“Fixational eye movements in the absence of central vision”
Prof. Susana Chung
Optometry and Vision Science
University of California, Berkeley
Date/Time: Monday, May 8th, 5:30 pm
This is an online event. To obtain details please send a message to department.
Abstract: People with bilateral macular disease are known to exhibit much higher fixation instability when compared with people with a normal fovea. The increased fixation instability is attributed to larger amplitudes of ocular drifts and microsaccades. Poor fixation stability has been suggested as a major factor limiting visual performance for people with macular disease. However, given that most people with bilateral macular disease adopt a peripheral retinal location, the preferred retinal locus, for visual tasks, it is also possible that the increased fixation instability and the larger amplitude of ocular drifts and microsaccades are necessary to prevent visual stimuli from fading. To date, the functional consequences of fixational eye movements of people with macular disease remain unclear. In this talk, I will present several studies from my lab to summarize the characteristics of fixational eye movements for people with macular disease; evaluate the relationships between the characteristics of fixational eye movements and visual performance; and empirically determine whether increased or decreased fixation stability could benefit vision for people with macular disease.
About the Speaker: Susana Chung is a Professor of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her optometry training at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and subsequently received a MSc in Optometry degree from the University of Melbourne and a PhD in Physiological Optics from the University of Houston. She then completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Minnesota. The major goals of Susana’s research center on the understanding of the limiting factors on vision in the presence of eye disorders or diseases, and whether effective paradigms could be developed to improve vision for people with impaired vision. She uses a variety of techniques including psychophysics, computational modeling, retinal imaging, and eye tracking in her research. Her research has been continuously supported by NIH since 2000. Susana has received a number of awards for her contribution to research, including the Atwell Award for Research Excellence in Low Vision, the Borish Outstanding Young Researcher Award, and the Glenn A. Fry Award.