Eye movements are critical for vision, attention, and memory. They determine what we see, attend to, and remember about our environment.

In the field of physiological optics, the effect of eye motion on perception has been largely overlooked. For scientists interested in measuring the eye’s optics, and designing optical corrections (e.g. spectacles, contact lenses, intraocular lenses and corneal refractive surgery), drawing a straight-line from optical properties to perceived image quality has always been challenging. Taking into account neuroscience for optical engineering might bring us one step closer to accurately predicting visual performance. 

Join the Vision Technical Group for this webinar focus on fixational eye movements and their role in perception, which will feature talks from Susana Martinez-Conde and Michele Rucci. 

Subject Matter Level: Introductory - Assumes little previous knowledge of the topic

What You Will Learn:
• What kind of eye motion there are
• Whether and how they are beneficial for vision

Who Should Attend:
• Anyone interested in visual perception
• Vision scientists and engineers who wish to better understand the role of eye motion in vision

About the Presenters:

Susana Martinez-Conde from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University:

Prof. Susana Martinez-Conde received a BSc in Experimental Psychology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a PhD in Medicine and Surgery from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. She was a postdoctoral fellow with the Nobel Laureate Prof. David Hubel, and then an Instructor in Neurobiology, at Harvard Medical School. Previous to coming to SUNY Downstate, she directed laboratories at University College London in the UK and at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

Prof. Martinez-Conde's research bridges perceptual, oculomotor, and cognitive neuroscience. She has published her academic contributions in Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Her work with Parkinsonian patients was recently honored with the EyeTrack Award, a global science prize given to a single cutting-edge publication in eye movement research. Prof Martinez-Conde has received many other distinctions, including the Empire Innovator Award from the State of New York, and the "100 Spaniards" Prize.

Michele Rucci from The University of Rochester

Michele Rucci from The University of Rochester: Michele Rucci is a Professor of Brain & Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester and member of the Center for Visual Science.  He received Laurea (MA) and PhD degrees in biomedical engineering from the University of Florence and the Scuola Superiore S. Anna in Pisa, respectively. He was then Fellow in Computational Neuroscience at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego and Professor in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University.  His research integrates experimental and theoretical approaches to elucidate the computational and biological mechanisms of visual perception.  Research in his laboratory has revealed novel contributions from eye movements to spatial vision, has raised specific hypotheses on the influences of eye movements in visual encoding and development, has resulted in new methods for eye-tracking and real-time control of retinal stimulation, and has led to robots directly controlled by models of neural pathways.