(Formerly VISB)

[CVP Roster]

The Central Visual Processing [CVP] Study Section reviews basic, applied, and clinical research on the development, aging, structure, function, and disorders of those portions of the brain, eye, and extraocular muscle system that serve visual sensation of brightness, color, space/form, motion, depth, as well as accommodation, pupil contraction, and eye movements.

Specific areas covered by CVP:

• Visual processing and eye movements; genetic, molecular, cellular, systems level, and behavioral analyses, including anatomy, electrophysiology, physiological optics, psychophysics, and mathematical/computational modeling, in both vertebrates and invertebrates, to better understand eye movements and visual processing. This includes studies of visual constancies, binocular space sense, visual illusions, behavioral studies of orienting and positioning reflexes of lower animals, pupillary contraction, accommodation, visual neurosensory disorders, color vision, stereopsis, motion, and pattern recognition.
  
  
• The structure and function of the higher visual pathways; histological, electrophysiological, and biochemical techniques and the data processing of neural signals from the retina to the higher visual pathways, especially temporal and spatial interactions, leading to a better understanding of color vision, stereopsis, motion, and pattern recognition. This includes genetic and molecular biological studies, as well as studies of the development of the visual cortex and associated pathways in vertebrate and invertebrate visual systems, including clinical studies.
  
  
• Studies directed toward gaining a better understanding of normal vision, as well as identifying the causes, of visual and visual-motor deficits, low vision, and blindness, such as myopia, amblyopia, strabismus, and neuro-ophthalmic disorders
  
  
• Research aimed at enhancing the remaining vision of visually disadvantaged individuals, evaluating new and existing optical aids, studying video magnification and image enhancement systems, and other instruments, techniques, and human factor strategies aimed at improving visual performance and mobility; tests of visual or ocular function

CVP has the following shared interests within the IFCN IRG:

• While CVP reviews applications whose principal focus is on the role of visual and vestibular input in the control of eye movements, SMI reviews applications that focus on the vestibular-ocular reflex as a means to study vestibular mechanisms.
  
  
• Studies focused on the neural bases of visual sensations and early stages of visual perception should be assigned to CVP, but studies concerned with the neural basis of later states of visual perception and cognition should be assigned to COG.

CVP has the following shared interests outside the IFCN IRG: 

• With the Cell Biology [CB] IRG: Studies focused on the effects of light at the level of the retina should be reviewed within Biology and Diseases of the Posterior Eye [BDPE] study section in the CB IRG. CVP is concerned with neurophysiological and psychophysical studies of those portions of the brain and eye that serve visual sensation and visual-motor processes.
  
  
• With the Biobehavioral and Behavioral Processes [BBBP] IRG:  The BBBP IRG generally reviews applications on cognition and perception related to the visual system. CVP is more appropriate to review applications that focus on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying such visual functions.
  
  
• With the Risk Prevention and Health Behavior [RPHB] IRG: Studies focused on neural mechanisms of visual perception should be assigned to CVP. Applications that focus on quality of life issues for the blind or individuals with low vision would be assigned to the RPHB IRG.
  
  
• With the Musculoskeletal, Oral and Skin Sciences [MOSS] IRG: Studies of the structure and physiology of skeletal muscle, including the extraocular eye muscle, could be assigned to the MOSS IRG.  Applications dealing with eye movement are more appropriate for CVP.
  
  
• With the Brain Disorders and Clinical Neuroscience [BDCN] IRG: The Anterior Eyes Disease [AED] study section in the BDCN IRG is concerned with the anterior portion of the eye and its disorders [including glaucoma], while CVP reviews applications emphasizing normal and abnormal visual and visual-motor processes, including studies of extraocular [muscular and orbital] disorders, and involving techniques used primarily by visual physiologists or visual psychophysicists.