title: Training to improve contrast sensitivity in amblyopia: correction of high-order aberrations.
abstract: Perceptual learning is considered a potential treatment for amblyopia even in adult patients who have progressed beyond the critical period of visual development because adult amblyopes retain sufficient visual plasticity. When perceptual learning is performed with the correction of high-order aberrations (HOAs), a greater degree of neural plasticity is present in normal adults and those with highly aberrated keratoconic eyes. Because amblyopic eyes show more severe HOAs than normal eyes, it is interesting to study the effects of HOA-corrected visual perceptual learning in amblyopia. In the present study, we trained twenty-six older child and adult anisometropic amblyopes while their HOAs were corrected using a real-time closed-loop adaptive optics perceptual learning system (AOPL). We found that adaptive optics (AO) correction improved the modulation transfer functions (MTFs) and contrast sensitivity functions (CSFs) of older children and adults with anisometropic amblyopia. When perceptual learning was performed with AO correction of the ocular HOAs, the improvements in visual function were not only demonstrated in the condition with AO correction but were also maintained in the condition without AO correction. Additionally, the learning effect with AO correction was transferred to the untrained visual acuity and fellow eyes in the condition without AO correction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry and Visual Science, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.|Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China.|The Key Laboratory on Adaptive Optics, Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Haoxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry and Visual Science, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.|Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Longqian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Optometry and Visual Science, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.|Department of Ophthalmology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China.|The Key Laboratory on Adaptive Optics, Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China.|The Key Laboratory on Adaptive Optics, Chinese Academy of Science, Chengdu 610209, China.
authors.forename: Yudong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000550:Amblyopia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005139:Eyeglasses; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult