Visual Behavior

Because repairing visual dysfunction is the primary goal of therapy for retinal disease, a quantification of visual function is imperative for the evaluation of potential treatments for these diseases. The Visual Water Task and the Virtual Optokinetic System have been developed to conduct behavioral tests of vision in rodent models of retinal disease. These tests are less invasive and often more sensitive than physiological or anatomical measures of retinal function. Moreover, discrepancies between different measures of retinal function suggest that central and retinal adaptations may complicate the disease process.