Ione Fine

Current research projects include:

Visual prostheses
I am about to join ongoing clinical trials, run jointly by USC and the company Second Sight, doing psychophysical testing on people who have been implanted with artificial retina. The device is a miniature disc that contains an electrode array that can be implanted in the back of the eye to replace a retina damaged by retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration. The first few patients were implanted a couple of months ago, so this project is just beginning.

Visual perceptual learning in visually normal adults.
Visual perceptual learning enhances processing for relevant features or spatial locations and may possibly serve a similar functional role as attention, though on a longer time scale. However learning in the adult visual system remains surprisingly understudied compared to visual attention, and to learning in other cognitive domains (such as memory, language and motor performance).

The effects of sensory deprivation
What happens to visual processing in people who have been blind for a long time? Do other senses compensate when you lose a sense?I have been examining visual processing in native speakers of American Sign Language and in people who has been  visually deprived for long periods of time. In both cases long-term exposure to unusual visual input has resulted in neural adaptations that reveal the extent to which  human sensory systems can adapt to abnormal input.

I did my graduate degree with Robert Jacobs at the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester. I went there in  1993 after graduating from Oxford University. My M.A. project at Rochester consisted of a set of neural networks implementing different models for cue combination (stereo, motion and vergence) in the perception of depth and shape. My thesis was on early perceptual learning in pattern discrimination. My postdoctoral research was done with Karen Dobkins and Donald MacLeod at UCSD.

CLASSES

2003 Sensation and Perception 102

2000 Experimental programming using Matlab
This course was designed for beginning and intermediate programmers whose research involves presenting visual stimuli. Students will acquire the programming skills they need to write their own experimental programs on either Macs or PCs, in Matlab using the Psychophysics Toolbox . Topics covered include an introduction to the Matlab programming language, image generation, image display, color look up tables, monitor calibration, randomization, response collection and writing data analysis programs. Throughout the course students will complete a series of assignments designed to reflect their particular research interests. The final assignment will be to complete a "toy" experimental program which will provide a foundation for future experimental programs. Suitable for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.
LINK to course notes in Word
LINK to course notes PDF

Basic neuroscience for Psych 1.
lecture 1 - Basic neuroscience
lecture 2 - Different ways of studying the brain
Graduate class
Color Constancy

Sight recovery links
Discover article on Mike May
Radio Interview with Mike

Movies from NBC Dateline and BBC documentary.
Warning - these are stuffed (Stufffit) but are still large files.
On what it's like to see the world (8.6 MB)

OSA technical committee
I am one of the co-chairs of the OSA technical committee (Vision),  One of my responsibilities is helping to organize symposia for next year's conference  October 2003). Any suggestions gratefully received. For more details:
http://www-cvrl.ucsd.edu/osa/

Publications
Articles
Derrington, A.M., Fine, I., Henning, G.B. (1993) Errors in Direction-of-Motion Discrimination with Dichoptically Viewed Stimuli. Vision Research , 33, 1491-1494. See abstract.

Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (1999) A comparison of visual cue combination models. In A. Sharkey (Ed.), Combining Artificial Neural Nets: Ensemble and Modular Multi-Net Systems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (1999) Modeling the combination of motion, stereo, and vergence angle cues to visual depth. Neural Computation, 11,1297-1330. See paper.

Jacobs, R.A. and Fine, I. (1999) Experience-dependent integration of texture and motion cues to depth, Vision Research , 39:24, 4062-4075. See paper.

Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (2000) Perceptual learning for discriminating complex gratings. Vision Research, 40(23), 3209-3230

Finney, E.M. , Fine, I. and Dobkins, K.R. (2001) Visual stimuli activate auditory cortex in the deaf. Nature Neuroscience,4(12), 1171-3

Smallman, H.S., Fine, I. and MacLeod, D.I.A, (2002) Pre- and post-operative characterization of visual function before and after the removal of congenital bilateral cataracts.Vision Research, 42(2) 191-210

Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (2002) The effect of task complexity on long term perceptual learning. JOV, http://www.journalofvision.org/2/2/5/

Fine, I. MacLeod, D.I.A. & Boynton, G.M. Visual segmentation based on the luminance and chromaticity statistics of natural scenes. In press Special Issue on Bayesian and Statistical Approaches to Vision, JOSA.

