Visual Information Processing Research Articles

Study on the relationship between fixation characteristics and hit rate in psychological procedure training of free throw.

Free throw is an important means of scoring in basketball games. With the improvement of basketball competition level and the enhancement of confrontation degree, the number of free throws in the game gradually increases, so the score of free throw will have an important impact on the result of the game. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between visual attention characteristics and hit rate of basketball players in free throw psychological procedure training, so as to provide scientific basis for basketball teaching and training. Forty players with similar free throw abilities were randomly assigned to the experimental group (10 males, 10 females) and control group (10 males, 10 females). The experimental group was free throw psychological procedure training, while the control group was trained with routine training, Eye movement indices (number of fixations, fixation duration, and pupil dilation) and the free throw hit rate and analyzed before and after the experiment. Group differences were examined using t-tests, while paired sample t-tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-test results within each group. The training time and training times of the two groups were the same. There were significant differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between pre-test and post-test in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Post-test, there were significant differences in number of fixations, fixation duration, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between the two groups (P < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between number of fixations and free throw hit rate in top (P < 0.01), and there was a significant positive correlation between fixation duration and hit rate in front (P < 0.01). The psychological procedure training can improve the visual information search strategy and information processing ability of free throw, and significantly improve the free throw hit rate. There was a positive correlation between the front fixation time and the free throw hit rate, and there was a positive correlation between the top number of fixations and the free throw hit rate.

Peripheral myopic defocus signal affects the efficiency of visual information processing in myopic children.

Spectacle lenses with peripheral lenslets have shown promise for myopia control by providing peripheral myopic defocus signals. Here, we aimed to investigate the impact of prolonged exposure (>6 months) to peripheral myopic defocus on visual information processing in myopic children. The study included 30 myopic children who habitually wore spectacle lenses with highly aspherical lenslets (HAL group) and 34 children who habitually wore single-vision (SV group) spectacles. The quick contrast sensitivity function (qCSF) was used to measure contrast sensitivity (CS) under conditions of no or high noise. Both groups were tested with HAL and SV lenses. The perceptual template model was utilised to fit the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) and determine differences in information processing efficiency through internal additive noise ( ) and perceptual template gain (β). The areas under the log CSF in the SV group were significantly higher than for the HAL group in both zero-noise conditions with the SV test lens (p = 0.03) and high-noise conditions with the HAL test lens (p = 0.02). For 2 cycle per degree (cpd) stimuli, β was significantly higher in the SV group with the HAL test lens than in the HAL group (p = 0.02), while there was a trend towards a significant difference in β for 6 cpd stimuli (p = 0.07). However, there were no significant differences in between the two groups, with or without noise interference. The reduced CS observed in myopic children wearing HAL lenses for 6 months or more may be due to decreased β. This suggests that prolonged use of spectacle lenses with peripheral myopic defocus signals may compromise the central visual system's ability to process additional external noise, resulting in decreased efficiency in visual information processing.

Tunable Negative and Positive Photoconductance in Van Der Waals Heterostructure for Image Preprocessing.

The processing of visual information occurs mainly in the retina, and the retinal preprocessing function greatly improves the transmission quality and efficiency of visual information. The artificial retina system provides a promising path to efficient image processing. Here, wepropose graphene/InSe/h-BN heterogeneous structure, which exhibits negative and positive photoconductance effects by altering the strength of a single wavelength laser. Moreover, wepresent a modified theoretical model based on the power-dependent photoconductivity effect of laser: , which can reveal the internal physical mechanism of negative/positive photoconductance effects. The present two-dimensional (2D) structure design allows the field effect transistor (FET) to exhibit excellent photoelectric performance (RNPC=1.1× 104A/w, RPPC=13A/w) and performance stability. Especially, the retinal pretreatment process is successfully simulated based on the negative and positive photoconductive effects. Moreover, the pulse signal input improves the device responsivity by 167%, and the transmission quality and efficiency of the visual signal can also be enhanced. This work provides a new design idea and direction for the construction of artificial vision, and lay a foundation for the integration of the next generation of optoelectronicdevices. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Reliability of the Hand-Eye Coordination Test among Adults Using a Software: A Longitudinal Follow-up Study

