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PhD Research Project: Visual dysfunction and reading in special populations

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Jan 10, 2017

Job Details

Details

In recent years it has become apparent that a number of psychological and medical conditions are associated with visual dysfunction leading to reading difficulties. Such conditions include Dyslexia, Autism and Schizophrenia but other conditions have a visual component. These conditions have been linked to two somewhat disparate visual dysfunctions: magnocellular deficit and cortical hyper-excitability leading to visual stress.

The magnocellular systems within human vision is thought to be responsible for motion detection and the control of eye movements. The deficit can be measured using motion coherence tasks and by measuring sensitive to low frequency stripes, although it is likely eye movement control that impedes reading.

Cortical hyper-excitability relates to an over sensitivity to medium-thin stripes which causes poorly regulated excitation in visual cortex resulting in visual distortions and hallucinations. Text, being a stripy pattern, can cause the same distortions which can mask the text making it harder to read and also leading to tiredness and headaches.

Ostensibly the two theories are very different although the apparent co-occurrence of both sets of symptoms in a range of psychological conditions itself suggests that there may be a link.

This project will consider one or more condition and measure reading behavior, cortical hyper-excitability and magnocellular performance in that population as compared to controls in an attempt to either link the visual dysfunctions, or differentiate sub-populations within each clinical group.

Funding Notes

Strong UK/EU applicants will be considered for competitive internal funding rounds in 2016-17. EU students will not get full financial support. I am also happy to assist good overseas applicants in their search for external funding.

Company

Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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