Fine, I. Wade, A., Brewer, A.A., May, M.G., Boynton, G.M., Wandell, B.A., and MacLeod, D.I.A. The effects of long-term deprivation on visual perception and visual cortex. In  Review, Nature Neuroscience

Fine, I., Finney, E.M. & Dobkins, K.R.  (n preparation) Neural plasticity after auditory deprivation within auditory and visual cortex

Dobkins, K.R., Fine, I., Hsueh, A.C. & Vitten, C. (Submitted to JOV) Pattern motion integration in infants.
 

Conference Proceedings
Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (1997) Combining visual cues to depth and shape: A comparison of three models. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (2000) Visual Learning for a Mid Level Pattern Discrimination Task. Cognitive Science Society. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Conference Abstracts
Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (1996) Modeling the Combination of Motion, Stereo, and Vergence Angle as Cues for Visual Depth. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science, 37, S685.

Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (1998) Observers show differential sensitivity to changes in spatial scale and relative frequency in a complex grating discrimination task. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science, 38. See abstract.

Jacobs, R. A. and Fine, I. (1998) Integration of texture and motion cues to depth is adaptable. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science, 38.

Fiser, J. and Fine, I. (1998) Effects of contrast adaption on high level object identification
tasks. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science, 38.

Fine, I. and Jacobs, R.A. (1999) Perceptual Learning for Discriminating Complex Gratings. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science, 39.

Fine, I., and Jacobs, R.A. (2000) Mid to high level perceptual learning for pattern discrimination. Annual Interdisciplinary Conference

Fine, I., Smallman, H.S. and MacLeod, D.I.A. (2000) Visual processing before and after the removal of bilateral congenital cataracts in adulthood: contrast constancy and edge perception. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science, 40

Smallman, H.S., Fine, I., and MacLeod, D.I.A. (2000) Visual processing before and after the removal of bilateral congenital cataracts in adulthood: receptor reorientation and visual suppression. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science, 40

Fiser, J. and Fine, I. (2000) Temporal characteristics of fast contrast adaptation in high level object identification tasks. Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science,40

Fine, I., Smallman, H.S., Doyle, P.G., Boynton, G.M.B. and MacLeod, D.I.A. (2000) Pre- and post-operative characterization of visual function after the removal of bilateral congenital cataracts in adulthood. Soc. Neurosci. Abs,825.17, poster - 1 , 2, 3, 4
Fine, I., (2001) Visual segmentation based on the luminance and chromaticity statistics of natural scenes.  Vision ScienceS Society

MacLeod, D.I.A. and Fine, I. (2001) Vision after early blindness. Vision ScienceS Society

Finney, E.M., Fine, I. And Dobkins, K.D. (2001) Visual stimuli activate auditory cortex in the deaf. Soc. Neurosci. Abs

Fine, I., Wade, A.R., Brewer, A.A., Boynton, G.M., Wandell, B.A. and MacLeod, D.I.A. Neural and functional effects of long-term visual deprivation. OSA, 2001

Secondary Citations
 (2001) NBC Discover television segment

Mind’s eye in the deaf. (2002), Jiang, Y. News and Comment. Trends in Cognitive Science, 6(2) 

Sight Unseen. (2002),  Abrams, M. Discover Magazine, 23(6)

The man who learnt to see. (2002) BB2 Documentary
Outlook (2002)  BBC World Service radio

Der sehende Blinde. (2002) Dworschak, M., der Spiegel, 47

Zurück aus der Dunkelheit, (2002) der Speigel television

Design Rules (pending) BBC2 television