 This study aims to determine the reliability of the hand-eye coordination Software. The integrated control of hand and eye movements, as well as the processing of visual information to support attainment and acquisition and the use of hand proprioception to guide the eyes, are known as hand-eye coordination. Thus, this study aims to determine the reliability of the tests, so the research was conducted thrice with an interval of 6-7 days (test-retest). 28 Young Adults (18- 35 years of age) have participated in the study. The analysis includes finger-pointing tasks performed only with the use of Hand-eye coordination software prepared by the Software engineer.In this Software, Visual targets in the form of a ball then appeared on the screen on the left, on the right, or in the center in random order., and participants were asked to point an index finger of the leading hand as rapidly and precisely as possible at all targets on the screen. After touching the target (indicated by its disappearance), the participant immediately placed his/her hand back in the designated starting position (touchpad).Each participant was required to repeat this finger-pointing task. The accuracy value after 1 minute was recorded and the average accuracy value was calculated and used in the analysis A smaller value indicates greater touch accuracy. In addition, the average reaction time (in milliseconds) was also measured. Based on the data analysis, the reliability score is 0.806 (Cronbach’s Alpha), which indicates a high level of internal Consistency.

Study on the Visual Information Processing in Perception of Delboeuf Illusion by Visual Evoked Potential

Study on the Visual Information Processing in Perception of Delboeuf Illusion by Visual Evoked Potential

Neural correlates of crowding in macaque area V4.

Visual crowding refers to the phenomenon where a target object that is easily identifiable in isolation becomes difficult to recognize when surrounded by other stimuli (distractors). Many psychophysical studies have investigated this phenomenon and proposed alternative models for the underlying mechanisms. One prominent hypothesis, albeit with mixed psychophysical support, posits that crowding arises from the loss of information due to pooled encoding of features from target and distractor stimuli in the early stages of cortical visual processing. However, neurophysiological studies have not rigorously tested this hypothesis. We studied the responses of single neurons in macaque (one male, one female) area V4, an intermediate stage of the ventral, object-processing pathway, to parametrically designed crowded displays and their texture-statistics matched metameric counterparts. Our investigations reveal striking parallels between how crowding parameters, e.g., number, distance, and position of distractors, influence human psychophysical performance and V4 shape selectivity. Importantly, we also found that enhancing the salience of a target stimulus could alleviate crowding effects in highly cluttered scenes, and this could be temporally protracted reflecting a dynamical process. Thus, a pooled encoding of nearby stimuli cannot explain the observed responses and we propose an alternative model where V4 neurons preferentially encode salient stimuli in crowded displays. Overall, we conclude that the magnitude of crowding effects is determined not just by the number of distractors and target-distractor separation but also by the relative salience of targets versus distractors based on their feature attributes-the similarity of distractors, and the contrast between target and distractor stimuli.Significance Statement Psychophysicists have long studied the phenomena of visual crowding, but the underlying neural mechanisms are unknown. Our results reveal striking correlations between the responses of neurons in mid-level visual cortical area V4 and psychophysical demonstrations, revealing that crowding is influenced not only by the number and spatial arrangement of distractors but also by the similarity of features between target and distractors, as well as among the distractors themselves. Overall, our studies provide strong evidence that the visual system uses strategies to preferentially encode salient features in a visual scene presumably to process visual information efficiently. When multiple nearby stimuli are equally salient, the phenomenon of crowding ensues.

