Zerr Paul, Ossandón José Pablo, Shareef Idris, Van der Stigchel Stefan, Kekunnaya Ramesh, Röder Brigitte
Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany.
Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Vis. 2020 Jul 1;20(7):3. doi: 10.1167/jov.20.7.3.
Sensitive periods have previously been identified for several human visual system functions. Yet, it is unknown to what degree the development of visually guided oculomotor control depends on early visual experience-for example, whether and to what degree humans whose sight was restored after a transient period of congenital visual deprivation are able to conduct visually guided eye movements. In the present study, we developed new calibration and analysis techniques for eye tracking data contaminated with pervasive nystagmus, which is typical for this population. We investigated visually guided eye movements in sight recovery individuals with long periods of visual pattern deprivation (3-36 years) following birth due to congenital, dense, total, bilateral cataracts. As controls we assessed (1) individuals with nystagmus due to causes other than cataracts, (2) individuals with developmental cataracts after cataract removal, and (3) individuals with normal vision. Congenital cataract reversal individuals were able to perform visually guided gaze shifts, even when their blindness had lasted for decades. The typical extensive nystagmus of this group distorted eye movement trajectories, but measures of latency and accuracy were as expected from their prevailing nystagmus-that is, not worse than in the nystagmus control group. To the best of our knowledge, the present quantitative study is the first to investigate the characteristics of oculomotor control in congenital cataract reversal individuals, and it indicates a remarkable effectiveness of visually guided eye movements despite long-lasting periods of visual deprivation.
先前已经确定了人类视觉系统的几种功能的敏感期。然而,视觉引导的眼球运动控制的发育在多大程度上依赖于早期视觉经验尚不清楚——例如,在先天性视觉剥夺的短暂时期后恢复视力的人是否能够以及在多大程度上能够进行视觉引导的眼球运动。在本研究中,我们针对因普遍存在眼球震颤而受污染的眼动追踪数据开发了新的校准和分析技术,而这种情况在该人群中很典型。我们调查了因先天性、致密性、双侧性白内障导致出生后长期(3至36年)视觉模式剥夺的视力恢复个体的视觉引导眼球运动。作为对照,我们评估了:(1)因白内障以外的原因患有眼球震颤的个体;(2)白内障摘除后患有发育性白内障的个体;以及(3)视力正常的个体。先天性白内障逆转个体即使失明持续了数十年,也能够进行视觉引导的注视转移。该组典型的广泛眼球震颤使眼球运动轨迹变形,但潜伏期和准确性的测量结果与他们普遍存在的眼球震颤情况预期的一样——也就是说,不比眼球震颤对照组差。据我们所知,本定量研究是首次调查先天性白内障逆转个体的眼球运动控制特征,并且它表明尽管存在长期视觉剥夺,但视觉引导的眼球运动仍具有显著的有效性。