Background: Visual salience computed using algorithmic procedures have been shown to predict eye-movements in a number of contexts. However, despite calls to incorporate computationally-defined visual salience metrics as a means of assessing the effectiveness of advertisements, few studies have incorporated these techniques in a marketing context. The present study sought to determine the impact of visual salience and knowledge of a brand on eye-movement patterns and buying preferences.

Methods: Participants (N=38) were presented with 54 pairs of products presented on the left and right sides of a blank white screen. For each pair, one product was a known North American product, such as Fresca^?, and one was an unknown British product of the same category, such as Irn Bru^?. Participants were asked to select which product they would prefer to buy while their eye movements were recorded. Salience was computed using Itti & Koch’s [2001] computational model of bottom-up salience. Products were defined as highly salient if the majority of the first five predicted fixations were in the region of the product.

Results: Results showed that participants were much more likely to prefer to buy known products, and tentative evidence suggests that participants had longer total dwell times when looking at unknown products. Salience appears to have had little or no effect on preference for a product, nor did it predict total dwell time or time to first fixation. There also appears to be no interaction between knowledge of a product and visual salience on any of the measures analyzed.

Conclusions: The results indicate that product salience may not be a useful predictor of attention under the constraints of the present experiment. Future studies could use a different operational definition of visual salience which might be more predictive of visual attention. Furthermore, a more fine-grained analysis of product familiarity based on survey data may reveal patterns obscured by the definitional constraints of the present study.

Abstract: The inverted retina is a basic characteristic of the vertebrate eye. This implies that vertebrates must have a common ancestor with an inverted retina. Of the two groups of chordates, cephalochordates have an inverted retina and urochordates a direct retina. Surprisingly, recent genetics studies favor urochordates as the closest ancestor to vertebrates. The evolution of increasingly complex organs such as the eye implies not only tissular but also structural modifications at the organ level. How these configurational modifications give rise to a functional eye at any step is still subject to debate and speculation. Here we propose an orderly sequence of phylogenetic events that closely follows the sequence of developmental eye formation in extant vertebrates. The progressive structural complexity has been clearly recorded during vertebrate development at the period of organogenesis. Matching the chain of increasing eye complexity in Mollusca that leads to the bicameral eye of the octopus and the developmental sequence in vertebrates, we delineate the parallel evolution of the two-chambered eye of vertebrates starting with an early ectodermal eye. This sequence allows for some interesting predictions regarding the eyes of not preserved intermediary species. The clue to understanding the inverted retina of vertebrates and the similarity between the sequence followed by Mollusca and chordates is the notion that the eye in both cases is an ectodermal structure, in contrast to an exclusively (de novo) neuroectodermal origin in the eye of vertebrates. This analysis places cephalochordates as the closest branch to vertebrates contrary to urochordates, claimed as a closer branch by some researchers that base their proposals in a genetic analysis.

Abstract: Pediatric neuro-ophthalmology is a subspecialty within neuro-ophthalmology. Pediatric neuro-ophthalmic diseases must be considered separate from their adult counterparts, due to the distinctive nature of the examination, clinical presentations, and management choices. This manuscript will highlight four common pediatric neuro-ophthalmic disorders by describing common clinical presentations, recommended management, and highlighting recent developments. Diseases discussed include pediatric idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), pseudopapilledema, optic neuritis (ON) and optic pathway gliomas (OPG). The demographics, diagnosis and management of common pediatric neuro-ophthalmic disease require a working knowledge of the current research presented herein. Special attention should be placed on the differences between pediatric and adult entities such that children can be appropriately diagnosed and treated.

Abstract: Contrast is the differential luminance between one object and another. Contrast sensitivity (CS) quantifies the ability to detect this difference: estimating contrast threshold provides information about the quality of vision and helps diagnose and monitor eye diseases. High contrast visual acuity assessment is traditionally performed in the eye care practice, whereas the estimate of the discrimination of low contrast targets, an important complementary task for the perception of details, is far less employed. An example is driving when the contrast between vehicles, obstacles, pedestrians, and the background is reduced by fog. Many conditions can selectively degrade CS, while visual acuity remains intact. In addition to spatial CS, “temporal” CS is defined as the ability to discriminate luminance differences in the temporal domain, i.e., to discriminate information that reaches the visual cortex as a function of time. Likewise, temporal sensitivity of the visual system can be investigated in terms of critical fusion frequency (CFF), an indicator of the integrity of the magnocellular system that is responsible for the perception of transient stimulations. As a matter of fact, temporal resolution can be abnormal in neuro-ophthalmological clinical conditions. This paper aims at considering CS and its application to the clinical practice.

