The fidelity of the cortical retinotopic map in human amblyopia

Diffeomorphic registration for retinotopic maps of multiple visual regions

Retinotopic map, the mapping between visual inputs on the retina and neuronal responses on the cortical surface, is one of the central topics in vision science. Typically, human retinotopic maps are constructed by analyzing functional magnetic resonance responses to designed visual stimuli on the cortical surface. Although it is widely used in visual neuroscience, retinotopic maps are limited by the signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution of fMRI. One promising approach to improve the quality of retinotopic maps is to register individual subject's retinotopic maps to a retinotopic template. However, none of the existing retinotopic registration methods has explicitly quantified the diffeomorphic condition, that is, retinotopic maps shall be aligned by stretching/compressing without tearing up the cortical surface. Here, we developed Diffeomorphic Registration for Retinotopic Maps (DRRM) to simultaneously align retinotopic maps in multiple visual regions under the diffeomorphic condition. Specifically, we used the Beltrami coefficient to model the diffeomorphic condition and performed surface registration based on retinotopic coordinates. The overall framework preserves the topological condition defined in the template. We further developed a unique evaluation protocol and compared the performance of the new method with several existing registration methods on both synthetic and real datasets. The results showed that DRRM is superior to the existing methods in achieving diffeomorphic  registration in synthetic and empirical data from 3T and 7T MRI systems. DRRM may improve the interpretation of low-quality retinotopic maps and facilitate applications of retinotopic maps in clinical settings.

Binocular versus standard occlusion or blurring treatment for unilateral amblyopia in children aged three to eight years

BACKGROUND

Current treatments for amblyopia, typically patching or pharmacological blurring, have limited success. Less than two-thirds of children achieve good acuity of 0.20 logMAR in the amblyopic eye, with limited improvement of stereopsis, and poor adherence to treatment. A new approach, based on presentation of movies or computer games separately to each eye, may yield better results and improve adherence. These treatments aim to balance the input of visual information from each eye to the brain.  OBJECTIVES: To determine whether binocular treatments in children, aged three to eight years, with unilateral amblyopia result in better visual outcomes than conventional patching or pharmacological blurring treatment.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched CENTRAL (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register), MEDLINE, Embase, ISRCTN, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the WHO ICTRP to 19 November 2020, with no language restrictions.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Two review authors independently screened the results of the search for relevant studies. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that enrolled children between the ages of three and eight years old with unilateral amblyopia. Amblyopia was classed as present when the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was worse than 0.200 logMAR in the amblyopic eye, with BCVA 0.200 logMAR or better in the fellow eye, in the presence of an amblyogenic risk factor, such as anisometropia, strabismus, or both. To be eligible, children needed to have undergone cycloplegic refraction and  ophthalmic examination, including fundal examination and optical treatment, if indicated, with stable BCVA in the amblyopic eye despite good adherence with wearing glasses. We included any type of binocular viewing intervention, on any device (e.g. computer monitors viewed with liquid-crystal display shutter glasses; hand-held screens, including mobile phones with lenticular prism overlay; or virtual reality displays). Control groups received standard amblyopia treatment, which could include patching or pharmacological blurring of the better-seeing eye. We included full-time (all waking hours) and part-time (between 1 and 12 hours a day) patching regimens. We excluded children who had received any treatment other than optical treatment; and studies with less than 8-week follow-up.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. The primary outcome of the review was the change from baseline of distance BCVA in the amblyopic eye after 16 (± 2) weeks of treatment, measured in logMAR units on an age-appropriate acuity test.

