August 2023
Volume 23, Issue 9
Open Access
Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract  |   August 2023
Central Vision Loss Worsens Scene Understanding and Increases Eye Movement Variability
Author Affiliations
  • Byron Johnson
    University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Puneeth N. Chakravarthula
    University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Shravan Murlidaran
    University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Ansh Soni
    University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Michael Beyeler
    University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Miguel P. Eckstein
    University of California, Santa Barbara
Journal of Vision August 2023, Vol.23, 5823. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.23.9.5823
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation

      Byron Johnson, Puneeth N. Chakravarthula, Shravan Murlidaran, Ansh Soni, Michael Beyeler, Miguel P. Eckstein; Central Vision Loss Worsens Scene Understanding and Increases Eye Movement Variability. Journal of Vision 2023;23(9):5823. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.23.9.5823.

      Download citation file:


      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
  • Supplements
Abstract

Foveal vision loss can impact basic perceptual tasks such as face recognition, visual search, and scene classification. Day-to-day life also requires rapidly understanding scenes with social interactions, but the extent to which vision loss affects social interactions is not well understood. Here, we investigate the impact of foveal vision loss on scene understanding of real-world images using a simulated gaze-contingent central scotoma (Gaussian; SD = 4 deg). Eighteen observers viewed and described 120 scenes (50% with social interactions, 50% images from MS COCO). Half of the observers viewed the scenes with the simulated scotoma. Trials were terminated after one or three scene fixations (randomly counter-balanced). Scene descriptions were rated (8 evaluators) on their semantic similarity relative to gold standard descriptions (with unlimited viewing time). Results showed that the scotoma led to scene descriptions with significantly lower similarity to the gold standard (F = 5.99, p = .027). Participants with a simulated scotoma were less correlated and more variable in first fixation location after stimulus onset compared to participants without a scotoma (t = 5.0569, p < 0.0001), suggesting that the scotoma’s presence affected fixation strategies. Manual annotations of relevant objects (humans, animals, and faces) revealed that participants showed similar preference for humans and faces regardless of viewing condition (t = 0.436, p = 0.7). Our findings provide a method to assess the impact of vision loss on scene understanding of real-world scenes. These findings have important implications for understanding the challenges faced by people with central vision loss.

×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×