Our laboratory performs psychophysical experiments to investigate how bottom-up information such as contours, binocular disparity and surfaces, along with top-down attention processing, influence visual perception and action in the real and virtual environments. We specially focus on eye dominance, stereopsis, binocular rivalry, motion, space perception, plus visually guided and directed actions, such as eye movements and walking. We test human subjects in virtual reality (VR) environment and in the natural environment.
We also investigate how visual experience and training affect the adult visual system. When possible, basic knowledge gained is applied to benefit clinical diagnosis and management of patients with diseases or conditions affecting the visual pathway. At times, we depend on insights from clinical observations to motivate the theoretical underpinnings of our research.
Selected Publications
- Plaumann, M.D.; Roberts, K.L.; Wei, W.; Han, C.; Ooi, T.L. (2023) Refining Clinical Quantification of Depth of Suppression in Amblyopia through Synoptophore Measurement. Life, 13, 1900. https://doi.org/10.3390/life13091900
- Zhou, L., Wei, W., Ooi, T. L. & He, Z.J. (2023). An allocentric human odometer for perceiving distances on the ground plane. bioRxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.22.533725
- Han, C., Huang, W., Su, Y. R., He, Z. J., & Ooi, T. L. (2020). Evidence in support of the border-ownership neurons for representing textured figures. iScience; 23(8):101394. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.101394 [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 21]
- Ooi, T. L. & He, Z. J. (2020). Eye dominance: Relationship between eye and brain. Eye and Brain: Vol 2020:12, 25-3. doi
https://doi.org/10.2147/EB.S176931.
- Han C., He Z. J. & Ooi T. L. (2019) Effect of Interocular Contrast Difference on Stereopsis in Observers With Sensory Eye Dominance. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 60(8):3178-3186. doi: 10.1167/iovs.18-26112.
- Han C., He Z. J. & Ooi T. L. (2018) On Sensory Eye Dominance Revealed by Binocular Integrative and Binocular Competitive Stimuli. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 59(12):5140-5148. doi: 10.1167/iovs.18-24342.
- Zhou, L., Deng, C., Ooi, T. L. & He, Z. J. (2016) Attention Modulates Perception of Visual Space. Nature Human Behaviour 1, Article number: 0004, doi:10.1038/s41562-016-0004
- Zhou, L., Ooi, T. L. & He, Z. J. (2016). Intrinsic spatial knowledge about terrestrial ecology favors the tall for judging distance. Science Advances, 31 Aug 2016: Vol. 2, no. 8, e1501070; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.15010img_921870.
- Ooi, T. L. & He, Z. J. (2015). Space perception of strabismic observers in the real world environment. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 56(3):1761-8. doi: 10.1167/iovs.14-15741.
- Ooi, T. L., Su, Y. R., Natale, D. M., & He, Z. J. (2013). A push-pull treatment for strengthening the “lazy eye” in amblyopia. Current Biology, 23(8), 309-310.
- Xu, J.P., He, Z. J. & Ooi, T. L. (2010). Effectively reducing sensory eye dominance with a push-pull perceptual learning protocol. Current Biology, 20(20), 1864-1868. PMCID: PMC2963665
- Su, Y., He, Z. J. & Ooi, T. L. (2009). Coexistence of binocular integration and suppression determined by surface border information. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(37), 15990-15995. PMCID: PMC2747231
- Ooi, T. L. & He, Z. J. (2007). A distance judgment function based on space perception mechanisms – revisiting Gilinsky’s (1951) equation. Psychological Review, 114(2), 441-454.
- Wu, B, Ooi, T. L. & He, Z. J. (2004). Perceiving distance accurately by a directional process of integrating ground information. Nature, 428, 73-77.
- Ooi, T.L., Wu, B. & He, Z. J. (2001). Distance determined by the angular declination below the horizon. Nature, 414, 197-200.
- Ooi, T.L. & He, Z.J. (2001). Sensory eye dominance. Am. Optom. Assoc., 72(3), 168-178.
- Ooi, T.L. & He, Z.J. (1999). Binocular rivalry and visual awareness: The role of attention. Perception, 28(5), 551-574.
- Sinai, M. J., Ooi, T. L., & He, Z. J. (1998). Terrain influences the accurate judgement of distance. Nature, 395, 497-500.
Space Perception. When the visual system accurately represents the eye height and ground surface, it can use a trigonometric relationship to compute target distance.