MAIN RESULTS

We identified one eligible RCT of conventional patching treatment versus novel binocular treatment, and analysed a subset of 68 children who fulfilled the age criterion of this review. We obtained data for the mean change in amblyopic eye visual acuity, adverse events (diplopia), and adherence to prescribed treatment at 8- and 16-week follow-up intervals, though no data were available for change in BCVA after 52 weeks. Risk of bias for the included study was considered to be low. The certainty of evidence for the visual acuity outcomes at 8 and 16 weeks of treatment and adherence to the study intervention was rated moderate using the GRADE criteria, downgrading by one level due to imprecision. The certainty of evidence was downgraded by two levels and rated low for the proportion of participants reporting adverse events due to the sample size.  Acuity improved in the amblyopic eye in both the binocular and patching groups following 16 weeks of treatment (improvement of -0.21 logMAR in the binocular group and -0.24 logMAR in the patching group, mean difference (MD) 0.03 logMAR (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.10 to 0.04; 63 children). This difference was non-significant and the improvements in both the binocular and patching groups are also considered clinically similar. Following 8 weeks of treatment, acuity improved in both the binocular and patching groups (improvement of -0.18 logMAR in the patching group compared to -0.16 logMAR improvement in the binocular-treatment group) (MD 0.02, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.08). Again this difference was statistically non-significant, and the differences observed between the patching and binocular groups are also clinically non-significant. No adverse event of permanent diplopia was reported. Adherence was higher in the patching group (47% of participants in the iPad group achieved over 75% compliance compared with 90% of the patching group).  Data were not available for changes in stereopsis nor for contrast sensitivity following treatment.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Currently, there is only one RCT that offers evidence of the safety and effectiveness of binocular treatment. The authors are moderately confident that after 16 weeks of treatment, the gain in amblyopic eye acuity with binocular treatment is likely comparable to that of conventional patching treatment. However, due to the limited sample size and lack of long term (52 week) follow-up data, it is not yet possible to draw robust conclusions regarding the overall safety and sustained effectiveness of binocular treatment. Further research, using acknowledged methods of visual acuity and stereoacuity assessment with known reproducibility, is required to inform decisions about the implementation of binocular treatments for amblyopia in clinical practice, and should incorporate longer term follow-up to establish the effectiveness of binocular treatment. Randomised controlled trials should also include outcomes reported by users, adherence to prescribed treatment, and recurrence of amblyopia after cessation of treatment.

Topological Receptive Field Model for Human Retinotopic Mapping

The mapping between visual inputs on the retina and neuronal activations in the visual cortex, i.e., retinotopic map, is an essential topic in vision science and neuroscience. Human retinotopic maps can be revealed by analyzing the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal responses to designed visual stimuli in vivo. Neurophysiology studies summarized that visual areas are topological (i.e., nearby neurons have receptive fields at nearby locations in the image). However, conventional fMRI-based analyses frequently generate non-topological results because they process fMRI signals on a voxel-wise basis, without considering the neighbor relations on the surface. Here we propose a topological receptive field (tRF) model which imposes the topological condition when decoding retinotopic fMRI signals. More specifically, we parametrized the cortical surface to a unit disk, characterized the topological condition by tRF, and employed an efficient scheme to solve the tRF model. We tested our framework on both synthetic and human fMRI data. Experimental results showed that the tRF model could remove the topological violations, improve model explaining power, and generate biologically plausible retinotopic maps. The proposed framework is general and can be applied to other sensory maps.

Scaffolding depth cues and perceptual learning in VR to train stereovision: a proof of concept pilot study

Stereopsis is a valuable feature of human visual perception, which may be impaired or absent in amblyopia and/or strabismus but can be improved through perceptual learning (PL) and videogames. The development of consumer virtual reality (VR) may provide a useful tool for improving stereovision. We report a proof of concept study, especially useful for strabismic patients and/or those with reduced or null stereoacuity. Our novel VR PL strategy is based on a principled approach which included aligning and balancing the perceptual input to the two eyes, dichoptic tasks, exposure to large disparities, scaffolding depth cues and perception for action. We recruited ten adults with normal vision and ten with binocular impairments. Participants played two novel PL games (DartBoard and Halloween) using a VR-HMD. Each game consisted of three depth cue scaffolding conditions, starting with non-binocular and binocular cues to depth and ending with only binocular disparity. All stereo-anomalous participants improved in the game and most (9/10) showed transfer to clinical and psychophysical stereoacuity tests (mean stereoacuity changed from 569 to 296 arc seconds, P < 0.0001). Stereo-normal participants also showed in-game improvement, which transferred to psychophysical tests (mean stereoacuity changed from 23 to a ceiling value of 20 arc seconds, P = 0.001). We conclude that a VR PL approach based on depth cue scaffolding may provide a useful method for improving stereoacuity, and the in-game performance metrics may provide useful insights into principles for effective treatment of stereo anomalies.This study was registered as a clinical trial on 04/05/2010 with the identifier NCT01115283 at ClinicalTrials.gov.

The Flash-lag Effect in Amblyopia

Purpose

Amblyopes suffer a defect in temporal processing, presumably because of a neural delay in their visual processing. By measuring flash-lag effect (FLE), we investigate whether the amblyopic visual system could compensate for the intrinsic neural delay due to visual information transmissions from the retina to the cortex.

