Genes And Environment In Late AMD: Pooling A State And Population Resource
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$701,642.00
Summary
This study will pool cases from the West Australian Macular Degeneration database with the Blue Mountains Eye Study (NSW), to investigate the interplay of genes and environmental factors on risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), in particular the late, vision threatening stage. It will provide insights into the underlying causes of AMD, and could allow us to target people with AMD susceptibility genes for preventive approaches, which could reduce the burden of this disease.
Determinants Of Perfect Vision: The Raine Eye Health Study, An Ophthalmic Follow-up Study Of A Longitudinal Birth Cohort At Age 21 Years
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$59,295.00
Summary
Parents aim to do the best for their child�s development, however little is known about what is required for children to develop perfect vision. This study will analyse those modifiable antenatal, early life and childhood factors that influence visual acuity in later life. Using ocular data from the Raine Health Study, which prospectively follows a cohort of 1,500 young adults, we will describe normal eye function in early adulthood and investigate the genetic and environmental factors predispos ....Parents aim to do the best for their child�s development, however little is known about what is required for children to develop perfect vision. This study will analyse those modifiable antenatal, early life and childhood factors that influence visual acuity in later life. Using ocular data from the Raine Health Study, which prospectively follows a cohort of 1,500 young adults, we will describe normal eye function in early adulthood and investigate the genetic and environmental factors predisposing to visal acuity.Read moreRead less
Neural Circuits For Active Vision In The Primate Cerebral Cortex
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$632,938.00
Summary
This project will try to understand how we use visual information to identify objects by their shape and motion, in natural situations in which the eyes are moving all the time. This will be accomplished by recording the electrical activity of brain cells while a trained animal is performing different types of tasks, such as tracking a moving object or exploring a scene with its eyes.
Novel Approaches To Understanding Peripheral Vision In Patients With Central Vision Loss
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,101.00
Summary
The aim of my research is to develop novel interventions that enhance the peripheral vision of patients with central vision loss, and to investigate the neural correlates of visual perception in peripheral vision in typical adults. My research will inform rehabilitation strategies that optimise the visual function of patients with partial blindness, and provide a more thorough understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms that reduce the quality of peripheral vision.
Orientation-specific Contextual Modulation In Human Visual Cortex
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$290,413.00
Summary
Context has a strong infuence on our visual perception. We will study patterns of activity in the normal human brain to identify the cortical signature of contextual modulation in vision. The correspondences between patterns of brain activity and visual perception in the normal human brain will provide data against which brain activity in disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be assessed.
The Role Of The Prefrontal Cortex In Working Memory For Visual Motion
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$359,796.00
Summary
As objects of interest may not always be in one's view, it is important to store information about their spatial locations for future reference. For example, you could reach for a beverage without taking your eyes from this application. While this may be effortless, such tasks are fundamentally complex, requiring spatial information to be coded, stored in memory and retrieved at appropriate times. This proposal examines how interactions between different brain areas allow this to happen.
Functional Interactions Between Primate Cortical Areas In Tasks Involving Attention And Short-term Memory
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$267,280.00
Summary
To navigate and operate in the cluttered and dynamic sensory world around us, our brains need to be able to attend to specific objects or features in the environment, identify them and also know where they exist at any one instant of time, prior to performing the appropriate action. The attention, memory, decision and motor components involved in this process possibly involve a variety of cortical areas and neuronal operations. The special primate preparation we have developed permits us to eluc ....To navigate and operate in the cluttered and dynamic sensory world around us, our brains need to be able to attend to specific objects or features in the environment, identify them and also know where they exist at any one instant of time, prior to performing the appropriate action. The attention, memory, decision and motor components involved in this process possibly involve a variety of cortical areas and neuronal operations. The special primate preparation we have developed permits us to elucidate at a neuronal level many of these brain mechanisms. By recording neuronal activities in two different cortical areas simultaneously as the monkey performs a memory task that he has been trained on, we will test the following ideas: (1) A cortical region in the dorsal, parietal stream directs spatial attention by gating other visual areas to process only a selected region of the visual world (2) A region in the ventral, temporal stream directs attention to specific features in the visual world by gating earlier cortical areas (3) The parietal cortical areas that mediate intention for action hold the relevant information in working memory till it is forwarded to the more anterior premotor areas. These experiments have the potential to reveal the basic neuronal scheme that underpins functions such as attention, visual recognition and memory, which are impaired in many neurological disorders.Read moreRead less
Functional Connectivity Between Visual Cortical Areas In The Non-human Primate
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$387,585.00
Summary
Visual information going from the eyes to the brain is processed in different parts of the brain to extract useful information. However, to be able to select what is important from among the vast number of objects in the scene, top-down signals from higher areas need to act on incoming signals in earlier areas. This project aims to identify what sort of neural pathways are involved in this and how it is done at the cellular level.
Neuronal Linking Of Attention, Perception And Action
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$586,469.00
Summary
We are able to perceive and interact with the environment around us primarily because a filter of attention selects just the objects or features of relevance in the world and helps to make appropriate motor responses. This project will study how attentional networks of the brain operate to link our perception and action. An understanding of this process is fundamental to revealing the underlying pathology in many neurological conditions where attention is impaired.
The superior colliculus is a brain centre which uses visual information from the eyes and other sensory information, such as sound, to direct the head and eyes towards objects of interest. This project will use current advancements in optogenetics to activate connections to this brain region in order to understand its role in coordinating head and eye movements. This will advance our understanding of how the brain collects and processes visual information to subserve behavioural functions.