Modeling the control of fixational eye movements with neurophysiological delays

We propose a model for the control of fixational eye movements using time-delayed random walks. Fixational eye movements produce random displacements of the retinal image to prevent perceptual fading. First, we demonstrate that a transition from persistent to antipersistent correlations occurs in data recorded from a visual fixation task. Second, we propose and investigate a delayed random-walk model and get, by comparison of the transition points, an estimate of the neurophysiological delay. Differences between horizontal and vertical components of eye movements are found which can be explained neurophysiologically. Finally, we compare our numerical results with analytic approximations.     

Distortion of Visual Space During Pursuit Eye Movements

We measured perceived positions of flash stimuli arranged two-dimensionally in the peripheral visual field during pursuit eye movement to examine the influence of displacement of the eye position on localization in the peripheral visual field. The horizontal mislocalization of the flash stimulus during the horizontal pursuit eye movement was found toward the pursuit direction. The magnitude of this mislocalization was asymmetrical around the central visual field, and the asymmetry depended on the pursuit direction. As the eye position changed, the magnitude of the horizontal mislocalization gradually decreased. It was also observed that the vertical mislocalization of the flash stimulus was constant regardless of the eye position displacement. These results show that the visual space during the horizontal pursuit eye movement is expanded horizontally and then gradually returns to the normal state. It is suggested that the visual space is dynamically distorted during the pursuit eye movement.     

Judgment in crossing a road between objects coming in the opposite lane

When cars are oncoming in the opposite lane of a road, a driver is able to judge whether his/her car can cross the road at an intersection without a collision with the oncoming cars. We developed a model for the human judgment used to cross a road between oncoming objects. In the model, in order to make the judgment to cross the road, the human visual system compares the time interval it takes for an oncoming object to pass the observer with the time interval it takes for the observer to cross the road. We conducted a psychophysical experiment to test the model prediction. The result showed that human performance is in good agreement with the theoretical consequence provided by the model, suggesting that the human visual system uses not only the visually timed information of the approaching object but also the timed information of self-action for the judgment about crossing the road.     

超视力人眼模型的研究

超视力人眼模型对充分发掘人眼视力达到“鹰视”具有重要意义。用Zernike多项式描述角膜前表面，用渐变折射率描述晶状体的折射率分布，同时考虑人眼视轴和光轴的夹角对成像的影响，利用光学设计软件Zemax建立了人眼超视力模型。将Zernike条纹矢高面应用到人眼模型中，能有效改变视轴方向(即5°视场)的成像质量，提高点扩散函数（PSF）值。采用晶状体渐变折射率符合人眼的实际解剖结构，可有效减小人眼像差。通过分析人眼极限分辨能力和人眼模型波像差，得出当空间频率为60周期/度时，该模型对目标高频细节感知的调制度可达到0.55。     

A Recurrent Quantum Neural Network Model to Describe Eye Tracking of Moving Targets

A theoretical quantum neural network model is proposed using a nonlinear Schrödinger wave equation. The model proposes that there exists a nonlinear Schrödinger wave equation that mediates the collective response of a neural lattice. The model is used to explain eye movements when tracking moving targets. Using a recurrent quantum neural network(RQNN) while simulating the eye tracking model, two very interesting phenomena are observed. First, as eye sensor data is processed in a classical neural network, a wave packet is triggered in the quantum neural network.This wave packet moves like a particle. Second, when the eye tracks a fixed target, this wave packet moves not in a continuous but rather in a discrete mode. This result reminds one of the saccadic movements of the eye consisting of ‘jumps’ and ‘rests’. However, such a saccadic movement is intertwined with smooth pursuit movements when the eye has to track a dynamic trajectory. In a sense, this is the first theoretical model explaining the experimental observation reported concerning eye movements in a static scene situation. The resulting prediction is found to be very precise and efficient in comparison to classical objective modeling schemes such as the Kalman filter.     