Methods

Eleven adults with amblyopia and 11 controls with normal vision participated in this study. We assessed the monocular FLE magnitude for each subject by using a typical FLE paradigm: a bar moved horizontally, while a flashed bar briefly appeared above or below it. Three luminance contrasts of the flashed bar were tested: 0.2, 0.6, and 1.

Results

All participants, controls and those with amblyopia, showed a typical FLE. However, the FLE magnitude of participants with amblyopia was significantly shorter than that of the control participants, for both their amblyopic eye (AE) and fellow eye (FE). A nonsignificant difference was found in FLE magnitude between the AE and the FE.

Conclusions

We demonstrate a reduced FLE both in the AE as well as the FE of patients with amblyopia, suggesting a global visual processing deficit. We suggest it may be attributed to a more limited spatiotemporal extent of facilitatory anticipatory activity within the amblyopic primary visual cortex.

Optimizing Visual Cortex Parameterization with Error-Tolerant Teichmüller Map in Retinotopic Mapping

The mapping between the visual input on the retina to the cortical surface, i.e., retinotopic mapping, is an important topic in vision science and neuroscience. Human retinotopic mapping can be revealed by analyzing cortex functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals when the subject is under specific visual stimuli. Conventional methods process, smooth, and analyze the retinotopic mapping based on the parametrization of the (partial) cortical surface. However, the retinotopic maps generated by this approach frequently contradict neuropsychology results. To address this problem, we propose an integrated approach that parameterizes the cortical surface, such that the parametric coordinates linearly relates the visual coordinate. The proposed method helps the smoothing of noisy retinotopic maps and obtains neurophysiological insights in human vision systems. One key element of the approach is the Error-Tolerant Teichmüller Map, which uniforms the angle distortion and maximizes the alignments to self-contradicting landmarks. We validated our overall approach with synthetic and real retinotopic mapping datasets. The experimental results show the proposed approach is superior in accuracy and compatibility. Although we focus on retinotopic mapping, the proposed framework is general and can be applied to process other human sensory maps.

Studying Cortical Plasticity in Ophthalmic and Neurological Disorders: From Stimulus-Driven to Cortical Circuitry Modeling Approaches

Unsolved questions in computational visual neuroscience research are whether and how neurons and their connecting cortical networks can adapt when normal vision is compromised by a neurodevelopmental disorder or damage to the visual system. This question on neuroplasticity is particularly relevant in the context of rehabilitation therapies that attempt to overcome limitations or damage, through either perceptual training or retinal and cortical implants. Studies on cortical neuroplasticity have generally made the assumption that neuronal population properties and the resulting visual field maps are stable in healthy observers. Consequently, differences in the estimates of these properties between patients and healthy observers have been taken as a straightforward indication for neuroplasticity. However, recent studies imply that the modeled neuronal properties and the cortical visual maps vary substantially within healthy participants, e.g., in response to specific stimuli or under the influence of cognitive factors such as attention. Although notable advances have been made to improve the reliability of stimulus-driven approaches, the reliance on the visual input remains a challenge for the interpretability of the obtained results. Therefore, we argue that there is an important role in the study of cortical neuroplasticity for approaches that assess intracortical signal processing and circuitry models that can link visual cortex anatomy, function, and dynamics.

Long-Range Interocular Suppression in Adults with Strabismic Amblyopia: A Pilot fMRI Study

Interocular suppression plays an important role in the visual deficits experienced by individuals with amblyopia. Most neurophysiological and functional MRI studies of suppression in amblyopia have used dichoptic stimuli that overlap within the visual field. However, suppression of the amblyopic eye also occurs when the dichoptic stimuli do not overlap, a phenomenon we refer to as long-range suppression. We used functional MRI to test the hypothesis that long-range suppression reduces neural activity in V1, V2 and V3 in adults with amblyopia, indicative of an early, active inhibition mechanism. Five adults with amblyopia and five controls viewed monocular and dichoptic quadrant stimuli during fMRI. Three of five participants with amblyopia experienced complete perceptual suppression of the quadrants presented to their amblyopic eye under dichoptic viewing. The blood oxygen level dependant (BOLD) responses within retinotopic regions corresponding to amblyopic and fellow eye stimuli were analyzed for response magnitude, time to peak, effective connectivity and stimulus classification. Dichoptic viewing slightly reduced the BOLD response magnitude in amblyopic eye retinotopic regions in V1 and reduced the time to peak response; however, the same effects were also present in the non-dominant eye of controls. Effective connectivity was unaffected by suppression, and the results of a classification analysis did not differ significantly between the control and amblyopia groups. Overall, we did not observe a neural signature of long-range amblyopic eye suppression in V1, V2 or V3 using functional MRI in this initial study. This type of suppression may involve higher level processing areas within the brain.

