind the retina and pigment epithelium. Chick eyes first made myopic by wearing diffusers and then permitted unrestricted vision developed choroids several times thicker than normal within days, thereby speeding recovery from deprivation myopia. Choroidal expansion does not occur when visual cues are reduced by dim illumination during the period of unrestricted vision. Furthermore, in chick eyes presented with myopic or hyperopic defocus by means of spectacle lenses, the choroid expands or thins, respectively, in compensation for the specific defocus imposed. Consequently, when the lenses are removed, the eye finds its refractive error suddenly of opposite sign, and the choroidal thickness again compensates by changing in the opposite direction. If a local region of the eye is made myopic by a partial diffuser and then given unrestricted vision, the choroid expands only in the myopic region. Although the mechanism of choroidal expansion is unknown, it might involve either a increased routing of aqueous humor into the uveoscleral outflow or osmotically generated water movement into the choroid. The latter is compatible with the increased choroidal proteoglycan synthesis either when eyes wear positive lenses or after diffuser removal.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

PubMed1990

The effects of temporal modulation and spatial location on the perceived spatial frequency of visual patterns.

The perceived spatial frequency of a visual pattern can increase when a pattern drifts or is presented at a peripheral visual field location, as compared with a foveally viewed, stationary pattern. We confirmed previously reported effects of motion on foveally viewed patterns and of location on stationary patterns and extended this analysis to the effect of motion on peripherally viewed patterns and the effect of location on drifting patterns. Most central to our investigation was the combined effect of temporal modulation and spatial location on perceived spatial frequency. The group data, as well as the individual sets of data for most observers, are consistent with the mathematical concept of separability for the effects of temporal modulation and spatial location on perceived spatial frequency. Two qualitative psychophysical models suggest explanations for the effects. Both models assume that the receptive-field sizes of a set of underlying psychophysical mechanisms monotonically change as a function of temporal modulation or visual field location, whereas the perceptual labels attached to a set of channels remain invariant. These models predict that drifting or peripheral viewing of a pattern will cause a shift in the perceived spatial frequency of the pattern to a higher apparent spatial frequency.

Adult↗