A Pilot Study to Improve Cognitive Performance and Pupil Responses in Mild Cognitive Impaired Patients Using Gaze-Controlled Gaming

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may progress to severe forms of dementia, so therapy is needed to maintain cognitive abilities. The neural circuitry for oculomotor control is closely linked to that which controls cognitive behavior. In this study, we tested whether training the oculomotor system with gaze-controlled video games could improve cognitive behavior in MCI patients. Patients played a simple game for 2–3 weeks while a control group played the same game using a mouse. Cognitive improvement was assessed using the MoCA screening test and CANTAB. We also measured eye pupil and vergence responses in an oddball paradigm. The results showed an increased score on the MoCA test specifically for the visuospatial domain and on the Rapid Visual Information Processing test of the CANTAB battery. Pupil responses also increased to target stimuli. Patients in the control group did not show significant improvements. This pilot study provides evidence for the potential cognitive benefits of gaze-controlled gaming in MCI patients.

Stimulus-dependent differences in cortical versus subcortical contributions to visual detection in mice

The primary visual cortex (V1) and the superior colliculus (SC) both occupy stations early in the processing of visual information. They have long been thought to perform distinct functions, with the V1 supporting the perception of visual features and the SC regulating orienting to visual inputs. However, growing evidence suggests that the SC supports the perception of many of the same visual features traditionally associated with the V1. To distinguish V1 and SC contributions to visual processing, it is critical to determine whether both areas causally contribute to the detection of specific visual stimuli. Here, mice reported changes in visual contrast or luminance near their perceptual threshold while white noise patterns of optogenetic stimulation were delivered to V1 or SC inhibitory neurons. We then performed a reverse correlation analysis on the optogenetic stimuli to estimate a neuronal-behavioral kernel (NBK), a moment-to-moment estimate of the impact of V1 or SC inhibition on stimulus detection. We show that the earliest moments of stimulus-evoked activity in the SC are critical for the detection of both luminance and contrast changes. Strikingly, there was a robust stimulus-aligned modulation in the V1 contrast-detection NBK but no sign of a comparable modulation for luminance detection. The data suggest that behavioral detection of visual contrast depends on both V1 and SC spiking, whereas mice preferentially use SC activity to detect changes in luminance. Electrophysiological recordings showed that neurons in both the SC and V1 responded strongly to both visual stimulus types, while the reverse correlation analysis reveals when these neuronal signals actually contribute to visually guided behaviors.

Lack of habituation of visual-evoked potential in the interictal period is not a consistent neurophysiological marker of migraine: A cross-sectional analytical study

Objectives: Migraine is a frequent incapacitating neurovascular illness characterized by severe headache bouts. Individuals suffering from migraine appear to process auditory and visual information differently from those without migraine. The visual-evoked potential (VEP) is a commonly used standardized test to measure excitability in the occipital cortex. Patients with migraine exhibit amplification rather than habituation of stimulus-induced brain responses, between attacks. Our objective is to compare the amplitude of P100 and the latencies of N75, P100, and N145 (N and P represent negative and positive peaks, respectively, with average latency being subscripted with the alphabet) in the fourth block between migraine patients and controls and to determine the various clinical factors associated with the P100 mean amplitude and latency differences between the first and the fourth block in migraine patients. Materials and Methods: The study compared 20 migraine patients (with or without aura) and 20 apparently healthy subjects with no history of migraines or secondary headaches, focusing on the habituation of the VEP. Four blocks of 200 responses were recorded during the headache-free period, and the latencies and amplitudes of N75, P100, and N145 components were analyzed. Results: There was a statistically significant (P &lt; 0.05) decrement in the P100 amplitude in the fourth block when compared to the first block in both eyes in the controls as well as migraine patients. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between controls and migraine sufferers in the P100 amplitude of the fourth block in either eye. The N145 latency in the fourth block was shorter in both eyes in migraine patients compared to controls (P &lt; 0.05). The mean P100 amplitude difference between the first and fourth block correlated negatively with age and positively with headache frequency, while there was a moderate negative correlation with headache duration. The mean P100 latency difference between the first and fourth block correlated positively with age and negatively with headache frequency, while there was a moderate positive correlation with headache duration. Conclusion: In our study, VEP habituation was not lacking in migraine patients which means that habituation of the P100 wave was noted in migraineurs. The VEP reveals neurological changes due to ischemia injury or neurotransmitter imbalances. Migraine alters cortical excitability, but it is unclear if these changes are due to altered excitatory connections, damaged inhibitory networks or subcortical pre-activation. Our findings suggest that at least during the interictal period, lack of habituation cannot be employed as a consistent neurophysiological marker of migraine across laboratories.