How Visual Cortical Organization Is Altered by Ophthalmologic and Neurologic Disorders

Receptive fields are a core property of cortical organization. Modern neuroimaging allows routine access to visual population receptive fields (pRFs), enabling investigations of clinical disorders. Yet how the underlying neural circuitry operates is controversial. The controversy surrounds observations that measurements of pRFs can change in healthy adults as well as in patients with a range of ophthalmological and neurological disorders. The debate relates to the balance between plasticity and stability of the underlying neural circuitry. We propose that to move the debate forward, the field needs to define the implied mechanism. First, we review the pRF changes in both healthy subjects and those with clinical disorders. Then, we propose a computational model that describes how pRFs can change in healthy humans. We assert that we can correctly interpret the pRF changes in clinical disorders only if we establish the capabilities and limitations of pRF dynamics in healthy humans with mechanistic models that provide quantitative predictions.

Is neuroimaging measuring information in the brain?

Psychology moved beyond the stimulus response mapping of behaviorism by adopting an information processing framework. This shift from behavioral to cognitive science was partly inspired by work demonstrating that the concept of information could be defined and quantified (Shannon, 1948). This transition developed further from cognitive science into cognitive neuroscience, in an attempt to measure information in the brain. In the cognitive neurosciences, however, the term information is often used without a clear definition. This paper will argue that, if the formulation proposed by Shannon is applied to modern neuroimaging, then numerous results would be interpreted differently. More specifically, we argue that much modern cognitive neuroscience implicitly focuses on the question of how we can interpret the activations we record in the brain (experimenter-as-receiver), rather than on the core question of how the rest of the brain can interpret those activations (cortex-as-receiver). A clearer focus on whether activations recorded via neuroimaging can actually act as information in the brain would not only change how findings are interpreted but should also change the direction of empirical research in cognitive neuroscience.

Two cortical deficits underlie amblyopia: A multifocal fMRI analysis

Amblyopia is a relatively common (incidence 3%) developmental disorder in which there is loss of vision as a consequence of a disruption to normal visual development. Although the deficit is monocular and known to be of cortical origin, the nature of the processing deficit is controversial. Human behavioral studies have identified two main deficits - a loss of contrast sensitivity and perceived spatial distortions. Here we use a multifocal fMRI approach to ascertain, in a group of anisometropic amblyopes, whether these two deficits have a single common cause or whether they are the result of two underlying independent cortical disorders. We found that fMRI magnitudes were attenuated in amblyopic eye stimulation, and that there was poor fidelity for co-localization of the activity clusters between the amblyopic and fellow-fixing eye stimulation. These effects varied across eccentricities and correlate with the degree of amblyopia but not with one another, suggesting two independent cortical deficits: a reduced responsiveness as well as reduced fidelity of spatial representation. These deficits are independent of eccentricity within the central field and consistent across early cortical visual areas.

Is the Cortical Deficit in Amblyopia Due to Reduced Cortical Magnification, Loss of Neural Resolution, or Neural Disorganization?

The neural basis of amblyopia is a matter of debate. The following possibilities have been suggested: loss of foveal cells, reduced cortical magnification, loss of spatial resolution of foveal cells, and topographical disarray in the cellular map. To resolve this we undertook a population receptive field (pRF) functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis in the central field in humans with moderate-to-severe amblyopia. We measured the relationship between averaged pRF size and retinal eccentricity in retinotopic visual areas. Results showed that cortical magnification is normal in the foveal field of strabismic amblyopes. However, the pRF sizes are enlarged for the amblyopic eye. We speculate that the pRF enlargement reflects loss of cellular resolution or an increased cellular positional disarray within the representation of the amblyopic eye.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

The neural basis of amblyopia, a visual deficit affecting 3% of the human population, remains a matter of debate. We undertook the first population receptive field functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis in participants with amblyopia and compared the projections from the amblyopic and fellow normal eye in the visual cortex. The projection from the amblyopic eye was found to have a normal cortical magnification factor, enlarged population receptive field sizes, and topographic disorganization in all early visual areas. This is consistent with an explanation of amblyopia as an immature system with a normal complement of cells whose spatial resolution is reduced and whose topographical map is disordered. This bears upon a number of competing theories for the psychophysical defect and affects future treatment therapies.

