Understanding the relationship between changes in sensory perception and functional/structural changes in the brain is a major endeavor in the field of systems neuroscience. Progress in this area holds the potential to reveal how the brain adapts to the demands of a complex and changing environment, as well as to assist with the development of therapeutic interventions to reverse the negative effects of abnormal experience. The cells and circuits that make up the mammalian visual system provide a unique scientific test-bed for studying brain plasticity, thanks to the rich literature on their basic organization and similarity across a range of species. In this minireview, we highlight recent advances in the study of plasticity in adult binocular vision, emphasizing the importance of considering changes that occur over different timescales. We discuss key new insights, significant open questions, and how this research is leading to a broader understanding of the ways that the adult brain maintains a robust ability for adaptation and change.

Binocular fusion relies on matching points in the two eyes that correspond to the same physical feature in the world; however, not all world features are binocularly visible. Near depth edges, some regions of a scene are often visible to only one eye (so-called half occlusions). Accurate detection of these monocularly visible regions is likely to be important for stable visual perception. If monocular regions are not detected as such, the visual system may attempt to binocularly fuse non-corresponding points, which can result in unstable percepts. We investigated the hypothesis that the visual system capitalizes on statistical regularities associated with depth edges in natural scenes to aid binocular fusion and facilitate perceptual stability. By sampling from a large set of stereoscopic natural images with co-registered distance information, we found evidence that monocularly visible regions near depth edges primarily result from background occlusions. Accordingly, monocular regions tended to be more visually similar to the adjacent binocularly visible background region than to the adjacent binocularly visible foreground. Consistent with our hypothesis, perceptual experiments showed that perception tended to be more stable when the image properties of the depth edge were statistically more likely given the probability of occurrence in natural scenes (i.e., when monocular regions were more visually similar to the binocular background). The generality of these results was supported by a parametric study with simulated environments. Exploiting regularities in natural environments may allow the visual system to facilitate fusion and perceptual stability when both binocular and monocular regions are visible.

In near-eye display systems that support three-dimensional (3D) augmented and virtual reality, a central factor in determining the user experience is the size of the eyebox. The eyebox refers to a volume where the eye receives an acceptable view of the image with respect to a set of criteria and thresholds. The size and location of this volume are primarily driven by optical architecture choices in which designers trade-off a number of constraints, such as field of view, image quality, and product design. It is thus important to clearly quantify how design decisions affect the properties of the eyebox. Recent work has started evaluating the eyebox in 3D based purely on optical criteria. However, such analyses do not incorporate perceptual criteria that determine visual quality, which are particularly important for binocular 3D systems. To address this limitation, we introduce the framework of a perceptual eyebox. The perceptual eyebox is the volume where the eye(s) must be located for the user to experience a visual percept falling within a perceptually-defined criterion. We combine optical and perceptual data to characterize an example perceptual eyebox for display visibility in augmented reality. The key contributions in this paper include: comparing the perceptual eyebox for monocular and binocular display designs, modeling the effects of user eye separation, and examining the effects of eye rotation on the eyebox volume.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a common but poorly understood phenomenon in adolescents. This study examined the Sustained Threat domain in female adolescents with a continuum of NSSI severity (N = 142). Across NSSI lifetime frequency and NSSI severity groups (No + Mild NSSI, Moderate NSSI, Severe NSSI), we examined physiological, self-reported and observed stress during the Trier Social Stress Test; amygdala volume; amygdala responses to threat stimuli; and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Severe NSSI showed a blunted pattern of cortisol response, despite elevated reported and observed stress during TSST. Severe NSSI showed lower amygdala-mPFC RSFC; follow-up analyses suggested that this was more pronounced in those with a history of suicide attempt for both moderate and severe NSSI. Moderate NSSI showed elevated right amygdala activation to threat; multiple regressions showed that, when considered together with low amygdala-mPFC RSFC, higher right but lower left amygdala activation predicted NSSI severity. Patterns of interrelationships among Sustained Threat measures varied substantially across NSSI severity groups, and further by suicide attempt history. Study limitations include the cross-sectional design, missing data, and sampling biases. Our findings highlight the value of multilevel approaches in understanding the complexity of neurobiological mechanisms in adolescent NSSI.

Background

Morphology of the human cerebral cortex differs across psychiatric disorders, with neurobiology and developmental origins mostly undetermined. Deviations in the tangential growth of the cerebral cortex during pre/perinatal periods may be reflected in individual variations in cortical surface area later in life.

Methods

Interregional profiles of group differences in surface area between cases and controls were generated using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging from 27,359 individuals including those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and high general psychopathology (through the Child Behavior Checklist). Similarity of interregional profiles of group differences in surface area and prenatal cell-specific gene expression was assessed.

Results

Across the 11 cortical regions, group differences in cortical area for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and Child Behavior Checklist were dominant in multimodal association cortices. The same interregional profiles were also associated with interregional profiles of (prenatal) gene expression specific to proliferative cells, namely radial glia and intermediate progenitor cells (greater expression, larger difference), as well as differentiated cells, namely excitatory neurons and endothelial and mural cells (greater expression, smaller difference). Finally, these cell types were implicated in known pre/perinatal risk factors for psychosis. Genes coexpressed with radial glia were enriched with genes implicated in congenital abnormalities, birth weight, hypoxia, and starvation. Genes coexpressed with endothelial and mural genes were enriched with genes associated with maternal hypertension and preterm birth.

Conclusions

Our findings support a neurodevelopmental model of vulnerability to mental illness whereby prenatal risk factors acting through cell-specific processes lead to deviations from typical brain development during pregnancy.