Human cortical neural correlates of visual fatigue during binocular depth perception: An fNIRS study

Abstract

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was adopted to investigate the cortical neural correlates of visual fatigue during binocular depth perception for different disparities (from 0.1° to 1.5°). By using a slow event-related paradigm, the oxyhaemoglobin (HbO) responses to fused binocular stimuli presented by the random-dot stereogram (RDS) were recorded over the whole visual dorsal area. To extract from an HbO curve the characteristics that are correlated with subjective experiences of stereopsis and visual fatigue, we proposed a novel method to fit the time-course HbO curve with various response functions which could reflect various processes of binocular depth perception. Our results indicate that the parietal-occipital cortices are spatially correlated with binocular depth perception and that the process of depth perception includes two steps, associated with generating and sustaining stereovision. Visual fatigue is caused mainly by generating stereovision, while the amplitude of the haemodynamic response corresponding to sustaining stereovision is correlated with stereopsis. Combining statistical parameter analysis and the fitted time-course analysis, fNIRS could be a promising method to study visual fatigue and possibly other multi-process neural bases.

Effect of Heat-Killed Lactobacillus paracasei KW3110 Ingestion on Ocular Disorders Caused by Visual Display Terminal (VDT) Loads: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Parallel-Group Study

“…The initial in vitro results and a previous report also supported these clinical results. In a previous report, neural activity correlated with eye fatigue [ 49 ]. In our previous work, our group revealed that orally provided L. paracasei KW3110 interacted with the gut immune cells in mice and oral administration of L. paracasei KW3110 enhanced the cytokine levels in blood [ 33 ].…”

The Influence of Medical Professional Knowledge on Empathy for Pain: Evidence From fNIRS

“…The GLM analysis was performed as follows: for each participant, the hemodynamic response function (HRF) filter and a wavelet-minimum description length (MDL) detrending algorithm were used to remove physical noise and artifacts, and a baseline correction was performed. After the wavelet-MDL-based detrending, the average HbO time series were estimated by integrating each HRF with the relevant experimental paradigms ( Cai et al, 2017 ). In the current study, GLM can describe a measurement of change in HbO in terms of a linear combination of two conditions (swab contact and acupuncture) and two groups (medical professional and non-medical professional).…”

Prefrontal Cortex Oxygenation Evoked by Convergence Load Under Conflicting Stimulus-to-Accommodation and Stimulus-to-Vergence Eye-Movements Measured by NIRS

“…Visual fatigue, a condition of improper or reduced visual function is believed to result from the use or overuse of the eyes and has attracted and puzzled researchers from many different fields ( Franco and Franco , 2001 ; Cai et al, 2017 ). A sense of eye strain, eye weakness, or eye fatigue (i.e., asthenopia, Hofstetter et al, 2000 ), in combination with musculoskeletal symptoms from the neck and shoulder region, has been widely acknowledged as being associated with occupational near work since the 1980s ( Gobba et al, 1988 ; Piccoli and ICOH Scientific Committee, 2003 ; Blehm et al, 2005 ).…”