publications and presentations

2025

1. Did you see the sound? A Bayesian Perspective on Crossmodal Perception in Low Vision

   Ailene Y. C. Chan, Noelle R. B. Stiles, Carmel A. Levitan, and 2 more authors

   bioRxiv, 2025

   Abs DOI

   Multisensory integration is often assumed to increase when visual input is degraded, yet it re-mains unclear whether low vision enhances susceptibility to cross-modal illusions or whether such effects depend on local variations in visual reliability. We tested low vision and sighted control participants on the Double Flash Illusion across 24 visual-field locations while sepa-rately measuring flash-detection accuracy. Both groups showed the expected auditory-driven increase in perceived flash numerosity, but only sighted controls reliably experienced the clas-sic “double-flash” percept. Illusion strength did not vary with eccentricity; instead, it was strongly predicted by local flash detection accuracy, indicating that sound-induced percepts depend on the availability of a reliable visual signal. Bayesian Causal Inference modeling revealed substantially weaker and more variable fits for low vision observers, with poorer fits associated with reduced visual sensitivity. Although model parameters did not differ significantly between groups, the similarity in estimated visual noise likely reflects model limitations rather than true equivalence in sensory precision. Together, these findings show that low vision does not globally amplify audiovisual interactions; rather, auditory enhance-ment depends on local visual reliability, and degraded vision leads to weaker alignment with Bayesian-optimal predictions.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.National Eye Institute, R01EY031761National Institutes of Health, 5K99EY031987-02Croucher Foundation, https://ror.org/04741mc34

2. Bayesian Causal Inference Accounts for Multisensory Filling-In at the Blind Spot

   Ailene Y. C. Chan, Noelle R. B. Stiles, Carmel A. Levitan, and 3 more authors

   bioRxiv, 2025

   Abs DOI

   We asked three questions about multisensory perception across the physiological blind spot: (1) Does audiovisual integration persist without bottom-up visual input? (2) Does the brain adjust its sensory uncertainties and priors accordingly? (3) Are the underlying causal-inference computations preserved?Participants judged flashes and beeps in an audiovisual illusion presented across the blind spot or a matched control location. Responses were fit with a Bayesian Causal Inference (BCI) model, estimating sensory noise, numerosity priors, and causal-inference priors under multiple decision strategies evaluated using BIC.Illusions were robust at both locations, indicating preserved integration. Model fits showed higher visual uncertainty and broader prior expectations at the blind spot, while auditory precision and the causal prior remained stable. Thus, the computational architecture of causal inference is maintained, but its parameters flexibly adapt to local sensory reliability.These findings demonstrate that perceptual inference remains intact even in regions without retinal input, achieved by adjusting internal uncertainty rather than altering core multisensory computations.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.National Eye Institute, https://ror.org/03wkg3b53, R01EY031761National Institutes of Health, 5K99EY031987-02Croucher Foundation, https://ror.org/04741mc34

3. Unraveling the Double Flash Illusion: Insights from Clinical, Computational and Neural Evidence

   Ailene Chan, Noelle R. B. Stiles, Carmel A. Levitan, and 3 more authors

   The Oxford Compendium of Visual Illusion (2nd Edition), 2025

   In Press

2024

1. Vision Without Photoreceptors: Crossmodal Perception Within the Blind Spots

   Ailene Chan, Noelle R. B. Stiles, Carmel A. Levitan, and 2 more authors

   Journal of Vision, 2024

   Talk

   DOI

2023

1. Making the Invisible Visible: Crossmodal Perception in Patients with Low Vision

   Ailene Chan, Noelle R. B. Stiles, Armand R Tanguay Jr, and 1 more author

   Journal of Vision, 2023

   Poster Presentation

   DOI

2022

1. Neural Correlates of Sensory Eye Dominance in Human Visual White Matter Tracts

   Ailene Chan, and Dorita H. F. Chang

   eNeuro, 2022

   Abs DOI

   A significant proportion of the human neurotypical population exhibits some degree of sensory eye dominance (SED), referring to the brain’s preferential processing of one eye’s input versus another. The neural substrates underlying this functional imbalance are not well known. Here, we investigated the relationship between visual white matter tract properties and SED in the human neurotypical population. Observers’ performance on two commonly used dichoptic tasks were used to index SED, along with performance on a third task to address a functional implication of binocular imbalance: stereovision. We show that diffusivity metrics of the optic radiations (ORs) well predict behavioral SED metrics. We found no relationship between SED and stereosensitivity. Our data suggest that SED is not simply reflected by gray matter structural and functional alterations, as often suggested, but relates, at least in part to the microstructural properties of thalamocortical white matter.

2021

1. The neural correlates of sensory eye dominance as revealed by visual white matter tract properties

   Ailene Chan, and Dorita HF Chang

   Journal of Vision, 2021

   Poster Presentation

   DOI

2020

1. Generality of learning as driven by dichoptic visual training

   Ka Yee Kam, Ailene Chan, and Dorita HF Chang

   Journal of Vision, 2020

   Poster Presentation

   DOI