Analog Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Implementation of Approach Detection with Simple-Shape Recognition Based on Visual Systems of Lower Animals

We proposed an analog network for motion detection of an approaching object with simple-shape recognition based on the visual systems of lower animals. Locusts can detect an approaching object by performing a simple process in a descending contralateral motion detector (DCMD) existing in their brain, which senses the increase in size and expansion velocity of the image projected on a retina just before collision. The responses correspond to the approaching velocity and direction. Frogs can recognize a simple shape by performing a simple process in a tectum and thalamus existing in their brain based on retinal information; this is called the Ewert von Seelen model. The proposed network was constructed with simple analog metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) circuits. Simulation results with a simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) showed that the network was able to detect the approaching velocity and direction, and also recognized simple shapes such as a circle, square, triangle and rectangle.     

A novel functional magnetic resonance imaging compatible search-coil eye-tracking system

Measuring eye movements (EMs) using the search-coil eye-tracking technique is superior to video-based infrared methods [Collewijn H, van der Mark F, Jansen TC. Precise recording of human eye movements. Vision Res 1975;15(3):447-50], which suffer from the instability of pupil size, blinking behavior and lower temporal resolution. However, no conventional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-compatible search-coil eye tracker exists. The main problems for such a technique are the interaction between the transmitter coils and the magnetic gradients used for imaging as well as the limited amount of space in a scanner. Here we present an approach to overcome these problems and we demonstrate a method to record EMs in an MRI scanner using a search coil. The system described has a spatial resolution of 0.07 degrees (visual angle) and a high temporal resolution (22 kHz). The transmitter coils are integrated into the visual presentation system and the control/analysis unit is portable, which enables us to integrate the eye tracker with an MRI scanner. Our tests demonstrate low noise in the recorded eye traces and scanning with minimal artifact. Furthermore, the induced current in the search coil caused by the RF pulses does not lead to measurable heating. Altogether, this MR-compatible search-coil eye tracker can be used to precisely monitor EMs with high spatial and temporal resolution during fMRI. It can therefore be of great importance for studies requiring accurate fixation of a target, or measurement and study of the subject's oculomotor system.     

Estimation of in-scanner head pose changes during structural MRI using a convolutional neural network trained on eye tracker video

IntroductionIn-scanner head motion is a common cause of reduced image quality in neuroimaging, and causes systematic brain-wide changes in cortical thickness and volumetric estimates derived from structural MRI scans. There are few widely available methods for measuring head motion during structural MRI. Here, we train a deep learning predictive model to estimate changes in head pose using video obtained from an in-scanner eye tracker during an EPI-BOLD acquisition with participants undertaking deliberate in-scanner head movements. The predictive model was used to estimate head pose changes during structural MRI scans, and correlated with cortical thickness and subcortical volume estimates.Methods21 healthy controls (age 32 ± 13 years, 11 female) were studied. Participants carried out a series of stereotyped prompted in-scanner head motions during acquisition of an EPI-BOLD sequence with simultaneous recording of eye tracker video. Motion-affected and motion-free whole brain T1-weighted MRI were also obtained. Image coregistration was used to estimate changes in head pose over the duration of the EPI-BOLD scan, and used to train a predictive model to estimate head pose changes from the video data. Model performance was quantified by assessing the coefficient of determination (R²). We evaluated the utility of our technique by assessing the relationship between video-based head pose changes during structural MRI and (i) vertex-wise cortical thickness and (ii) subcortical volume estimates.ResultsVideo-based head pose estimates were significantly correlated with ground truth head pose changes estimated from EPI-BOLD imaging in a hold-out dataset. We observed a general brain-wide overall reduction in cortical thickness with increased head motion, with some isolated regions showing increased cortical thickness estimates with increased motion. Subcortical volumes were generally reduced in motion affected scans.ConclusionsWe trained a predictive model to estimate changes in head pose during structural MRI scans using in-scanner eye tracker video. The method is independent of individual image acquisition parameters and does not require markers to be to be fixed to the patient, suggesting it may be well suited to clinical imaging and research environments. Head pose changes estimated using our approach can be used as covariates for morphometric image analyses to improve the neurobiological validity of structural imaging studies of brain development and disease.     