An Anonymous Authenticated Group Key Agreement Scheme for Transfer Learning Edge Services Systems

The visual information processing technology based on deep learning (DL) can play many important yet assistant roles for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) navigation in complex environments. Traditional centralized architectures usually rely on a cloud server to perform model inference tasks, which can lead to long communication latency. Using transfer learning (TL) to unload deep neural networks (DNN) to the edge-fog collaborative networks has become a new paradigm for dealing with the conflicts between computing resources and communication latency. However, ensuring the security of edge-fog collaborative networks entity is still challenging. For such, we propose an anonymous authentication and group key agreement scheme for the UAV-enabled edge-fog collaborative networks, consisting of UAV authentication protocol and collaborative networks authentication protocol. Utilizing the AVISPA assessment tool and security analysis, the security requirements and functional features of the proposed scheme are demonstrated. From the performance results of the proposed scheme, we show that it is superior to existing authentication schemes and promising.

Reading and Writing Impairment in Persons with Crossed Aphasia: A Comparative Study

Abstract Background Persons with aphasia (PWAs) manifest multifaceted deficits like auditory comprehension, spoken language, reading, and writing to varying degrees. Of these, the most debilitating signs are reading and writing impairment. Of late, PWAs express greater interest to improve their reading and writing skills. The deficits in these skills along with deficits in spoken language limit their participation in the community. Reading and writing may be altered contrarily in various stroke conditions across the left and right hemisphere lesions, just like how linguistic impairments are mutually exclusive. Thus, it must be rational to reconcile the possible role of the right hemisphere to process reading and writing inversely alike spoken abilities. Additionally, investigations on reading and writing deficits in left cerebrovascular atrophy (CVA) aphasics and right CVA aphasics (crossed aphasia) are seldom reported in the literature with relevance to Indian population focusing Indian languages. The study aims to compare reading and writing abilities across PWAs with left CVA and right CVA (crossed aphasia). Methodology The study recruited four native Kannada speaking PWAs (6 months poststroke) aged between 40 and 70 years with impaired linguistic abilities secondary to stroke through convenient sampling. Western Aphasia Battery-Kannada was administered to identify aphasic component, specifically to evaluate the language, reading, and writing aspects in detail and the scores were analyzed based on the scoring. Results Descriptive statistics revealed both left and crossed PWAs performed equipotent on linguistics tasks. However, reading abilities were better in left CVA individuals and writing was better in crossed PWAs on comparing the mean scores. Correlation analysis revealed positive correlation between language and reading-writing abilities of left CVA PWAs. Negative correlation was evinced in crossed PWAs. Hence, reading and writing difficulties in crossed aphasia can be mostly ascribed to impairment in peripheral mechanisms involved in visual and/or kinesthetic information processing as the right hemisphere is most viable to these processes. Conclusion The study highlights the unique pattern of reading and writing abilities in crossed aphasia condition. However, careful examination of dissociations in acquired spoken language and written language abilities across differential neuronal networks through larger samples in the future research is warranted.

Looking across the gap: Understanding the evolution of eyes and vision among insects.