Binocular versus standard occlusion or blurring treatment for unilateral amblyopia in children aged three to eight years

BACKGROUND

Current treatments for amblyopia in children, occlusion and pharmacological blurring, have had limited success, with less than two-thirds of children achieving good visual acuity of at least 0.20 logMAR in the amblyopic eye, limited improvement of stereopsis, and poor compliance. A new treatment approach, based on the dichoptic presentation of movies or computer games (images presented separately to each eye), may yield better results, as it aims to balance the input of visual information from each eye to the brain. Compliance may also improve with these more child-friendly treatment procedures.

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether binocular treatments in children aged three to eight years with unilateral amblyopia result in better visual outcomes than conventional occlusion or pharmacological blurring treatment.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register (last date of searches: 14 April 2015), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2015, Issue 3), Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE In-Process and Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE Daily, Ovid OLDMEDLINE (January 1946 to April 2015), EMBASE (January 1980 to April 2015), the ISRCTN registry (www.isrctn.com/editAdvancedSearch), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov), and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Two review authors independently screened the results of the search in order to identify studies that met the inclusion criteria of the review: randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that enrolled participants between the ages of three and eight years old with unilateral amblyopia, defined as best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) worse than 0.200 logMAR in the amblyopic eye, and BCVA 0.200 logMAR or better in the fellow eye, in the presence of an amblyogenic risk factor such as anisometropia, strabismus, or both. Prior to enrolment, participants were to have undergone a cycloplegic refraction and comprehensive ophthalmic examination including fundal examination. In addition, participants had to have completed a period of optical treatment, if indicated, and BCVA in the amblyopic eye had to remain unchanged on two consecutive assessments despite reportedly good compliance with glasses wearing. Participants were not to have received any treatment other than optical treatment prior to enrolment. We planned to include any type of binocular viewing intervention; these could be delivered on different devices including computer monitors viewed with LCD shutter glasses or hand-held screens including mobile phone screens with lenticular prism overlay. Control groups were to have received standard amblyopia treatment; this could include occlusion or pharmacological blurring of the better-seeing eye. We planned to include full-time (all waking hours) and part-time (between 1 and 12 hours a day) occlusion regimens.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We planned to use standard methodological procedures expected by The Cochrane Collaboration. We had planned to meta-analyse the primary outcome, that is mean distance BCVA in the amblyopic eye at 12 months after the cessation of treatment.

MAIN RESULTS

We could identify no RCTs in this subject area.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Further research is required to allow decisions about implementation of binocular treatments for amblyopia in clinical practice. Currently there are no clinical trials offering standardised evidence of the safety and effectiveness of binocular treatments, but results from non-controlled cohort studies are encouraging. Future research should be conducted in the form of RCTs, using acknowledged methods of visual acuity and stereoacuity assessment with known reproducibility. Other important outcome measures include outcomes reported by users, compliance with treatment, and recurrence of amblyopia after cessation of treatment.

Estimation of cortical magnification from positional error in normally sighted and amblyopic subjects

We describe a method for deriving the linear cortical magnification factor from positional error across the visual field. We compared magnification obtained from this method between normally sighted individuals and amblyopic individuals, who receive atypical visual input during development. The cortical magnification factor was derived for each subject from positional error at 32 locations in the visual field, using an established model of conformal mapping between retinal and cortical coordinates. Magnification of the normally sighted group matched estimates from previous physiological and neuroimaging studies in humans, confirming the validity of the approach. The estimate of magnification for the amblyopic group was significantly lower than the normal group: by 4.4 mm deg(-1) at 1° eccentricity, assuming a constant scaling factor for both groups. These estimates, if correct, suggest a role for early visual experience in establishing retinotopic mapping in cortex. We discuss the implications of altered cortical magnification for cortical size, and consider other neural changes that may account for the amblyopic results.

