NIH R01 · 2025
Flicker photophobia as an experience of inefficient coding
Project Summary A canonical feature of migraine is visual discomfort (i.e., “photophobia”), with particular sensitivity to flicker (time-varying modulations of light). We lack a mechanistic understanding of this symptom generally, and specifically require a framework that unites the phenomenon of discomfort with the properties of the visual environment, perception, and neural response. Such a synthesis may be offered by recent work in information- optimal representation. Computationally “efficient” representations represent the statistical structure of the environment and maximize sensory information storage. Recent research in experimental psychology has shown that these “efficient coding”…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.