Frans W. Cornelissen

The Eyelink Toolbox: Eye tracking with MATLAB and the Psychophysics Toolbox

The Eyelink Toolbox software supports the measurement of eye movements. The toolbox provides an interface between a high-level interpreted language (MATLAB), a visual display programming toolbox (Psychophysics Toolbox), and a video-based eyetracker (Eyelink). The Eyelink Toolbox enables experimenters to measure eye movements while simultaneously executing the stimulus presentation routines provided by the Psychophysics Toolbox. Example programs are included with the toolbox distribution. Information on the Eyelink Toolbox can be found at http://psychtoolbox.org/.

Changes in cortical grey matter density associated with long-standing retinal visual field defects

Retinal lesions caused by eye diseases such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration can, over time, eliminate stimulation of parts of the visual cortex. This could lead to degeneration of inactive cortical neuronal tissue, but this has not been established in humans. Here, we used magnetic resonance imaging to assess the effects of prolonged sensory deprivation in human visual cortex. High-resolution anatomical magnetic resonance images were obtained in subjects with foveal (age-related macular degeneration) and peripheral (glaucoma) retinal lesions as well as age-matched controls. Comparison of grey matter between patient and control groups revealed density reductions in the approximate retinal lesion projection zones in visual cortex. This indicates that long-term cortical deprivation, due to retinal lesions acquired later in life, is associated with retinotopic-specific neuronal degeneration of visual cortex. Such degeneration could interfere with therapeutic strategies such as the future application of artificial retinal implants to overcome lesion-induced visual impairment.

Impaired visual processing preceding image recognition in Parkinson's disease patients with visual hallucinations

Impaired visual processing may play a role in the pathophysiology of visual hallucinations in Parkinsons disease. In order to study involved neuronal circuitry, we assessed cerebral activation patterns both before and during recognition of gradually revealed images in Parkinsons disease patients with visual hallucinations (PDwithVHs), Parkinsons disease patients without visual hallucinations (PDnonVHs) and healthy controls. We hypothesized that, before image recognition, PDwithVHs would show reduced bottom-up visual activation in occipital-temporal areas and increased (pre)frontal activation, reflecting increased top-down demand. Overshoot of the latter has been proposed to play a role in generating visual hallucinations. Nine non-demented PDwithVHs, 14 PDnonVHs and 13 healthy controls were scanned on a 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Static images of animals and objects gradually appearing out of random visual noise were used in an event-related design paradigm. Analyses were time-locked on the moment of image recognition, indicated by the subjects button-press. Subjects were asked to press an additional button on a colour-changing fixation dot, to keep attention and motor action constant and to assess reaction times. Data pre-processing and statistical analysis were performed with statistical parametric mapping-5 software. Bilateral activation of the fusiform and lingual gyri was seen during image recognition in all groups (P < 0.001). Several seconds before image recognition, PDwithVHs showed reduced activation of the lateral occipital cortex, compared with both PDnonVHs and healthy controls. In addition, reduced activation of extrastriate temporal visual cortices was seen just before image recognition in PDwithVHs. The association between increased vulnerability for visual hallucinations in Parkinsons disease and impaired visual object processing in occipital and temporal extrastriate visual cortices supported the hypothesis of impaired bottom-up visual processing in PDwithVHs. Support for the hypothesized increased top-down frontal activation was not obtained. The finding of activation reductions in ventral/lateral visual association cortices in PDwithVHs before image recognition further helps to explain functional mechanisms underlying visual hallucinations in Parkinsons disease.

Large-scale remapping of visual cortex is absent in adult humans with macular degeneration

The occipital lobe contains retinotopic representations of the visual field. The representation of the central retina in early visual areas (V1–3) is found at the occipital pole. When the central retina is lesioned in both eyes by macular degeneration, this region of visual cortex at the occipital pole is accordingly deprived of input. However, even when such lesions occur in adulthood, some visually driven activity in and around the occipital pole can be observed. It has been suggested that this activity is a result of remapping of this area so that it now responds to inputs from intact, peripheral retina. We evaluated whether or not remapping of visual cortex underlies this activity. Our functional magnetic resonance imaging results provide no evidence of remapping, questioning the contemporary view that early visual areas of the adult human brain have the capacity to reorganize extensively.

