More than 12 million Americans experience visual impairments that limit independence and quality of life. This National Eye Institute grant will fund research on enhancing visual perceptual learning – the brain’s ability to detect subtle visual differences – by leveraging attention mechanisms to generalize improvements across the visual field. Using computational modeling, brain imaging, and neurochemical analysis, the project aims to advance vision rehabilitation, optimize training in visually demanding professions, and inform AI systems that learn and adapt like the human brain.

ITU’s Facts and Figures 2025 shows steady progress in connectivity, while highlighting gaps in quality and affordability