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Visual hallucinations are perceptions without a physical stimulus to relate this percept too. It affects millions of people, yet surprisingly little is known about what’s happening in the brain during visual hallucinations. Marouska van Ommen and co-authors published a paper … Continued

To fully understand the eye disease glaucoma, it is important to also understand whether the adult human brain retains the ability to adapt to damage at the level of the eye. In a recent paper in the journal Scientific Reports, … Continued

Perimetry, – the measurement of retinal sensitivity at different visual field locations–is an essential and often used procedure in ophthalmology. The most common technique for this is Standard Automated Perimetry. For various reasons, this technique is less suitable for use … Continued

How does the brain of patients with the ophthalmic disease glaucoma change over time? In a paper published in “Frontiers in Human Neuroscience”, Shereif Haykal and co-authors show that over a period of several years, the visual pathways of glaucoma … Continued

Sensory loss in either the eyes or the ears affects our ability to recognize emotions, but does loss in both eyes and ears further worsen our ability to interpret multisensory signals? In a recent paper published in the journal “Vision … Continued

The two hemispheres of the brain process information somewhat differently. In other words, we have two brains in one, a phenomenon referred to as “brain lateralization”. Can a single unifying principle explain all the instances of brain lateralization? In a … Continued

Assessing the integrity of the optic nerve (ON), the first section of the neural wiring between the eye and the brain, is important in ophthalmology for diagnostic purposes and follow-up. Commonly, this is done using optical coherence tomography (OCT), yet … Continued

Can the directionality of BOLD activity, as measured using fMRI, provide meaningful information at a very fine scale? In a recent paper, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, Nicolas Gravel and colleagues show that it does. Using advanced models, they … Continued

Does having a visual field defect affect the representation of the visual world in the human brain? In a paper in the journal “Neuroimage”, Gokhul Prabhakaran and colleagues report that it does. Using fMRI, they find that neurons in the … Continued

Can an eye exam become literally as simple as watching a movie? In a recent paper in the Journal of Vision, Birte Gestefeld and colleagues show that the idea is perhaps not that far fetched. Based on the eye-movements made … Continued

The majority of emotional expressions used in daily communication are multimodal and dynamic in nature, but relatively little is known yet about how we adapt our perceptual strategies to the presence or absence of certain information. In a recent paper … Continued

What if an eye health exam could become as simple as following a moving and jumping dot on a screen for a few minutes? In a paper in the journal “Frontiers in Neurology”, Alessandro Grillini and co-authors show that the … Continued

Using fMRI to determine the presence of actual cortical reorganization following ocular or cortical lesions requires being aware of many potential pitfalls. In a recent paper in the journal “Neuroimage”, Gokul Prabhakaran and co-authors report on one more such an … Continued

The incorporation of Virtual Reality (VR) and Eye tracking can provide advantages for assessment and training in visual rehabilitation to both patients and therapists. Birte Gestefeld and colleagues conclude this in their paper in the journal “Vision Rehabilitation International”. You … Continued

Some people have trouble seeing multiple things at once and discovering relations between items in a scene. This is simultanagnosia. It can occur in patients with acquired brain injury. In the journal “Applied Neuropsychology: Adult”, Stefanie de Vries and colleagues … Continued

Visual restitution training may improve the vision of people with hemianopia, yet not all patients benefit equally from this long and exhaustive procedure. Would it not be great if we could predict who will benefit and who will not? In … Continued

Assessing population receptive field (pRF) properties is fundamental to understanding the neural basis of human sensory and cognitive behaviour. However, current approaches require making numerous a priori assumptions which is undesirable. In a recent paper in the journal “Neuroimage” Joana … Continued

When studying the plasticity of the human visual brain, neuroscientists have always emphasized the study of the receptive field properties of neurons. In a review and opinion paper in the journal “Neural Plasticity”, Joana Carvalho and co-authors argue there are … Continued

Visual hallucinations (VH) are conscious visual perceptions that occur in the absence of an external physical stimulus. Some patients may have VH that are so frequent or disturbing that they seek treatment for these. In this paper in the journal … Continued

In the ophthalmic disease glaucoma, the visual pathways from the eye to the brain get damaged, but why this happens is still debated. In a paper in the scientific journal “Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science (IOVS)”, Shereif Haykal and colleagues … Continued

Visual hallucinations are perceptions without a physical stimulus to relate the percept too. People who suffer from psychosis often experience visual hallucinations, but the properties of these hallucinations are not well known yet. Marouska van Ommen and co-authors published a … Continued