Infants' visual system nonretinotopically integrates color signals along a motion trajectory

Whereas early visual processing has been considered primarily retinotopic, recent studies have revealed significant contributions of nonretinotopic processing to the human perception of fundamental visual features. For adult vision, it has been shown that information about color, shape, and size is nonretinotipically integrated along the motion trajectory, which could bring about clear and unblurred perception of a moving object. Since this nonretinotopic processing presumably includes tight and elaborated cooperation among functional cortical modules for different visual attributes, how this processing matures in the course of brain development is an important unexplored question. Here we show that the nonretinotopic integration of color signals is fully developed in infants at five months of age. Using preferential looking, we found significantly better temporal segregation of colors for moving patterns than for flickering patterns, even when the retinal color alternation rate was the same. This effect could be ascribed to the integration of color signals along a motion trajectory. Furthermore, the infants' color segmentation performance was comparable to that of human adults. Given that both the motion processing and color vision of 5-month-old infants are still under development, our findings suggest that nonretinotopic color processing develops concurrently with basic color and motion processing. Our findings not only support the notion of an early presence of cross-modal interactions in the brain, but also indicate the early development of a purposive cross-module interaction for elegant visual computation.

Neuroimaging of amblyopia and binocular vision: a review

Amblyopia is a cerebral visual impairment considered to derive from abnormal visual experience (e.g., strabismus, anisometropia). Amblyopia, first considered as a monocular disorder, is now often seen as a primarily binocular disorder resulting in more and more studies examining the binocular deficits in the patients. The neural mechanisms of amblyopia are not completely understood even though they have been investigated with electrophysiological recordings in animal models and more recently with neuroimaging techniques in humans. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about the brain regions that underlie the visual deficits associated with amblyopia with a focus on binocular vision using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The first studies focused on abnormal responses in the primary and secondary visual areas whereas recent evidence shows that there are also deficits at higher levels of the visual pathways within the parieto-occipital and temporal cortices. These higher level areas are part of the cortical network involved in 3D vision from binocular cues. Therefore, reduced responses in these areas could be related to the impaired binocular vision in amblyopic patients. Promising new binocular treatments might at least partially correct the activation in these areas. Future neuroimaging experiments could help to characterize the brain response changes associated with these treatments and help devise them.

Maximum likelihood estimation for second level fMRI data analysis with expectation trust region algorithm

The trust region method which originated from the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm for mixed effect model estimation are considered in the context of second level functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data analysis. We first present the mathematical and optimization details of the method for the mixed effect model analysis, then we compare the proposed methods with the conventional expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm based on a series of datasets (synthetic and real human fMRI datasets). From simulation studies, we found a higher damping factor for the LM algorithm is better than lower damping factor for the fMRI data analysis. More importantly, in most cases, the expectation trust region algorithm is superior to the EM algorithm in terms of accuracy if the random effect variance is large. We also compare these algorithms on real human datasets which comprise repeated measures of fMRI in phased-encoded and random block experiment designs. We observed that the proposed method is faster in computation and robust to Gaussian noise for the fMRI analysis. The advantages and limitations of the suggested methods are discussed.

Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Transiently Improves Contrast Sensitivity and Normalizes Visual Cortex Activation in Individuals With Amblyopia

Background. Amblyopia is a neurodevelopmental disorder of vision that is associated with abnormal patterns of neural inhibition within the visual cortex. This disorder is often considered to be untreatable in adulthood because of insufficient visual cortex plasticity. There is increasing evidence that interventions that target inhibitory interactions within the visual cortex, including certain types of noninvasive brain stimulation, can improve visual function in adults with amblyopia. Objective. We tested the hypothesis that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) would improve visual function in adults with amblyopia by enhancing the neural response to inputs from the amblyopic eye. Methods. Thirteen adults with amblyopia participated and contrast sensitivity in the amblyopic and fellow fixing eye was assessed before, during and after a-tDCS or cathodal tDCS (c-tDCS). Five participants also completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study designed to investigate the effect of a-tDCS on the blood oxygen level–dependent response within the visual cortex to inputs from the amblyopic versus the fellow fixing eye. Results. A subgroup of 8/13 participants showed a transient improvement in amblyopic eye contrast sensitivity for at least 30 minutes after a-tDCS. fMRI measurements indicated that the characteristic cortical response asymmetry in amblyopes, which favors the fellow eye, was reduced by a-tDCS. Conclusions. These preliminary results suggest that a-tDCS deserves further investigation as a potential tool to enhance amblyopia treatment outcomes in adults.