The compound eyes of insects exhibit stunning variation in size, structure, and function, which has allowed these animals to use their vision to adapt to a huge range of different environments and lifestyles, and evolve complex behaviors. Much of our knowledge of eye development has been learned from Drosophila, while visual adaptations and behaviors are often more striking and better understood from studies of other insects. However, recent studies in Drosophila and other insects, including bees, beetles, and butterflies, have begun to address this gap by revealing the genetic and developmental bases of differences in eye morphology and key new aspects of compound eye structure and function. Furthermore, technical advances have facilitated the generation of high-resolution connectomic data from different insect species that enhances our understanding of visual information processing, and the impact of changes in these processes on the evolution of vision and behavior. Here, we review these recent breakthroughs and propose that future integrated research from the development to function of visual systems within and among insect species represents a great opportunity to understand the remarkable diversification of insect eyes and vision.

Strategies for enhancing automatic fixation detection in head-mounted eye tracking.

Moving through a dynamic world, humans need to intermittently stabilize gaze targets on their retina to process visual information. Overt attention being thus split into discrete intervals, the automatic detection of such fixation events is paramount to downstream analysis in many eye-tracking studies. Standard algorithms tackle this challenge in the limiting case of little to no head motion. In this static scenario, which is approximately realized for most remote eye-tracking systems, it amounts to detecting periods of relative eye stillness. In contrast, head-mounted eye trackers allow for experiments with subjects moving naturally in everyday environments. Detecting fixations in these dynamic scenarios is more challenging, since gaze-stabilizing eye movements need to be reliably distinguished from non-fixational gaze shifts. Here, we propose several strategies for enhancing existing algorithms developed for fixation detection in the static case to allow for robust fixation detection in dynamic real-world scenarios recorded with head-mounted eye trackers. Specifically, we consider (i) an optic-flow-based compensation stage explicitly accounting for stabilizing eye movements during head motion, (ii) an adaptive adjustment of algorithm sensitivity according to head-motion intensity, and (iii) a coherent tuning of all algorithm parameters. Introducing a new hand-labeled dataset, recorded with the Pupil Invisible glasses by Pupil Labs, we investigate their individual contributions. The dataset comprises both static and dynamic scenarios and is made publicly available. We show that a combination of all proposed strategies improves standard thresholding algorithms and outperforms previous approaches to fixation detection in head-mounted eye tracking.

Evolutionary origin of alpha rhythms in vertebrates.

The purpose of this review extends beyond the traditional triune brain model, aiming to elucidate the evolutionary aspects of alpha rhythms in vertebrates. The forebrain, comprising the telencephalon (pallium) and diencephalon (thalamus, hypothalamus), is a common feature in the brains of all vertebrates. In mammals, evolution has prioritized the development of the forebrain, especially the neocortex, over the midbrain (mesencephalon) optic tectum, which serves as the prototype for the visual brain. This evolution enables mammals to process visual information in the retina-thalamus (lateral geniculate nucleus)-occipital cortex pathway. The origin of posterior-dominant alpha rhythms observed in mammals in quiet and dark environments is not solely attributed to cholinergic pontine nuclei cells functioning as a 10 Hz pacemaker in the brainstem. It also involves the ability of the neocortex's cortical layers to generate traveling waves of alpha rhythms with waxing and waning characteristics. The utilization of alpha rhythms might have facilitated the shift of attention from external visual inputs to internal cognitive processes as an adaptation to thrive in dark environments. The evolution of alpha rhythms might trace back to the dinosaur era, suggesting that enhanced cortical connectivity linked to alpha bands could have facilitated the development of nocturnal awakening in the ancestors of mammals. In fishes, reptiles, and birds, the pallium lacks a cortical layer. However, there is a lack of research clearly observing dominant alpha rhythms in the pallium or organized nuclear structures in fishes, reptiles, or birds. Through convergent evolution, the pallium of birds, which exhibits cortex-like fiber architecture, has not only acquired advanced cognitive and motor abilities but also the capability to generate low-frequency oscillations (4-25 Hz) resembling alpha rhythms. This suggests that the origins of alpha rhythms might lie in the pallium of a common ancestor of birds and mammals.

