QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (15) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Crawford, J. D. Articles by Vilis, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Crawford, J. D. Articles by Vilis, T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

The Journal of Neuroscience, March 15, 2000, 20(6):2360-2368

Curvature of Visual Space Under Vertical Eye Rotation: Implications for Spatial Vision and Visuomotor Control

J. Douglas Crawford^{1, 2}, Denise Y. P. Henriques^{1, 2}, and Tutis Vilis^{1, 3}

¹ Medical Research Council Group for Action and Perception and ² Centre for Vision Research and Departments of Psychology and Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3, and ³ Department of Physiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1

Most models of spatial vision and visuomotor control reconstruct visual space by adding a vector representing the site of retinal stimulation to another vector representing gaze angle. However, this scheme fails to account for the curvatures in retinal projection produced by rotatory displacements in eye orientation. In particular, our simulations demonstrate that even simple vertical eye rotation changes the curvature of horizontal retinal projections with respect to eye-fixed retinal landmarks. We confirmed the existence of such curvatures by measuring target direction in eye coordinates in which the retinotopic representation of horizontally displaced targets curved obliquely as a function of vertical eye orientation. We then asked subjects to point (open loop) toward briefly flashed targets at various points along these lines of curvature. The vector-addition model predicted errors in pointing trajectory as a function of eye orientation. In contrast, with only minor exceptions, actual subjects showed no such errors, showing a complete neural compensation for the eye position-dependent geometry of retinal curvatures. Rather than bolstering the traditional model with additional corrective mechanisms for these nonlinear effects, we suggest that the complete geometry of retinal projection can be decoded through a single multiplicative comparison with three-dimensional eye orientation. Moreover, because the visuomotor transformation for pointing involves specific parietal and frontal cortical processes, our experiment implicates specific regions of cortex in such nonlinear transformations.

Key words: visuomotor; spatial vision; eye position; retina; three-dimensional; geometry; arm movement; pointing

---

Copyright © 2000 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/00/2062360-09$05.00/0

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. A. Smith and J. D. Crawford Distributed Population Mechanism for the 3-D Oculomotor Reference Frame Transformation J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2005; 93(3): 1742 - 1761. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. E. Jerde, J. F. Soechting, and M. Flanders Coarticulation in Fluent Fingerspelling J. Neurosci., March 15, 2003; 23(6): 2383 - 2393. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. E. Angelaki, H.-H. Zhou, and M. Wei Foveal Versus Full-Field Visual Stabilization Strategies for Translational and Rotational Head Movements J. Neurosci., February 15, 2003; 23(4): 1104 - 1108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. J. van Beers, D. M. Wolpert, and P. Haggard Sensorimotor Integration Compensates for Visual Localization Errors During Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2001; 85(5): 1914 - 1922. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. F. Soechting, K. C. Engel, and M. Flanders The Duncker Illusion and Eye-Hand Coordination J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2001; 85(2): 843 - 854. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help