Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Center for Applied and Translational Sensory Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
J Vis. 2024 Apr 1;24(4):17. doi: 10.1167/jov.24.4.17.
Reading is a primary concern of patients with central field loss (CFL) because it is typically performed with foveal vision. Spatial remapping offers one potential avenue to aid in reading; it entails shifting occluded letters to retinal areas where vision is functional. Here, we introduce a method of creating and testing different remapping strategies-ways to remap text-customized for CFL of different shapes. By simulating CFL in typically-sighted individuals, we tested the customization hypothesis-that the benefits of different remapping strategies will depend on the properties of the CFL. That is, remapping strategies will aid reading differentially in the presence of differently shaped CFL. In Experiment 1, letter recognition in the presence of differently shaped CFL was assessed in and around central vision. Using these letter recognition "maps" different spatial remappings were created and tested in Experiment 2 using a word recognition task. Results showed that the horizontal gap remapping, which did not remap any letters vertically, resulted in the best word recognition. Results were also consistent with the customization hypothesis; the benefits of different remappings on word recognition depended on the different CFL shapes. Although the horizontal gap remapping resulted in very good word recognition, tailoring remapping strategies to the shape of patients' CFL may aid reading with the wide range of sizes and shapes encountered by patients with CFL.
阅读是中央视野缺损（CFL）患者的主要关注点，因为阅读通常需要用到中央凹视力。空间重映射提供了一种辅助阅读的潜在途径；它需要将被遮挡的字母转移到具有视觉功能的视网膜区域。在这里，我们引入了一种创建和测试不同重映射策略的方法——为不同形状的 CFL 定制文本重映射的方法。通过在正常视力个体中模拟 CFL，我们测试了定制化假设——不同重映射策略的效果将取决于 CFL 的特性。也就是说，在存在不同形状的 CFL 时，重映射策略将以不同的方式辅助阅读。在实验 1 中，我们评估了不同形状的 CFL 存在时中央视觉及周围的字母识别情况。利用这些字母识别“地图”，我们在实验 2 中使用单词识别任务创建和测试了不同的空间重映射。结果表明，不进行任何垂直重映射的水平间隙重映射可实现最佳的单词识别效果。结果也与定制化假设一致；不同重映射对单词识别的益处取决于不同的 CFL 形状。虽然水平间隙重映射可实现非常好的单词识别效果，但根据患者 CFL 的形状定制重映射策略可能有助于阅读 CFL 患者遇到的各种大小和形状的文字。
