MacKeben Lab

Scattered letters of varying clarity

Work in this laboratory is devoted to researching facts and developing tools to help the rehabilitation of people with low vision, especially those with macular vision loss.

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Publications

Journal Articles

Eisenbarth, W., Richert, J., & Mackeben, M. (2016). Testing macular letter recognition-reliability and influence of refraction errors. Clinical And Experimental Optometry, 99, 322–327.
Eisenbarth, W., Pado, U., Schriever, S., Schötschel, D., Feucht, N., & Mackeben, M. (2016). Lokalisation von Skotomen mittels Lesetest bei AMD - Localization of scotomas in AMD by reading test. Der Ophthalmologe, 113, 754–762.
Ivanov, I., Mackeben, M., Vollmer, A., Martus, P., Nguyen, N. X., & Trauzettel-Klosinski, S. (2016). Eye movement training and suggested gaze strategies in tunnel vision-a randomized and controlled pilot study. Plos One, 11, e0157825.
Ivanov, I., Kuester, S., Mackeben, M., Krumm, A., Haaga, M., Staudt, M., et al. (2018). Effects of visual search training in children with hemianopia. Plos One, 13, e0197285.
Mackeben, M., & Fletcher, D. C. (2011). Target search and identification performance in low vision patients. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 52, 7603–7609.
Fletcher, D. C., & Mackeben, M. (2013). Everyday use of modern microperimetry in a low-vision service. Canadian Journal Of Ophthalmology/Journal Canadien D'ophtalmologie, 5, e99–e101.
Eisenbarth, W., Feucht, N., Enders, C., Maier, M., Lohmann, C. P., & Mackeben, M. (2015). Parafoveal contributions to retinal function during ranibizumab therapy for age-related macular degeneration. Canadian Journal Of Ophthalmology/Journal Canadien D'ophtalmologie, 50, 37–43.
Mackeben, M., Nair, U. K. W., Walker, L., & Fletcher, D. C. (2015). Random Word Recognition Chart Helps Scotoma Assessment in Low Vision. Optometry And Vision Science, 92, 421.
Mackeben, M. (2008). Topographic mapping of residual vision by computer. J Vis Impair Blind, 102, 649–655.
Hahn, G. A., Messias, A., Mackeben, M., Dietz, K., Horwath, K., Hyvärinen, L., et al. (2009). Parafoveal letter recognition at reduced contrast in normal aging and in patients with risk factors for AMD. Graefe's Archive For Clinical And Experimental Ophthalmology, 247, 43–51.

Projects

Completed

Micro-Perimetry by Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope

We developed software to make the retinal placement of stimuli during micro-perimetry by a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) independent of involuntary fixational eye movements. This greatly increases the accuracy of the measurement and enhances the ability to reliably repeat a measurement on the same patient, as well as making comparisons between patients.

 

Reference

MacKeben M & Gofen A. (2007) Gaze-contingent display for retinal function testing by scanning laser ophthalmoscope. J Opt Soc America A, vol. 24/5, May, pp. 1402-1410 (feature issue on “Retinal Imaging”)

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Motion as a Cue for Attention

We investigated whether relative motion can serve as a cue for sustained attention. We found that relative motion perception has a long latency and that it can indeed attract attention to improve discrimination performance.

 

Reference

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Poggel DA, Strasburger H, MacKeben M. (2007) Cueing attention by relative motion in the periphery of the visual field. Perception 36(7) 955 - 970. (pubmed)

Focal Attention and Letter Recognition

We studied letter recognition in 8 deg eccentricity from the fovea after attracting sustained focal attention to the stimulated location by a cue. Young and elderly healthy subjects, as well as patients with central vision loss participated. We found that the ability to utilize focal attention has an irregular topographic component in some subjects. The experiments in patients indicated that locations with high attentional potential are more likely to be used as preferred retinal loci after central vision loss.

 

References

MacKeben, M. (1999) Sustained Focal Attention and Peripheral Letter…

Reading with the Retinal Periphery

Typographical features of letters were manipulated in such a way that frequently occurring letter confusions in eccentric viewing happened less frequently. This demonstrated that a combination of psychophysics and goal-directed modification of typographic features is a viable experimental strategy.

 

Reference

MacKeben M. (2000) Enhancement of peripheral letter recognition by typographical features. Visual Impairment Research 2, (2) 95 -103. (link to VIR)

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People

Current

Collaborators

External