Abstract: Congenital ptosis is an abnormally low position of the upper eyelid, with respect to the visual axis in the primary gaze. It can be present at birth or manifest itself during the first year of life and can be bilateral or unilateral. Additionally, it may be an isolated finding or part of a constellation of signs of a specific syndrome or systemic associations. Depending on how much it interferes with the visual axis, it may be considered as a functional or a cosmetic condition. In childhood, functional ptosis can lead to deprivation amblyopia and astigmatism and needs to be treated. However, even mild ptosis with normal vision can lead to psychosocial problems and correction is also advised, albeit on a less urgent basis. Although, patching and glasses can be prescribed to treat the amblyopia, the mainstay of management is surgical. There are several types of surgical procedure available depending on the severity and etiology of the droopy eyelid. The first part of this paper will review the different categories of congenital ptosis, including more common associated syndromes. The latter part will briefly cover the different surgical approaches, with emphasis on how to choose the correct condition. In spite of many complex factors inherent to the treatment of congenital ptosis, the overall outcomes are quite satisfactory, and most surgeons feel that ptosis management can be both challenging and rewarding at the same time.

Abstract: Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a fast, non-invasive imaging modality that provides detailed information on retinal and choroidal vascular flow and macular structure. OCTA offers an accurate three-dimensional view of the individual retinal vascular plexuses and the choriocapillaris which facilitates the detection of the microvascular abnormalities in a variety of macular diseases. The perfusion indices (vessel density and flow index) are valuable parameters evaluated by OCTA that allow a quantitative interpretation of changes in the retinal vasculature that can reflect the severity of disease. Crystalline retinopathy encompasses a group of conditions whose distinctive feature is the presence of retinal crystals often located in the posterior pole. Select crystalline retinopathies also demonstrate retinal vascular abnormalities as well. Considering that the OCTA is a novel imaging modality and crystalline retinopathies are relatively rare conditions, there are currently few reports of OCTA findings associated with crystalline retinopathy. The advent of OCTA allows visualization of vascular and structural changes in crystalline retinopathies that are unique and cannot be appreciated on other imaging modalities, including fluorescein angiography (FA). This article reviews novel OCTA findings which provide new insights in the pathogenesis of crystalline retinopathies, including Bietti crystalline retinopathy, talc retinopathy, macular telangiectasia type 2, tamoxifen retinopathy, and Sj?gren-Larsson Syndrome maculopathy.

Abstract: Pediatric uveitis is an inflammatory ocular disease that can lead to sight-threatening complications. Pediatric patients have distinct challenges in the diagnosis and management of uveitis, secondary to difficulties in performing ophthalmic examinations in young children, delayed diagnosis due to lack of adherence with recommended screening schedules, medication side-effects, and increased burden of disease into adulthood. Measurement of outcomes in pediatric uveitis has traditionally relied upon the ophthalmic examination and general quality of life (QOL) measures. However, the ophthalmic examination does not take into account the impact of uveitis on a child’s QOL and general QOL measures do not adequately assess the specific effects of vision. Several vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) instruments have been used to measure outcomes in both adults and children including: the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25), Vision-related Quality of Life of Children and Young People (VQoL_CYP), the Children’s Visual Function Questionnaire (CVFQ), and the Effect of Youngsters’ Eyesight on Quality of Life (EYE-Q). However, the NEI VFQ-25 is not a valid or applicable measure in children, and the VQoL_CYP and CVFQ are not uveitis specific and may not characterize disease specific burdens. The EYE-Q is the only uveitis-specific pediatric questionnaire that measures visual functioning and VR-QOL in 5–18 years old children and adolescents with uveitis. It has been shown to be a valid and reliable assessment tool in several cohorts of children with uveitis. A comprehensive assessment of the impact of uveitis on a child that includes a vision-specific measure, such as the EYE-Q, allows for better understanding of the true burden of uveitis in children. For this review, we describe traditional outcome measures in uveitis studies, general QOL measures and vision-specific measures in adults and in children.

Abstract: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a condition in which elevated pressure in the cerebrospinal fluid can lead to optic nerve head (ONH) dysfunction and subsequent visual impairment. Physicians are currently limited in their ability to monitor and manage this condition, as clinical symptoms and exam findings are often delayed in response to changes in intracranial pressure. In order to find other biomarkers of disease, researchers are using imaging modalities such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) to observe microscopic changes in the eye in this condition. OCT can create 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional high definition images of the retina of the ONH and has been used to study various conditions such as glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. Numerous studies have used OCT in IIH as well, and they have shown that certain retinal layers and the ONH change in thickness and shape in both the short and long term with intracranial pressure changes. OCT is a promising modality for clinical and scientific evaluation of IIH as it is a noninvasive and practical tool to obtain in depth images. This review will discuss how OCT can be used to assess a patient with IIH, both before and after treatment, along with its limitations and future applications.