Pattern-motion selective responses in MT, MST and the pulvinar of humans

Plaid stimuli are often used to investigate the mechanisms involved in the integration and segregation of motion information. Considering the perceptual importance of such mechanisms, only a very limited number of visual brain areas have been found to be specifically involved in motion integration. These are the human (h)MT+ complex, area V3 and the pulvinar. The hMT+ complex can be functionally subdivided into two separate areas, middle temporal area (MT) and medial superior temporal area (MST); however, it is currently unclear whether these distinct sub-regions have different responses to plaid stimuli. To address this issue we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to quantify the relative response of MT and MST to component and pattern motion. Participants viewed plaid stimuli that were constrained to result in the perception of either component motion (segregation of motion information) or pattern motion (integration of motion information). MT/MST segregation was achieved using a moving dot stimulus that allowed stimulation of each visual hemifield either in unison or separately. We found pattern motion selective responses in both MT and MST. Consistent with previous reports, activity indicative of pattern motion selectivity was also found in the pulvinar as well as in other extrastriate areas. These results demonstrate that MT, MST and the pulvinar are involved in the complex motion integration mechanisms that are triggered by plaid stimuli. This reinforces the concept that integrative computations take place in a distributed neuronal circuit both in cortical and sub-cortical networks.

Abnormal cortical processing of pattern motion in amblyopia: evidence from fMRI

Converging evidence from human psychophysics and animal neurophysiology indicates that amblyopia is associated with abnormal function of area MT, a motion sensitive region of the extrastriate visual cortex. In this context, the recent finding that amblyopic eyes mediate normal perception of dynamic plaid stimuli was surprising, as neural processing and perception of plaids has been closely linked to MT function. One intriguing potential explanation for this discrepancy is that the amblyopic eye recruits alternative visual brain areas to support plaid perception. This is the hypothesis that we tested. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the response of the amblyopic visual cortex and thalamus to incoherent and coherent motion of plaid stimuli that were perceived normally by the amblyopic eye. We found a different pattern of responses within the visual cortex when plaids were viewed by amblyopic as opposed to non-amblyopic eyes. The non-amblyopic eyes of amblyopes and control eyes differentially activated the hMT+ complex when viewing incoherent vs. coherent plaid motion, consistent with the notion that this region is centrally involved in plaid perception. However, for amblyopic eye viewing, hMT+ activation did not vary reliably with motion type. In a sub-set of our participants with amblyopia we were able to localize MT and MST within the larger hMT+ complex and found a lack of plaid motion selectivity in both sub-regions. The response of the pulvinar and ventral V3 to plaid stimuli also differed under amblyopic vs. non-amblyopic eye viewing conditions, however the response of these areas did vary according to motion type. These results indicate that while the perception of the plaid stimuli was constant for both amblyopic and non-amblyopic viewing, the network of neural areas that supported this perception was different.

A model selection method for nonlinear system identification based FMRI effective connectivity analysis

In this paper a model selection algorithm for a nonlinear system identification method is proposed to study functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) effective connectivity. Unlike most other methods, this method does not need a pre-defined structure/model for effective connectivity analysis. Instead, it relies on selecting significant nonlinear or linear covariates for the differential equations to describe the mapping relationship between brain output (fMRI response) and input (experiment design). These covariates, as well as their coefficients, are estimated based on a least angle regression (LARS) method. In the implementation of the LARS method, Akaike's information criterion corrected (AICc) algorithm and the leave-one-out (LOO) cross-validation method were employed and compared for model selection. Simulation comparison between the dynamic causal model (DCM), nonlinear identification method, and model selection method for modelling the single-input-single-output (SISO) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems were conducted. Results show that the LARS model selection method is faster than DCM and achieves a compact and economic nonlinear model simultaneously. To verify the efficacy of the proposed approach, an analysis of the dorsal and ventral visual pathway networks was carried out based on three real datasets. The results show that LARS can be used for model selection in an fMRI effective connectivity study with phase-encoded, standard block, and random block designs. It is also shown that the LOO cross-validation method for nonlinear model selection has less residual sum squares than the AICc algorithm for the study.

