# Gaze scanning by walking people with visual field loss

> **NIH NIH R21** · SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 2020 · $295,500

## Abstract

Project Summary
In mobility tasks, we look around the environment usually by moving both eye and head. Since eye movement
amplitude is usually small (<15º), the contribution of head movement to the gaze scanning may be larger and
more important. For patients with visual field loss in walking, our previous studies did not find their eye
movements dispersed wider than normally sighted. A remaining question is whether the patients primarily scan
by moving their heads. However, due to the technically challenges in head tracking, research on head
movement behaviors in outdoor walking scenarios is relatively sparse than that for eye movement. In a few
studies that do include head tracking, the investigation was either conducted in virtual environment, or the
head movements were only qualitatively assessed.
In this project, we propose to conduct secondary analysis of data collected in previous federally funded
research projects, in which we recorded the eye-in-head and scene videos with a head mounted camera in
patients with visual field loss as well as normally sighted controls, as they walked on busy streets in Boston
downtown area. To extract head movements from the scene videos, we will use the latest 3D visual mapping
technology, which has substantially advanced in recent years as it is been applied to self-driving research
nowadays. This would be the first time the complete gaze scanning patterns including the head movements of
the visually impaired people in an open outdoor environment are quantitatively evaluated.
The previously collected videos also include an intervention condition, where the patients with hemi-field loss
walking while wearing a prism field expander. By comparing the gaze scanning behavior with and without the
field expander, we would be able to understand how gaze scanning behaviors can be intervened. The
knowledge gained from this research can potentially inform the low vision rehabilitation community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9953136
- **Project number:** 1R21EY031444-01
- **Recipient organization:** SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Gang Luo
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $295,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9953136

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9953136, Gaze scanning by walking people with visual field loss (1R21EY031444-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9953136. Licensed CC0.

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