Embodied cognition and the perception-action link

Perception is interpreted as a set of capabilities that facilitate two functions necessary for survival; learning about the environment and controlling real-time behavioral interactions with it. Perceptual capabilities evolve in the context of an organism and its environment, adapted to an organism's ecological niche. The relation between embodied perception and action can be studied in the context of the only muscles that serve only to enable perception--the eye muscles. The only eye movements under cognitive control are saccades, the rapid jumps of binocular fixation from one target to another. The world is perceived as stable while the retinal image, and the corresponding projections inside the brain, are displaced with each saccade. This space constancy forms the stable platform for all other visual functions and requires an explanation that involves visual short-term memory. This memory, and the change detection that it makes possible, is enhanced when there is a physical interaction between the observer and the visual stimulus. Perception is something you do, not something that happens to you.     

Analog vision chip for motion detection of an approaching object against a moving background based on the insect visual system

A network for motion detection of an approaching object without influence of the moving background was proposed based on the insect visual system. The two-dimensional array of the analog complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits for extracting the edge signals of the approaching object without outputting those of the moving background was inserted at the first stage of the network. At the next stage, analog CMOS circuits for detection of approaching velocity and direction, which accept the extracted edge signals, were inserted based on the locust vision system. A chip of the proposed network was fabricated with the 1.2 mm CMOS process. It was clarified from the measured results and the simulation results with the simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) that the two-dimensional circuits of the first stage can only generate the signals of target edges. The measured results showed that the chip can detect the approaching velocity and direction of the target in the image which contains the moving background.     

Rapid and implicit effects of color category on visual search

Many studies suggest that the color category influences visual perception. It is also well known that oculomotor control and visual attention are closely linked. In order to clarify temporal characteristics of color categorization, we investigated eye movements during color visual search. Eight color disks were presented briefly for 20–320 ms, and the subject was instructed to gaze at a target shown prior to the trial. We found that the color category of the target modulated eye movements significantly when the stimulus was displayed for more than 40 ms and the categorization could be completed within 80 ms. With the 20 ms presentation, the search performance was at a chance level, however, the first saccadic latency suggested that the color category had an effect on visual attention. These results suggest that color categorization affects the guidance of visual attention rapidly and implicitly.     

Saliency model for object detection: searching for novel items in the scene

This Letter presents a new computational model of visual saliency. A new definition for saliency is proposed: saliency is novelty, which guides the deployment of visual attention. We define novelty as coming from regions that contain dissimilarities from the global scene. Our approach consists of two stages: First, obtain a global perspective. The global representation is obtained with a visual vocabulary. A novelty factor for each visual word is introduced according to the "repetition suppression principle." Second, obtain a local perspective. A local representation is achieved from the histogram of visual word occurrence. The metric of saliency is defined as the overall novelty factor of the visual words. Experimental results demonstrate good performance of the proposed model on complex scenes and fair consistency with human eye fixation data.     

On Listing's law

Listing's law states that visual directions of sight are related to rotations of the eye so that all rotation axes lie in a plane. The geometry ofSO(3) indicates several plausible algorithms how the human brain could relate vision to eye movements satisfying Listing's law, and suggests crucial experiments which we have carried out.Dedicated to Res Jost and Arthur Wightman     

Persistence and phase synchronisation properties of fixational eye movements

When we fixate our gaze on a stable object, our eyes move continuously with extremely small involuntary and autonomic movements, that even we are unaware of during their occurrence. One of the roles of these fixational eye movements is to prevent the adaptation of the visual system to continuous illumination and inhibit fading of the image. These random, small movements are restricted at long time scales so as to keep the target at the centre of the field of view. In addition, the synchronisation properties between both eyes are related to binocular coordination in order to provide stereopsis. We investigated the roles of different time scale behaviours, especially how they are expressed in the different spatial directions (vertical versus horizontal). We also tested the synchronisation between both eyes. Results show different scaling behaviour between horizontal and vertical movements. When the small ballistic movements, i.e., microsaccades, are removed, the scaling behaviour in both axes becomes similar. Our findings suggest that microsaccades enhance the persistence at short time scales mostly in the horizontal component and much less in the vertical component. We also applied the phase synchronisation decay method to study the synchronisation between six combinations of binocular fixational eye movement components. We found that the vertical-vertical components of right and left eyes are significantly more synchronised than the horizontal-horizontal components. These differences may be due to the need for continuously moving the eyes in the horizontal plane in order to match the stereoscopic image for different viewing distances.     

