The response of the amblyopic visual system to noise.
Visual perception is limited by both the strength of the neural signals, and by the noise in the visual nervous system. Here we use one-dimensional white noise as input, to study the response of amblyopic visual system. We measured the thresholds for detection and discrimination of noise contrast. Using an N-pass reverse correlation technique, we derived classification images and estimated response consistency. Our results provide the first report of the sensitivity of the amblyopic visual system to white noise. We show that amblyopes have markedly reduced sensitivity for detecting noise, particularly at high spatial frequencies, and much less loss for discriminating suprathreshold noise contrast. Compensating for the detection loss almost (but not quite) equates performance of the amblyopic and normal visual system. The classification images suggest that the amblyopic visual system contains adjustable channels for noise, similar to those found in normal vision, but "tuned" to slightly lower spatial frequencies than in normal observers. Our N-pass results show that the predominant factor limiting performance in our task in both normal and amblyopic vision is internal random multiplicative noise. For the detection of white noise the raised thresholds of the amblyopic visual system can be attributed primarily to extra additive noise. However, for the discrimination of suprathreshold white noise contrast, there is surprisingly little additional deficit, after accounting for the visibility of the noise.
Levi
Dennis M
DM
University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry and The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, Berkeley, CA 94720-2020, USA. dlevi@berkeley.edu
Klein
Stanley A
SA
Chen
Inning
I
D000328:Adult; D000550:Amblyopia / Q000523:psychology*; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013028:Space Perception
Vision Res. 1981;21(4):457-67
7269325
Vision Res. 1974 Dec;14(12):1409-20
4446371
Vision Res. 1985;25(4):511-21
4060603
Vision Res. 1986;26(6):991-7
3750880
Vision Res. 1987;27(4):661-74
3660626
Vision Res. 1987;27(6):1029-40
3660646
J Opt Soc Am A. 1988 Apr;5(4):617-27
3404312
Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 1987;7(4):461-7
3454923
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1992 Sep;33(10):2975-85
1526746
Vision Res. 1994 Dec;34(24):3293-313
7863615
Vision Res. 1994 Dec;34(24):3315-33
7863616
J Neurosci. 1996 Feb 15;16(4):1486-510
8778300
J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 1997 Sep;14(9):2406-19
9291610
J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 1999 Mar;16(3):647-53
10069051
Vision Res. 1999 Jan;39(2):367-72
10326142
J Physiol. 1957 May 23;136(3):469-88
13429514
Psychol Rev. 1964 Sep;71:392-407
14208857
J Vis. 2004 Oct 29;4(10):904-20
15595894
Vision Res. 2005 Jun;45(14):1835-46
15797773
Vision Res. 2005 Aug;45(18):2449-60
15979466
Vision Res. 2005 Oct;45(21):2810-9
16040080
Strabismus. 2006 Mar;14(1):3-10
16513565
Strabismus. 2006 Mar;14(1):11-9
16513566
Vision Res. 2006 Nov;46(25):4279-93
17014884
Vision Res. 1999 Sep;39(19):3197-221
10615491
Nature. 1999 Nov 11;402(6758):176-8
10647007
Vision Res. 1999;39(25):4152-60
10755153
Vision Res. 2001 Oct;41(23):2951-60
11704234
Vision Res. 2003 Mar;43(6):729-38
12604110
J Vis. 2002;2(1):46-65
12678596
J Neurosci. 2003 Apr 1;23(7):2522-6
12684436
J Vis. 2003;3(5):380-405
12875634
Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1983 Feb 22;217(1208):309-30
6132394