In games, hints can help you play a game faster or better. Also perception can use hints – often referred to as cues or “previews” – such that it becomes better.  But what aspect of these visual hints does our visual … Continued

What happens to the visual system of the brain if one hemisphere gets removed completely at a late (age 3) developmental stage? In a paper published in the journal “Neural Plasticity”, Hinke Halbertsma and co-authors revisited the visual field maps … Continued

Our eyes capture way more information than our brains can possibly process. To reduce this information stream, the visual brain performs two tricks: it can either summarize the information, or it can single out a small piece of it. But … Continued

Some visual tasks you can do better in your left compared to in your right visual field. But are all reported effects as robust as previously claimed? In a paper published in the journal “Cortex”, Sanne Brederoo and co-authors report … Continued

Do your left and right half of your brain ‘see’ the world in the same fashion? In a paper published in “Brain and Cognition”, Sanne Brederoo and co-authors report that they do not. While brain lateralisation has been described often … Continued

Does the human brain work in the same way when it is at rest as when it is being stimulated? In a paper published in “NeuroImage”, Nicolas Gravel and co-authors report that it does. They find that a new method … Continued

Did you know that your brain is able to read “bar-codes”? In a recently published paper in NeuroImage, Funda Yildirim and colleagues proved this point by mapping the visual cortex purely based on differences in the orientation of small stimulus components.  … Continued

Who would have guessed that the amygdala – a nucleus in the mid-brain generally associated with emotions like fear – also become active when you walk into a museum? In this paper, which appeared in a special research topic on … Continued

Does losing an eye change your brain? In a paper published in “Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS)”, Doety Prins and co-authors report that it does. Importantly, it results in degeneration that is specific to brain regions involved in depth … Continued

Our world is filled with texture. For the human visual system, this is an important source of information for assessing environmental and material properties. But can we also predict – what seem to be very personal – aesthetic judgments such … Continued

Is glaucoma only an eye disease or is the brain also involved? In a paper published in a special issue on “Imaging the visual system: from the eye to the brain” of the journal “Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics”, Joyce Boucard, … Continued

Why do we look were we look? A single red poppy flower in a green field will usually attract your attention, but probably not when you are spotting birds or insects. Your brain simply won’t give it a high enough “priority” in … Continued

Does having an eye disease affect the organization of one’s visual brain? In this paper in Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics, Haak et al. used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure activity in the visual brains of patients with the eye … Continued

Does having an eye disease also affects one’s brain? In this paper in PlosOne, Prins et al. examined MRI scans of patients with the eye disease macular degeneration to find indications for neural degeneration in the visual cortex. This is important to … Continued

How does the brain accomplish object recognition? In this study that appeared in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, Barbara Nordhjem and colleagues demonstrate that lateral sections of the ventral visual cortex interact during the recognition of images that were slowly revealed from noise, indicating both are … Continued

Is it possible to prevent damage to the visual pathways during neurosurgical operations? In this study in Frontiers Neuroanatomy, Roland Nooij and colleagues compare neuro-imaging to dissection images to find that a good correlation between the two. Furthermore, they suggest ways to … Continued

Is stereoscopic vision required to become a good (cataract) surgeon? In this study in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive surgery, Nibourg and colleagues used a mock up surgical test and a cataract surgery simulator to find that having stereo vision … Continued

Can new genetic methods be used to cure color blindness? In this paper in the Journal of Vision, Eli Brenner and Frans Cornelissen used simulations to determine whether replacing cone pigments suffices to cure colour blindness. Find the article [here].

Are perceptual decision making and action based on the same or on different neural representations? In this study in iPerception, Funda Yildirim and Frans Cornelissen use a simple and straightforward localization task to show that the neural representations are the same, thereby … Continued

Do we need to routinely examine the brains of patients with eye diseases? In this paper in Acta Opthalmologica, Doety Prins and colleagues review previous MRI studies that examined patients with eye diseases, to find that a large range of … Continued

Can your eyes “see” things that you cannot? In this study in the Journal of Vision, Barbara Nordhjem and colleagues use the phenomenon of “emergence” to study eye movements during object recognition. They find, amongst other things, that the eyes were … Continued

Cortical connective field estimates from resting state fMRI activity Similar organization of visual cortex can be inferred from both retinotopic mapping and resting state data.Nicolás Gravel et. 2014; the full paper can be downloaded at Frontiers in Neuroscience.