Adams Russell J, Courage Mary L
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, Memorial University, St John's, Nfld, Canada A1 B 3 X9, Canada.
Vision Res. 2002 Apr;42(9):1205-10. doi: 10.1016/s0042-6989(02)00038-x.
Despite the emerging scientific and clinical importance of measuring human contrast sensitivity (CS), developmental data are sparse, especially those obtained with a single methodology. We used a new, time-efficient, psychophysical card procedure to evaluate binocular CS in groups of 20 4- to 9-yr-olds and 10 adults. Combined with data from infants and toddlers obtained previously with the same method, our results show that CS is adult-like by 9 years of age. However, the pattern of development is asymmetrical across spatial frequency (SF): Sensitivity at high SF (which is very poor near birth) shows dramatic improvement over the first three years, but sensitivity at low SF shows much more gradual development, a result which may be explained by differences in the maturation of the underlying neural SF channels. Also notable is that the method shows clinical potential due to its relative speed, ease of use, and consistent results across such a broad age range.
尽管测量人类对比敏感度（CS）在科学和临床方面的重要性日益凸显，但相关发育数据却很稀少，尤其是采用单一方法获得的数据。我们使用了一种新的、省时的心理物理学卡片程序，对20名4至9岁儿童和10名成年人进行双眼CS评估。结合之前用相同方法获得的婴幼儿数据，我们的结果表明，9岁时CS已接近成人水平。然而，在空间频率（SF）上，发育模式是不对称的：高空间频率（出生时非常差）的敏感度在头三年有显著提高，但低空间频率的敏感度发展更为缓慢，这一结果可能是由潜在神经空间频率通道成熟度的差异所解释。同样值得注意的是，该方法因其相对速度快、易于使用且在如此广泛的年龄范围内结果一致，显示出临床应用潜力。