The contrast dependence of the cortical fMRI deficit in amblyopia; a selective loss at higher contrasts

Although there is general agreement that the fMRI cortical response is reduced in humans with amblyopia, the deficit is subtle and has little correlation with threshold-based psychophysics. From a purely contrast sensitivity perspective, one would expect fMRI responses to be selectively reduced for stimuli of low contrasts. However, to date, all fMRI stimuli used in studies of amblyopia have been of high contrast. Furthermore, if the deficit is selective for low contrasts, one would expect it to reflect a selective M-cell loss, because M-cells have much higher contrast gain than P-cells and make a larger contribution to the threshold detection of stimuli of low spatial and medium temporal frequencies. To test these two predictions, we compared % BOLD response between the eyes of normals and amblyopes for low- and high-contrast stimuli using a phase-encoded design. The results suggest that the fMRI deficit in amblyopia depends upon stimulus contrast and that it is greater at high contrasts. This is consistent with a selective P-cell contrast deficit at a precortical or early cortical site.

Selectivity as well as sensitivity loss characterizes the cortical spatial frequency deficit in amblyopia

The processing deficit in amblyopia is not restricted to just high spatial frequencies but also involves low-medium spatial frequency processing, for suprathreshold stimuli with a broad orientational bandwidth. This is the case in all three forms of amblyopia; strabismic, anisometropic, and deprivation. Here we use both a random block design and a phase-encoded design to ascertain (1) the extent to which fMRI activation is reduced at low-mid spatial frequencies in different visual areas, (2) how accurately spatial frequency is mapped across the amblyopic cortex. We report a loss of function to suprathreshold low-medium spatial frequency stimuli that involves more than just area V1, suggesting a diffuse loss in spatial frequency processing in a number of different cortical areas. An analysis of the fidelity of the spatial frequency cortical map reveals that many voxels lose their spatial frequency preference when driven by the amblyopic eye, suggesting a broader tuning for spatial frequency for neurons driven by the amblyopic eye within this low-mid spatial frequency range.

Patterns of spatial distortions in human amblyopia are invariant to stimulus duration and instruction modality

We investigated the patterns of two-dimensional spatial distortions in human amblyopia, using three different psychophysical mapping procedures. Strabismic and strabismic-anisometropic amblyopes showed consistent distortions, consisting in enlargement, shrinkage, or torsion of portions of the tested visual field. Purely anisometropic amblyopes and strabismics with alternating fixation showed increased spatial uncertainty, but no consistent distortions. For all groups of subjects, there was a very good correspondence between the patterns of distortion obtained with the three methods. We conclude that the spatial distortions are robust across different procedures. They might reflect a genuine rearrangement of the cortical topography as a result of strabismus.

Visual field maps in human cortex

Much of the visual cortex is organized into visual field maps: nearby neurons have receptive fields at nearby locations in the image. Mammalian species generally have multiple visual field maps with each species having similar, but not identical, maps. The introduction of functional magnetic resonance imaging made it possible to identify visual field maps in human cortex, including several near (1) medial occipital (V1,V2,V3), (2) lateral occipital (LO-1,LO-2, hMT+), (3) ventral occipital (hV4, VO-1, VO-2), (4) dorsal occipital (V3A, V3B), and (5) posterior parietal cortex (IPS-0 to IPS-4). Evidence is accumulating for additional maps, including some in the frontal lobe. Cortical maps are arranged into clusters in which several maps have parallel eccentricity representations, while the angular representations within a cluster alternate in visual field sign. Visual field maps have been linked to functional and perceptual properties of the visual system at various spatial scales, ranging from the level of individual maps to map clusters to dorsal-ventral streams. We survey recent measurements of human visual field maps, describe hypotheses about the function and relationships between maps, and consider methods to improve map measurements and characterize the response properties of neurons comprising these maps.

Population receptive field estimates in human visual cortex

We introduce functional MRI methods for estimating the neuronal population receptive field (pRF). These methods build on conventional visual field mapping that measures responses to ring and wedge patterns shown at a series of visual field locations and estimates the single position in the visual field that produces the largest response. The new method computes a model of the population receptive field from responses to a wide range of stimuli and estimates the visual field map as well as other neuronal population properties, such as receptive field size and laterality. The visual field maps obtained with the pRF method are more accurate than those obtained using conventional visual field mapping, and we trace with high precision the visual field maps to the center of the foveal representation. We report quantitative estimates of pRF size in medial, lateral and ventral occipital regions of human visual cortex. Also, we quantify the amount of input from ipsi- and contralateral visual fields. The human pRF size estimates in V1-V3 agree well with electrophysiological receptive field measurements at a range of eccentricities in corresponding locations within monkey and human visual field maps. The pRF method is non-invasive and can be applied to a wide range of conditions when it is useful to link fMRI signals in the visual pathways to neuronal receptive fields.