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Larry N. Thibos, PhD Professor of Optometry
PhD 1975 |
Larry N. Thibos was educated at the University of Michigan, where he earned BS (1970) and MS (1972) degrees in Electrical Engineering, and at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received the PhD degree in Physiological Optics (1975) for research on the neurophysiological mechanisms of sensitivity control in the vertebrate retina. During the period 1975-1983 he was a Research Fellow at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, where he investigated the neurophysiology of retinal information processing. In 1983 he joined the Indiana University School of Optometry faculty and is currently Professor of Optometry. Professor Thibos is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, and former Topical Editor for Optometry and Vision Science and for the Journal of the Optical Society of America. His research interests include the effects of optical aberrations of the eye on visual performance, the limits to spatial vision imposed by retinal architecture, and the characterization of vision in the peripheral field. Professor Thibos is a founding member of the Borish Center for Ophthalmic Research at Indiana University, where he is applying the results of basic research to the development of new clinical approaches to understanding optical and neural losses of vision.
Research
Representative Publications
Presentations
- Principles of Hartmann-Shack Aberrometry (Wavefront Sensing Congress 2000)
- Report from the VSIA Taskforce on Standards for the Reporting of the Optical Aberrations of the Eye (Vision Science and Its Applications [VSIA 2000])
- Proposal for a VSIA Taskforce on Methods and Standards for Reporting Aberration Characteristics of Eyes (Vision Science and Its Applications [VSIA 1999])
- 1999 Distinguished Faculty Lecture
- 1997 Glenn Fry Award
Teaching
- V648 Neurophysiology of Vision
- Visual Psychophysics
- Graduate courses in visual neurophysiology, visual psychophysics, quantitative methods, visual optics, research seminars, master's research, doctoral research
Curriculum Vitae
Research
I am interested in understanding the nature of sensory information processing by the early stages of the visual system. Trained as an engineer, I take a mechanistic approach which is heavily influenced by quantitative theories of communication and signal detection. My early work in retinal neurophysiology in lower vertebrates and mammals retina brings a comparative flavor to my current research into the role of retinal organization and visual optics in setting the limits to visual performance. I am especially interested in understanding peripheral vision, where the fundamental limitations on the quality of human vision imposed by retinal architecture are particularly evident, and on translating that understanding into useful diagnostic tests for clinical care.
- A slide show describing SEMOR (Standards for the Electronic Management of Optometric Records)--20 slides are part of a lecture given at the AAO meeting in San Diego in December 1994
- How to Measure Chromatic Aberration and Locate Useful Reference Axes of the Human Eye--31 slides presented at OSA '95 meeting in Portland in September 1995
- Sampling Theory of Visual Resolution and its Clinical Application--34 slides presented at an invited lecture before the North American Perimetric Society on 12 July, 1997, in San Rafael, California
Research Facilities
My laboratory is well equipped for performing human psychophysical experiments on peripheral and central vision and for measuring the optical quality of the human eye's optical apparatus. Access to public eye clinics on IU-Bloomington campus and at IUPUI permit clinically-related, applied research to be carried out on individuals with specific sensory anomalies.
Research Summaries
Representative Publications
- Thibos, L.N. Walsh, D.J. and Cheney, F.E. (1987) Vision beyond
the resolution limit: aliasing in the periphery. Vision Res. 27,
2193-2197.
- Thibos, L.N., Cheney, F.E. and Walsh, D.J. (1987) Retinal
limits to the detection and resolution of gratings. J. Opt. Soc.
Amer. A 4, 1524-1529.
- Thibos, L. N., Bradley, A. and Still, D. (1991).
Interferometric measurement of visual acuity and the effect of
ocular chromatic aberration. Appl. Opt. 30, 2097-2087.
- Thibos, L. N., Bradley, A. and Zhang, X. (1991). The effect of
ocular chromatic aberration on monocular visual performance.
Optom. Vis. Sci. 68, 599-607.
- Thibos, L.N. and Bradley, A. (1993) New methods for
discriminating neural and optical losses of vision. Optom. Vis.
Sci. 70, 279-287.
- Thibos, L. N., Wheeler, W. & Horner, D. (1994). A vector method for the analysis of astigmatic refractive errors. Vision Science and Its Applications, (Optical Society of America, Washington, DC), 2, 14-17.
| URL: http://www.opt.indiana.edu/people/faculty/thibos.htm Revised: May 11, 2004 | |
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