fMRI and Human Stereopsis
Research Overview
Starting in 1996, I began a project with David Heeger to use functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural basis of binocular
vision and depth perception in humans. This project continued over 3
years with Ben Backus, Geoff Boynton, Rehan Khan and Andrew Parker.
It is well known that disparity tuned neurons are widespread in
several visual cortical areas, but it is not clear which of these
neurons are involved in stereo depth perception per se. Specific
populations of neurons may be involved in binocular fusion, controlling
vergence eye movements, or non-stereopsis related tasks.
Using different 3d surface configurations in our stimulis, and varying
amounts of binocularly uncorrelated noise, we are identifying brain
areas where the fMRI signals are good correlates of visual perception.
Publications / Conference Presentations
- Backus, B., Fleet, D.J., Parker, A.J. and Heeger, D.J. (2001)
Human cortical activity correlates with stereoscopic depth perception.
Journal of Neurophysiology 86(10):2054-2068
(abstract)
- Khan, R., Boynton, G., Fleet, D.J., Heeger, D.J. (1997) Neural basis
of stereo depth perception measured with fMRI. Association for Research
in Vision and Ophthalmology, Fort Lauderdale
- Backus, B.T., Fleet, D.J., Heeger, D.J. (1999)
Differential fMRI response to absolute and relative disparity in area V3/V3A
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Fort Lauderdale
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