Simultaneous Colour Constancy Revisited: an Analysis of Viewing Strategies

We examined whether matching instructions influenced the eye movements that subjects made during a colour constancy experiment. The instructions changed the average duration of exposure to the spectrally biased surround. We also measured the influence that small changes in exposure duration have on the perceived colour. Eye movement and adaptation data were combined to predict differences in colour matches. Two of the five subjects showed an instructional effect that was much larger than that predicted. Analysis of the eye movements, and an experiment with dynamic surrounding colours, reveal that several viewing strategies do not account for the influence of the instruction.

Event-related fMRI responses in the human frontal eye fields in a randomized pro- and antisaccade task

We examined whether the frontal eye fields (FEF) are involved in the suppression of reflexive saccades. Simultaneous recording of horizontal eye movements and functional magnetic resonance imaging enabled us to perform a randomized pro- and antisaccade task and to sort blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) time series on the basis of task performance. Saccadic reaction time distributions were comparable across tasks indicating a similar effort in preprocessing of the saccades. Furthermore, we found similar BOLD activation in FEF during both correctly performed pro- and antisaccades. Frontal eye field activation started prior to target presentation and saccade generation. While we observed only few erroneous antisaccades, these were associated with a decrease in BOLD activity prior to target presentation, and increased BOLD activity after target presentation relative to correctly performed antisaccades. These findings are consistent with a role of the FEF in the suppression of reflexive saccades. The increase in activity after target presentation for antisaccade errors can only be indirectly linked to such a role but may also reflect activity related to the generation of a correction saccade. Frontal eye field BOLD activity may further represent general arousal, preparatory set, shortterm memory, or salience-map related activity.

Hemianopic visual field defects elicit hemianopic scanning

Previous explanations for the variability in success of compensating for homonymous hemianopia (HH) has been in terms of extent of the brain injury. In using on-line eye movement registrations, we simulated HH in 16 healthy subjects and compared their scanning performance on a dot counting task to their own normal condition and to real HH patients performance. We evidenced clear parallels between simulated and real HH, suggesting that hemianopic scanning behaviour is primarily visually elicited, namely by the visual field defect, and not by the additional brain damage. We further observed age-related processes in compensating for the HH.

The effect of visual field defects on eye movements and practical fitness to drive

Eye movements of subjects with visual field defects due to ocular pathology were monitored while performing a dot counting task and a visual search task. Subjects with peripheral field defects required more fixations, longer search times, made more errors, and had shorter fixation durations than control subjects. Subjects with central field defects performed less well than control subjects although no specific impairment could be pinpointed. In both groups a monotonous relationship was observed between the visual field impairment and eye movement parameters. The use of eye movement parameters to predict viewing behavior in a complex task (e.g. driving) was limited.

Separate simultaneous processing of egocentric and relative positions.

It is well established that all kinds of visual attributes are processed separately within the brain. This separation is related to differences in the information that is relevant for the different attributes. When attributes differ greatly (such as colour and motion) it is obvious that they must rely on different information. However, separating the processing of different attributes could also allow highly related attributes to evolve independently, so that they end up being judged on the basis of different types of information. Here, we examine the case of egocentric and relative localisation. For judging egocentric positions, the orientation of the eyes has to be taken into account. This is not so for judging relative positions. We demonstrate that these two attributes can be processed separately by showing that simultaneous judgements of relative and egocentric position differ in their dependency on eye orientation. Subjects pursued a moving dot. We flashed either single targets, or pairs of targets with a 67 ms interval between them, directly below the subjects gaze. As the eyes were moving during the 67 ms interval, the retinal separation between pairs of targets was different from their actual separation. Subjects indicated the position at which they saw the targets with reasonable reproducibility, with a consistent bias in the direction of the eye movement. However, when two targets were flashed, the indicated separation between them usually coincided with their retinal separation, rather than with their actual separation. We conclude that egocentric and relative spatial positions can be estimated separately and simultaneously, on the basis of different types of information.

Four issues concerning colour constancy and relational colour constancy

Four issues concerning colour constancy and relational colour constancy are briefly considered: (1) the equivalence of colour constancy and relational colour constancy; (2) the dependence of relational colour constancy on ratios of cone excitations due to light from different reflecting surfaces, and the association of such ratios with von Kries coefficient rule; (3) the contribution of chromatic edges to colour constancy and relational colour constancy; and (4) the effects of instruction and observer training. It is suggested that cognitive factors affect colour constancy more than relational colour constancy, which may be an inherently more robust phenomenon.