Parafoveal Sensitivity Control in the Human Retina
{'Code': '08090200', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'IOS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Christopher Platt', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
This project concerns how sensitivity of vision varies in                    different parts of the eye.  Visual images are focussed on the                  retina, which contains a small region called the fovea for high-                resolution and color analysis of the visual world.  There is some               evidence that mechanisms for visual processing may be different                 in the fovea from mechanisms in the parafoveal areas in the rest                of the retina.  Adaptation is one process in which visual                       sensitivity, measured by visibility of an object against a                      background, is influenced by background illumination.                           Mechanisms for such sensitivity involve lateral interactions                    among targets and backgrounds of different colors, but                          psychophysical and electrophysiological studies show disagreement               on how independent the mechanisms are for color adaptation.                     While most psychophsyical studies of adaptation have concentrated               on the fovea, most electrophysiological studies are done on cells               lying outside the fovea.                                                           This project will use adaptation to test the organization of                 sensitivity control at the fovea compared to the parafoveal                     areas.  If a small test target is displayed against a small                     background, the sensitivity to the target is less than when the                 background is large.  This effect of background size is called                  spatial sensitization, and is a useful tool for exploring                       sensitivity control.  Here the sensitization will be coupled with               the effects of chromatic adaptation by using different colors of                target and background.  The spatial extent of sensitization                     functions will be measured under appropriate chromatic adaptation               conditions, at several different retinal locations.  The results                will give information about how the neural organization of cells                in the retina differs between fovea and parafoveal locations.                      This work will have an impact on color vision studies, where                 the interpretation of several phenomena are tied to foveal versus               parafoveal differences.  Results also will be important to                      studies of retinal organization, and sensitivity of sensory                     systems in general, directly addressing links between                           psychophysics and physiology.
{'FirstName': 'Gunilla', 'LastName': 'Haegerstrom-Portnoy', 'PI_MID_INIT': None, 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Gunilla Haegerstrom-Portnoy', 'EmailAddress': None, 'NSF_ID': '000466470', 'StartDate': '11/01/1987', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of California-Berkeley', 'CityName': 'BERKELEY', 'ZipCode': '947101749', 'PhoneNumber': '5106433891', 'StreetAddress': '1608 4TH ST STE 201', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'California', 'StateCode': 'CA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '12', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'CA12', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'GS3YEVSS12N6', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, THE', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
{'Name': None, 'CityName': None, 'StateCode': None, 'ZipCode': None, 'StreetAddress': None, 'CountryCode': None, 'CountryName': None, 'StateName': None, 'CountryFlag': None, 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': None, 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_PERF': '""'}
{'Code': '1185', 'Text': 'SENSORY SYSTEMS'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1987&All=true', 'xml': '8709339.xml'}