Exploring the function of peripheral vision in humans using virtual reality

Project Information

Peripheality

Grant agreement ID: 797603

DOI

10.3030/797603

Project closed

EC signature date 23 February 2018

Start date 2 October 2018

End date 4 February 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 151 648,80

EU contribution

€ 151 648,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
Cyprus

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Peripheality (Exploring the function of peripheral vision in humans using virtual reality)

Reporting period: 2018-10-02 to 2020-10-01

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main aim of PERIPHEALITY was to study the functional significance of the peripheral visual field in humans. Although the human visual field extends almost 90 degrees on either side of fixation, visual perception studies throughout the years have focused primarily on central vision, (i.e. ~15° from the centre of gaze), overlooking the function and the potential importance of the peripheral visual field. In this project, positive and negative serial dependence (SD) effects were used as indicators of temporal continuity and change detection mechanisms respectively. SD refers to the blending of past stimulus information with the perception of a current stimulus, making the two perceptually more similar (positive effects) or dissimilar (negative effects) than they really are. SD effects have been observed in the central visual field under constrained experimental settings with a variety of stimuli. SD effects support the idea that the human visual system exploits the temporal redundancies of natural scenes through temporal integration to achieve perceptual stability. Four research-based Work Packages (WPs) and four scientific objectives we pursued in PERIPHEALITY: (1) To investigate SD effects across the visual field in realistic conditions using immersive virtual reality (VR) equipment, (2) to investigate how interrupting the temporal continuity of visual motion affects integration of past information with the present using realistic stimuli in VR environments, (3) to examine how visual functions relate to more complex human abilities and (4) to provide a comprehensive theoretical account explaining SD effects. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first experimental attempt examining SD effects across the visual field, extending into the periphery and in realistic environments. By adopting a highly interdisciplinary approach that combined classical psychophysics, VR and data modelling techniques, PERIPHEALITY provided insight into the basic mechanisms of human vision that achieve an equilibrium between visual stability and change detection over the whole visual field. The more nuisance understanding of the functions of the peripheral visual field gained through PERIPHEALITY helps to explain the difficulties faced by patients with peripheral visual field defects and to develop appropriate rehabilitation tools.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

"I measured the effects of perceptual history on orientation and speed perception in immersive virtual environments. Results showed that when visual sensitivity in the same in the central and peripheral visual field, serial dependence effects are equal and similar to those observed under constrained experimental settings. In addition, when participants alternate the position of their head from one trial to the next perceptual history was found to operate mainly in world-centred coordinates. Such SD effects depend on stimulus reliability and similarity between successive stimuli, having a beneficial role at various levels of perception by minimizing errors and leading to faster response times. Interestingly, orientation discrimination skills are linked to more complex functions which are typically evaluated in intelligence testing. Finally, the structural connections of human area prostriata, which processes the peripheral visual field, with the visual thalamus which receives information directly from the retina of the eye, were found to be retinotopically organised.

Peer-reviewed scientific publications (reference to EU funding included/will be included):
• Kurzawski, J.W. Mikellidou, K., et al. (2020). The visual white matter connecting human area prostriata and the thalamus is retinotopically organized. Brain Structure & Function 225, 1839–1853. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-020-02096-5
• Cicchini, G.M. Mikellidou, K., & Burr, D.C. (2018). The functional role of serial dependence. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 285:20181722. http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1722
Preprints:
• Mikellidou, K., et al. (2021). Perceptual history acts in world-centred coordinates. bioRxiv, 2021.02.18.431805. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.18.431805
Manuscript drafts in preparation:
• Mikellidou, K., et al. (In Preparation). The relationship between visual abilities and intelligence quotient.
• Mikellidou, K., et al. (In Preparation). Serial dependence in orientation judgments across the visual field in immersive virtual environments.
• Mikellidou, K., et al. (In Preparation). Perceptual history affects speed perception of moving cars in an immersive virtual environment.
Conferences:
1. Poster presentation: “Serial Dependencies in virtual reality” at the European Conference on Visual Perception 2019 in Leuven, Belgium, 25-29 August 2019
2. Poster presentation “Serial Dependence in Immersive Virtual Environments” at virtual Vision Sciences Society 2020 meeting, 19-24 June 2020
3. Experimental Psychology Society virtual meeting 2nd July 2020
Invited talks:
1. ""The past and the present: Serial dependencies in virtual reality"", University of Glasgow, Scotland for the Glasgow University Psychology Society Annual Meeting, 1st February 2020
2. ""The Peripheral Visual Field” at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany 25th February 2020
Online dissemination:
- @peripheality twitter account."

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Results from this project demonstrate progress beyond the state-of-the-art for the following directions:
1. Evidence from this project is probably the first of its kind showing that serial dependence (SD) effects preserving temporal continuity can be observed under realistic conditions using everyday stimuli (bottles and cars) in immersive virtual environments. This shows the importance of a mechanism which facilitates perceptual stability in everyday life.
2. For the first time, SD effects were measured in the peripheral visual field (30 degrees horizontally from fixation)
3. This is one of a handful of investigations measuring the effects of perceptual history using moving stimuli
4. For the first time, SD effects were measured after disrupting the temporal continuity of motion perception.
5. Evidence generated for the first time showed that when the position of the head changes the coordinate system of serial dependence effects depends largely on allocentric than egocentric cues.
6. SD effects were described for the first time with a parameter-free model.
7. This project demonstrated for the first time that orientation discrimination, the simplest visual skill possible, can predict well results in matrix reasoning, a typical sub-test of an intelligence test that evaluates abstract problem-solving and pattern finding skills.
8. Evidence generated showed for the first time a retinotopic organization of structural connections between the visual thalamus and area prostriata which processes the peripheral visual field.
To summarise, the aim of Peripheality was to understand the significance of the peripheral visual field in humans. Current results are useful in understanding the spared visual abilities of patients with central visual field defects (e.g. retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration patients) and also the difficulties that patients with peripheral visual field defects face when losing peripheral vision. Such understanding could inform modern neurohabilitation techniques.

Peripheality Summary for Publication Image