Division of Neuroergonomics
University of Iowa, Department of Neurology
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Visual Function Laboratory
The Visual Function Laboratory, located in S210 GH & S207 GH, is dedicated to studying neural substrates of vision, using a variety of neuro-ophthalmological, psychophysical, and cognitive techniques.A longitudinal NIH funded project has been studying anatomical substrates of vision in patients with focal brain lesions in the occipital lobe and adjacent temporal (ventral) and parietal(dorsal) visual association cortices.
We are also studying basic mechanisms of vision and visual motor control in cognitive aging and age-related neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
Relevant background to our research approach to visual dysfunction is found in the following papers:
- Rizzo, M., McEvoy, S., Batchelder, S., Kellison, I., Vecera, S. Change blindness in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (In press).
- Rizzo, M., Nawrot, M., Sparks, J. D., Dawson, J. First and second order motion perception after focal human brain lesions. Vision Research (In press).
- Uc, E.Y., Rizzo, M., Anderson, S. W., Shi, Q., Rodnitzky, R. L., & Dawson, J. D. (2005). Visual dysfunction in Parkinson's disease without dementia. Neurology 65, 1-7
The rotating figure on the home page is an example of a stimulus used to test perception of structure from motion cues and was designed by Dr. Mark Nawrot.