Eye Movement Laboratory
Research Team
- Dr Larry Abel
- Ms. Elizabeth Bowman
National & International Collaborators
- Professor Louis F Dell'Osso - Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA
- Associate Professor Isla M Williams - Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Associate Professor Christian Lueck - Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
- Associate Professor Jacinta Douglas - Human Communication Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
The Eye Movement Laboratory is directed by Dr Larry A Abel, it addresses a range of problems relating to eye movement control in both clinical populations as well as in normal subjects. The major themes of the research are briefly described below, although other diverse studies have also been undertaken as part of Honours or Postgraduate student research.
Nystagmus & Other Ocular Oscillations
This has been a major component of my research for more than 25 years. Some of the themes include:
- discrimination between congenital and acquired nystagmus
- identification of specific forms of childhood nystagmus
- nystagmus and perceptual stability
- nystagmus severity, stress and visual effort
Eye Movements in Neurodegenerative Diseases
This has been a focus of collaborative activity for many years as well. Recent studies have examined saccadic eye movements in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, looking at the ways in which saccadic abnormalities could be used to gain insights into specific aspects of the disease processes. A new collaboration is beginning with the Neuropsychiatry Centre which will examine brain activity during volitional saccades in young people at very high risk of developing psychosis.
Eye Movements & Ageing
Recent studies have identified for the first time a number of saccadic eye movement features which are severely impaired in some healthy elderly individuals, as well as others which appear to survive intact.
Eye Movements & Cognition
This broad descriptor includes studies which have examined visual memory, prediction and attention. Some recent examples of this have included ageing-related analyses as well, since early detection of elderly individuals showing potential signs of dementia will be of increasing importance as effective treatments for disorders such as Alzheimer's disease become available. Some projects (some in collaboration with other labs) have been:
- Optokinenetic nystagmus suppression as an assessment of divided attention
- Memory-guided saccade performance under differing fixation conditions
- Identification of error types on the antisaccade and memory guided saccade tasks
- Smooth pursuit, age and divided attention
Saccadic Eye Movements and Traumatic Brain Injury
In a study funded by the Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative, we are collaborating with A/Prof. Jacinta Douglas of La Trobe University on an investigation concerning whether the minority of children who have ongoing problems after suffering a mild head injury can be identified by performance on a battery of reflexively and volitionally controlled fast eye movement tasks.
Selected Recent Publications
- Tkalcevic L. and Abel L. A. (2005). The effects of increased visual task demand on foveation in congenital nystagmus. Vision Research 45:1139-1146.
- Abel, L.A. and Douglas, J.: Effects of age on latency and error generation in internally mediated saccades. Neurobiology of Aging (epub ahead of print: doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2006.02.003).
- Williams I.M., Mulhall L., Mattingley J., Lueck C., Abel L.A.: Optokinetic nystagmus as an assessment of visual attention to divided stimuli. Journal of Clinical Neurosciences, (epub ahead of print: doi:10.1016/j.jocn.2005.10.010)
- Williams, I.M., Mulhall, L., Mattingley, J., Lueck, C., Abel , L.A.: Optokinetic Nystagmus as an Assessment of Visual Attention to Divided Stimuli. J. Clin. Neurosci. 2006 13:828-833.
- Abel, L.A.: Infantile Nystagmus: Current Concepts in Diagnosis and Management (invited review). Clin. Exp.Optom. 2006 89:57-65.
- Abel, L.A. and Douglas, J.: Effects of Age on Latency and Error Generation in Internally Mediated Saccades. Neurobiol. Aging 2007 28:627-637.
- Koklanis, K., Abel, L., Aroni, R.: The Psychosocial Impact of Amblyopia and Its Treatment: A Multidisciplinary Study. Clin. Exp. Ophthalmol. 2006; 34:743-750.
- Patterson, M.C., Vecchio, D., Prady, H., Abel, L., Wraith, J.E.: Miglustat for treatment of Niemann-Pick C disease: a randomised controlled study. Lancet Neurol. 2007; 6:765-772.
- Abel, L.A. and Malesic, LA.: Oscillopsia in Inverse Latent Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome. Optom. Vis. Sci.2007; 84:1017-1023.
- Cham, K.M., Anderson, A.J. and Abel, L.A.: Task-induced Stress and Motivation Decrease Foveation Period Durations in Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2008; 49:2977-2984.
- Cham, K.M. Anderson, A.J. and Abel, L.A.: Factors Influencing the Experience of Oscillopsia in Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2008; 49: 3424-34231.
- Abel, L.A., Wang, Z.I. and Dell’Osso, L.F.: Wavelet Analysis in Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome: Limitations and Abilities. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2008; 49:3413–3423.
- Nguyen, H.N.T., Mattingley, J.B. and Abel, L.A.: Extraversion Degrades Performance on the Antisaccade Task. Brain Res. 2008; 1231:81-85.
- Levy, D.L., Bowman, E. A., Abel L.A., Krastoshevsky, O., Krause, V., Mendell, N.R.: Does Performance on the Standard Antisaccade Task Meet the Co-familiality Criterion for an Endophenotype? Brain and Cognition, 2008; 68:462-475.
- Schiffmann, R., Harris, C., Fitzgibbon, E.J., DeVile, C., Davies, E.H., Abel, L, van Schaik, I.N., Benko, W, Timmons, M, Ries, M., Vellodi, A.: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Miglustat in Gaucher Disease Type 3. Ann Neurol., 2008, 64:514-522.
- Abel, L.A., Walterfang, M., Fietz, M., Bowman, E.A., Velakoulis,D.: Saccades in Adult Niemann-Pick Disease Type C Reflect Frontal, Brainstem & Biochemical Deficits. Neurology, in press.