Photoreceptor resolved psychophysics in the human foveola

Abstract: Up to very recently, the spatial arrangement of the photoreceptors of the human foveal center and their relationship to vision remained uncharted territory. With adaptive optics photo stimulation techniques that overcome the optical blur of the human eye and at the same time allows precise tracking of each photoreceptor cell as it is actively moved across the image formed on the retina, we can see what the photoreceptors see, and psychophysically study structure-function relationships on foveolar cell level. In this talk I will present recent anatomical and psychophysical results that will show both the similarities and differences in foveal mosaics in humans, and how the highly dynamic and adaptive sampling behavior of an eye impacts visual performance.

Bio: Dr. Wolf Harmening is a group leader at the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Bonn, where he heads the AOVISION Lab and co-directs the Medical Imaging Center Bonn. His background is in neuroethology, with a doctorate from RWTH Aachen focusing on spatial vision in barn owls. After postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, he returned to Germany as an DFG Emmy Noether group leader, where his current research utilizes adaptive optics high-resolution imaging to explore human vision, particularly the relationship between retinal structure, visual function, and eye movements.

Lab's webpage: https://ao.ukbonn.de

Access to the meeting: Zoom Link