# Vision, Attention and Eye Movements at the Scale of the Foveola

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2024 · $535,204

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The foveola, the 1-deg retinal region where cones are most densely packed, is of paramount importance for vision.
Damage to this tiny portion of the retina has devastating consequences for many daily activities as humans use it
to resolve fine details in the visual scene. Yet, primarily as a consequence of technical challenges, little is known
about the mechanisms of foveal vision. A major difficulty in studying foveal functions comes from the need to
finely control retinal stimulation. At this scale, both placing and maintaining a stimulus at a desired eccentricity is
difficult, because of uncertainty in localizing the center of gaze, and because of the continual retinal motion caused
by fixational eye movements, the slow eye drifts and small saccades (microsccades) that humans continually
perform. Recent technical developments offer complementary strengths for overcoming these challenges: high-
resolution retinal imaging allows for high-precision eye-tracking and gaze-contingent retinal stimulation while at
the same time imaging the central fovea, yet it poses limitations in how psychophysical testing is conducted and
makes it challenging to run high volume of subjects/trials. On the other hand, high-precision video eye-tracking
coupled with gaze-contingent display control provides a flexible way for testing vision at the fine grain of the
foveola and acquire large volume of data, but it does not provide information on foveal anatomy. To overcome
these limitations this research uses a unique blend of these cutting-edge techniques for flexibly mapping visual
functions and attention at the fine scale and linking oculomotor behavior, visual perception and anatomy in the
foveola. The overarching goal of this research is to determine the limits and constraints of foveal vision and the
mechanisms the visuomotor system relies on to compensate for these limitations, and to optimize fine spatial
vision. Foveal vision will be investigated from three different perspectives: how eye movements and retinal
anatomy jointly shape fine spatial vision in the foveola (Aim 1), how oculomotor plasticity and attention contribute
to fine spatial vision in the foveola (Aim 2), how attention and the interplay with peripheral vision constrain the
temporal dynamics of foveal processing (Aim 3). By bridging anatomy, oculomotor behavior and visual acuity, the
research in Aim 1 will examine the fine modulations of visual acuity and cone density across the central fovea,
how ocular drift varies in relation to cone density and whether the location chosen as the preferred retinal locus
has an impact on acuity. Research in Aim 2 will examine the plasticity of microsaccades and how fine control of
attention acts at spatial frequencies near the resolution limit and to compensate for anisotropies in sensitivity in
the central fovea. Research in Aim 3 will elucidate how the temporal dynamics of vision and attention change
foveally and extrafoveally and how sensitivi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10733069
- **Project number:** 2R01EY029788-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Martina Poletti
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $535,204
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2028-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10733069

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10733069, Vision, Attention and Eye Movements at the Scale of the Foveola (2R01EY029788-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10733069. Licensed CC0.

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