Evaluation of a dichromatic color-appearance simulation by a visual search task

We used a visual search task to investigate the validity of the dichromatic simulation model proposed by Brettel et al. Although the dichromatic simulation could qualitatively predict reaction times for color-defective observers, the reaction times for color-defective observers tended to be longer than those of the trichromatic observers in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, we showed that a reduction of purity excitation of simulated colors can provide a good prediction. Further, we propose an adaptive dichromatic simulation model based on the color differences between a simulated target color and simulated distractor colors in order to obtain a better quantitative prediction of reaction times in the visual search task for color defects.     

Illusions of vision: Interpretation within the framework of a holographic model

Several illusions of vision are considered on the basis of a neurophysiological holographic model of visual perception at the level of the eye’s and the retina. It is suggested that the eye’s optical system forms a spatial spectrum of the observed object rather than its image on the retina. The spectrum is encoded by active anisotropic quasi-crystalline structures of rod rhodopsins and cone iodopsins, and a complex Fourier hologram of the observed object consisting of two quadrature components is recorded. The holographic hypothesis is confirmed by the results obtained by digital simulation.     

基于生物视觉特征和视觉心理学的视频显著性检测算法

提出了一种空域和时域相结合的视频显著性检测算法.对单帧图像,受视觉皮层层次化感知特性和Gestalt视觉心理学的启发,提出了一种层次化的静态显著图检测方法.在底层,通过符合生物视觉特性的特征图像（双对立颜色特征及亮度特征图像）的非线性简化模型来合成特征图像,形成多个候选显著区域;在中层,根据矩阵的最小Frobenius-范数（F-范数）性质选取竞争力最强的候选显著区域作为局部显著区域;在高层,利用Gestalt视觉心理学的核心理论,对在中层得到的局部显著区域进行整合,得到具有整体感知的空域显著图.对序列帧图像,基于运动目标在位置、运动幅度和运动方向一致性的假设,对Lucas-Kanade算法检测出的光流点进行二分类,排除噪声点的干扰,并利用光流点的运动幅度来衡量运动目标运动显著性.最后,基于人类视觉对动态信息与静态信息敏感度的差异提出了一种空域和时域显著图融合的通用模型.实验结果表明,该方法能够抑制视频背景中的噪声并且解决了运动目标稀疏等问题,能够较好地从复杂场景中检测出视频中的显著区域.     

Nerve impulse propagation in a branching nerve system: A simple model

Local spatial changes of nerve axon geometry such as diameter increase and branching, may cause that action potential waves approaching a region of geometric change fail to propagate beyond it.In this paper, this effect will be examined for a special kind of nonuniformity, within the framework of a simple model: an initial value problem for a single nonlinear diffusion equation on an unbounded domain.     

Simulation of exit choosing in pedestrian evacuation with consideration of the direction visual field

A modified floor field model is proposed to simulate the pedestrian evacuation behavior in a room with multiple exits by considering the direction visual field. Direction visual field is used to describe the pedestrian’s prediction on the propagation of pedestrian flow along some directions. The proposed model outperforms most of the similar models developed so far in such scenario that pedestrians are initially distributed in a room’s specified zone. Simulation results show that the consideration of direction visual field can better reproduce the evacuation process and reduce evacuation time apparently. Sensitivity analyses of the model parameters are presented.     

An adaptive window object tracking algorithm based on variable resolution

This paper presents an adaptive window object tracking method based on variable resolution. It copes with the change in size of the object during visual tracking. On the basis of the visual tracking algorithm, based on maximum posterior probability, we analyze the posterior probability index on the inside and outside panes of the object window, then build a mathematical model for adjusting object size with an adaptive window. Since the resolution changes according to the size of the object, this thesis uses a statistical sampling method of the feature by variable resolution. The resolution of the statistical feature is correspondingly changed in object tracking with an adaptive window. The resolution of a larger object is decreased, which realizes an object tracking method with adaptive window based on variable resolution.