Is the spatial deficit in strabismic amblyopia due to loss of cells or an uncalibrated disarray of cells?
We examine two competing explanations for the spatial localization deficit in human strabismic amblyopia, namely neural undersampling and uncalibrated neural disarray. An undersampling hypothesis would predict an associated deficit for contrast discrimination for which we find no evidence in strabismic amblyopia. A neural disarray hypothesis would predict an associated deficit in the degree to which stimuli appear spatially distorted. We find evidence for such a deficit in strabismic amblyopia. We propose that the spatial deficit in strabismic amblyopia is due to a filter-based distortion which is unable to be re-calibrated by higher visual centres.
Hess
R F
RF
McGill Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Field
D J
DJ
D000550:Amblyopia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010469:Perceptual Distortion / Q000502:physiology; D011594:Psychometrics; D013285:Strabismus / Q000503:physiopathology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology