School of Psychology and Vision Sciences
Vision Sciences
The group is dedicated to advancing vision science by combining different disciplines, aiming to positively affect people’s lives through translational research. Areas of focus include the eye and eye-movement conditions, cognitive and visual processing involved in reading and the assimilation of visual information during goal-driven activities. This also extends to how we integrate other senses, such as hearing and vestibular senses (our sense of balance).
The group uses a combination of methodologies - imaging (such as EEG and OCT), visual psychophysics, eye-tracking, and other ophthalmic methods - to investigate the structural and functional aspects of vision in real and virtual environments. Our investigations cover neurotypical individuals of all ages as well as those with diverse health or disability conditions. This research is organized around three interconnected themes.
View the Vision Sciences research group co-authorship map (November 2023)
Themes
Sight treatment and diagnosis through retinal imaging and genotyping
"The Leicester Grading System (LGS) for OCT imaging, a globally used clinical tool for characterizing the severity of retinal abnormalities."
The pioneering research led by Proudlock, McLean, and Thomas at the Ulverscroft Eye Unit has enhanced the assessment, diagnosis, and management of Developmental Retinal Diseases (DRDs) through advanced Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and the Leicester Grading System (LGS). Meanwhile, Thomas's work on the genetic underpinnings of foveal development has unveiled genetic variations that affect vision, improving clinical outcomes for conditions like infantile nystagmus. These efforts have been recognized for their impact and backed by significant funding, contributing to high-impact publications and advancements in ophthalmologic care.
Mostly associated with this theme
- Rebecca McLean
- Frank Proudlock
- Sohaib Rufai
- Mervyn Thomas
- Zhanhan Tu
Cognition and vision underpinning reading skill
"Eye movements during reading offer a clear view into how our vision and cognition work together to make sense of the words on a page."
The exploration of reading through eye-tracking offers a window into the cognitive processes that underlie one of our most fundamental skills. This research domain uses eye movement metrics to decode how we extract and process visual information to understand text. Eye movements during reading offer a clear view into how our vision and cognition work together to make sense of the words on a page. By examining patterns such as fixations, quick eye movements (saccades), and regressions, researchers can gain insights into the complexity of reading - from basic word recognition to the integration of meaning across sentences and paragraphs. This approach not only sheds light on normative reading behaviour but also reveals how aging and linguistic diversity influence the intricate dance of the eyes across lines of text.
Mostly associated with this theme
Sensory, cognitive and clinical neuroscience
"Performing the simplest of everyday tasks goes beyond just seeing; it involves a sophisticated interaction between visual perception, physical actions and our sense of time."
Vision is an active process that involves the visual pathway and brain. Interpreting and acting upon visual information requires integration with other senses, such as hearing, our sense of balance (vestibular sense), our sense of space, and our sense of time. Evaluating and maintaining sensory information, also involves cognitive processes, including selective attention, memory and decision-making.
Our research group employs a variety of methods, such as eye-tracking, EEG, brain stimulation, immersive virtual reality and computational modelling to explore how the brain receives, interprets and evaluates visual information and directs behaviour. This work is crucial for understanding vision’s role in real-life behaviour, as well as the impact of clinical conditions on individual’s ability to perceive, prioritise and act on information in the visual scene.
Mostly associated with this theme
- Qadeer Arshad
- Doug Barrett
- Marta Boscaglia
- Aurelio Bruno
- Carlo De Lillo
- Phil Duke
- Robin Green
- Montana Hunter*
- Kathleen Kang*
- Richard Leadbeater
- Anna Nowakowska
- David Souto
- Jammy Stacey
- Chrystalle Tan
*also associated with the Health and Wellbeing research group.