Tradeoffs in the sensory brain between diurnal and nocturnal rodents.

Transitions in temporal niche have occurred many times over the course of mammalian evolution. These are associated with changes in sensory stimuli available to animals, particularly with visual cues, because levels of light are so much higher during the day than night. This relationship between temporal niche and available sensory stimuli elicits the expectation that evolutionary transitions between diurnal and nocturnal lifestyles will be accompanied by modifications of sensory systems that optimize the ability of animals to receive, process, and react to important stimuli in the environment. This study examines the influence of temporal niche on investment in sensory brain tissue of 13 rodent species (five diurnal; eight nocturnal). Animals were euthanized and the brain immediately frozen on dry ice; olfactory bulbs were subsequently dissected and weighed, and the remaining brain was weighed, sectioned, and stained. Stereo Investigator was used to calculate volumes of four sensory regions that function in processing visual (lateral geniculate nucleus, superior colliculus) and auditory (medial geniculate nucleus, inferior colliculus) information. A phylogenetic framework was used to assess the influence of temporal niche on the relative sizes of these brain structures and of olfactory bulb weights. Compared to nocturnal species, diurnal species had larger visual regions, whereas nocturnal species had larger olfactory bulbs than their diurnal counterparts. Of the two auditory structures examined, one (medial geniculate nucleus) was larger in diurnal species, while the other (inferior colliculus) did not differ significantly with temporal niche. Our results indicate a possible indirect association between temporal niche and auditory investment and suggest probable tradeoffs of investment between olfactory and visual areas of the brain, with diurnal species investing more in processing visual information and nocturnal species investing more in processing olfactory information.

A neurocomputational model of decision and confidence in object recognition task

How does the brain process natural visual stimuli to make a decision? Imagine driving through fog. An object looms ahead. What do you do? This decision requires not only identifying the object but also choosing an action based on your decision confidence. In this circumstance, confidence is making a bridge between seeing and believing. Our study unveils how the brain processes visual information to make such decisions with an assessment of confidence, using a model inspired by the visual cortex. To computationally model the process, this study uses a spiking neural network inspired by the hierarchy of the visual cortex in mammals to investigate the dynamics of feedforward object recognition and decision-making in the brain. The model consists of two modules: a temporal dynamic object representation module and an attractor neural network-based decision-making module. Unlike traditional models, ours captures the evolution of evidence within the visual cortex, mimicking how confidence forms in the brain. This offers a more biologically plausible approach to decision-making when encountering real-world stimuli. We conducted experiments using natural stimuli and measured accuracy, reaction time, and confidence. The model's estimated confidence aligns remarkably well with human-reported confidence. Furthermore, the model can simulate the human change-of-mind phenomenon, reflecting the ongoing evaluation of evidence in the brain. Also, this finding offers decision-making and confidence encoding share the same neural circuit.

Cross-modality feature fusion for night pedestrian detection

Night pedestrian detection with visible image only suffers from the dilemma of high miss rate due to poor illumination conditions. Cross-modality fusion can ameliorate this dilemma by providing complementary information to each other through infrared and visible images. In this paper, we propose a cross-modal fusion framework based on YOLOv5, which is aimed at addressing the challenges of night pedestrian detection under low-light conditions. The framework employs a dual-stream architecture that processes visible images and infrared images separately. Through the Cross-Modal Feature Rectification Module (CMFRM), visible and infrared features are finely tuned on a granular level, leveraging their spatial correlations to focus on complementary information and substantially reduce uncertainty and noise from different modalities. Additionally, we have introduced a two-stage Feature Fusion Module (FFM), with the first stage introducing a cross-attention mechanism for cross-modal global reasoning, and the second stage using a mixed channel embedding to produce enhanced feature outputs. Moreover, our method involves multi-dimensional interaction, not only correcting feature maps in terms of channel and spatial dimensions but also applying cross-attention at the sequence processing level, which is critical for the effective generalization of cross-modal feature combinations. In summary, our research significantly enhances the accuracy and robustness of nighttime pedestrian detection, offering new perspectives and technical pathways for visual information processing in low-light environments.

