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. 2022 Nov 23;9(6):ENEURO.0232-22.2022.
doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0232-22.2022. Print 2022 Nov-Dec.

Neural Correlates of Sensory Eye Dominance in Human Visual White Matter Tracts

Ailene Y C Chan  1 , Dorita H F Chang  2   3
Affiliations

Neural Correlates of Sensory Eye Dominance in Human Visual White Matter Tracts

Ailene Y C Chan et al. eNeuro. .

Abstract

A significant proportion of the human neurotypical population exhibits some degree of sensory eye dominance (SED), referring to the brain's preferential processing of one eye's input versus another. The neural substrates underlying this functional imbalance are not well known. Here, we investigated the relationship between visual white matter tract properties and SED in the human neurotypical population. Observers' performance on two commonly used dichoptic tasks were used to index SED, along with performance on a third task to address a functional implication of binocular imbalance: stereovision. We show that diffusivity metrics of the optic radiations (ORs) well predict behavioral SED metrics. We found no relationship between SED and stereosensitivity. Our data suggest that SED is not simply reflected by gray matter structural and functional alterations, as often suggested, but relates, at least in part to the microstructural properties of thalamocortical white matter.

Keywords: binocular vision; eye dominance; imaging; stereovision; white matter.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematics depicting (A) stimuli for the binocular phase combination task, (B) stimuli for the motion signal-in-noise task, and (C) stimuli for the depth signal-in-noise task.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Results from the behavioral tasks. Bar+scatter plots reflecting mean absolute perceived phase and distribution (left), mean absolute motion coherence dominance ratio and distribution (middle), mean depth discrimination threshold and distribution (right). Error bars represent the 95% confidence interval.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Correlations between the behavioral measures. A, A positive relationship between absolute perceived phase and absolute motion coherence dominance ratio. B, No relationship between absolute perceived phase and stereosensitivity nor (C) between motion coherence dominance ratio and stereosensitivity.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
White matter tracts estimated by tractography in one representative observer. Axial views of (A) VOF, (B) OR, (C) OCC. Sagittal views of (D) left VOF, (E) right VOF. F, Axial view of all five tracts (green, OR; magenta, OCC; blue, VOF).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Regression fits and bootstrapped coefficient confidence interval of absolute weighted differences in OR MD values and absolute perceived phase.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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