University Hospital of Lille, Hôpital Huriez, Service d'Ophtalmologie.
University of Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, UMR-S 1172-Lille Neurosciences & Cognition, Lille.
J Glaucoma. 2021 Feb 1;30(2):140-147. doi: 10.1097/IJG.0000000000001710.
Some patients with glaucoma report difficulties to recognize faces when they are far away. We show that this deficit could result from a higher sensitivity to crowding in central vision.
The aim of the study is to investigate whether face recognition difficulties reported by some patients with glaucoma result from a greater sensitivity to inner crowding in central vision.
Seventeen patients with glaucoma and 17 age-matched normally sighted controls participated in the study. An isolated mouth (uncrowded condition) or a mouth within a face (crowded condition) was randomly displayed centrally for 200 ms. For each condition, participants were asked to decide whether the mouth was closed or open. The stimuli were presented at 3 angular sizes (0.6×0.4, 1×0.72, and 1.5×1.08 degrees). Accuracy was measured.
Crowding affected performance differentially for patients and controls. Consistent with previous studies controls exhibited a "face superiority effect," with a better accuracy when the mouth was located within the face than when it was isolated. Sensitivity to crowding, reflected in a better accuracy with the isolated mouth, was observed in 10 of 17 patients only for small images. Crowding disappeared for larger faces, as the facial features were spaced out. Five patients were not sensitive to crowding. Importantly, no difference was found between the 2 subgroups of patients (sensitive vs. nonsensitive) in terms of mean deviation, contrast sensitivity, acuity, thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer, or macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer.
An excessive sensitivity to central crowding might explain the difficulties in face perception and reading reported by some patients with glaucoma. The sensory or cognitive processes underlying this excessive sensitivity must be elucidated to improve central perception in glaucoma.
一些青光眼患者报告说，当他们看远处的人脸时会有困难。我们表明，这种缺陷可能是由于对中央视力拥挤的敏感性更高所致。
本研究旨在探讨一些青光眼患者报告的面部识别困难是否是由于中央视力内拥挤的敏感性增加所致。
17 名青光眼患者和 17 名年龄匹配的正常视力对照者参加了这项研究。一个孤立的嘴（不拥挤的情况）或一个在脸内的嘴（拥挤的情况）被随机显示在中央 200 毫秒。对于每种情况，参与者都被要求判断嘴是闭着还是开着。刺激在 3 个角度大小（0.6×0.4、1×0.72 和 1.5×1.08 度）下呈现。测量准确性。
拥挤对患者和对照者的表现有不同的影响。与之前的研究一致，对照组表现出“面孔优势效应”，当嘴位于面部内时准确性更高，而当嘴孤立时准确性更低。敏感性拥挤，反映在孤立的嘴更好的准确性，仅在 10 名患者中的 17 名患者中观察到小图像。对于较大的面孔，由于面部特征被隔开，拥挤消失了。5 名患者对拥挤不敏感。重要的是，在敏感与非敏感患者亚组之间（敏感与非敏感），在平均偏差、对比敏感度、视力、视网膜神经纤维层厚度或黄斑神经节细胞-内丛状层方面没有差异。
对中央拥挤的过度敏感可能解释了一些青光眼患者报告的面部感知和阅读困难。必须阐明这种过度敏感性背后的感觉或认知过程，以改善青光眼的中心感知。