Characterizing the Visual Cortex Function in Cognitive Task-Induced Mental Load: An Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Introduction: The mental load caused by simultaneous multitasking can affect visual information processing and reduce its ability. This study investigated the effect of mental load caused by cognitive tasks simultaneously with visual task on the number of active voxels in the visual cortex. Methods: This study recruited 22 individuals with a mean age of 24.72 ± 5.47 years. 3-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the functions of the visual cortex and amygdala region during three different task conditions: visual task alone, visual task with an auditory n-back task, and visual task with an arithmetic task. The visual stimuli consisted of Gabor patches with a contrast of 55% at spatial frequencies of 0.25, 4, and 9 cycles per degree (cpd). These were presented in three trials of eight blocks with a stimulation time of 12 sec and a rest time of 14 sec. Results: Activated brain voxels in the primary, secondary, and associated visual cortex areas were reduced in response to the mental load imposed by the n-back and arithmetic tasks. This reduction was greater for a spatial frequency of 0.25 cpd in the n-back task condition and spatial frequency of 9 cpd in the arithmetic task condition. In addition, the amygdala was stimulated in 2-back task and arithmetic task conditions. Conclusions: This study revealed a decline in the number of activated voxels of the visual cortex due to the mental load caused by simultaneous cognitive tasks, confirming the findings of previous psychophysical studies.

Platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) regulates neuronal maturation and synaptic transmission during postnatal retinal development.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF), PAF receptor (PAFR), and PAF- synthesis/degradation systems are involved in essential CNS processes such as neuroblast proliferation, differentiation, migration, and synaptic modulation. The retina is an important central nervous system (CNS) tissue for visual information processing. During retinal development, the balance between Retinal Progenitor Cell (RPC) proliferation and differentiation is crucial for proper cell determination and retinogenesis. Despite its importance in retinal development, the effects of PAFR deletion on RPC dynamics are still unknown. We compared PAFR knockout mice (PAFR-/-) retinal postnatal development proliferation and differentiation aspects with control animals. Electrophysiological responses were analyzed by electroretinography (ERG). In this study, we demonstrate that PAFR-/- mice increased proliferation during postnatal retinogenesis and altered the expression of specific differentiation markers. The retinas of postnatal PAFR-/- animals decreased neuronal differentiation and synaptic transmission markers, leading to differential responses to light stimuli measured by ERG. Our findings suggest that PAFR signaling plays a critical role in regulating postnatal RPC cell differentiation dynamics during retinal development, cell organization, and neuronal circuitry formation.

Bidirectional Feature Aggregation Network for Stereo Image Quality Assessment Considering Parallax Attention-Based Binocular Fusion

Inspired by the two-path visual information processing mechanism (i.e., a bottom-up path and a top-down path), we propose a bidirectional binocular feature aggregation based stereo image quality assessment (SIQA) network, which considers a two-path visual mechanism and realizes the binocular fusion based on parallax information. To better aggregate binocular features from different levels, a two-path feature aggregation structure, which simulates the bottom-up and top-down mechanism in human visual system (HVS), is proposed. It not only realizes the supplement of low-level detail information to high-level semantic in the bottom-up path, but also realizes the supplement of high-level semantic information to low-level detail in the top-down path. Simultaneously, because feature misalignment exists in binocular features of adjacent levels, a feature alignment module (FAM) based on deformable convolution is designed to integrate the binocular fusion features of adjacent levels. In addition, considering the importance role of parallax in guiding binocular fusion, a binocular fusion module (BFM) based on parallax attention mechanism, which is different with existing binocular fusion methods, is explicitly proposed to achieve the binocular fusion between the left and right view features. Extensive experiments are conducted on LIVE I, LIVE II, WIVC I and WIVC II databases to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.