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Temporal Instability in Amblyopic Vision: Relationship to a Displacement Map of Visual Space

¹From the Department of Neurophysiology, Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany; the ²Department of Biological Psychology, Institute for Psychology, J. W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany; the ³Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts; and the ⁴Department of Biophysics, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania.

PURPOSE. To investigate the relationship between the subjectively experienced misperceptions and the objectively determined two-dimensional spatial displacement maps in subjects with strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia.

METHODS. Seventeen experimental subjects were asked to describe and sketch their perception of simple geometric pattern, as perceived through their amblyopic eyes. A subgroup of 15 subjects participated in a psychophysical experiment, in which the two-dimensional displacement maps were determined by asking the subjects to reconstruct, point-by-point, memorized circles of different radii. The results of these displacement maps were related to the clinical characteristics and the perceptual descriptions of the same subjects.

RESULTS. Twelve of the 17 investigated subjects experienced spatial distortions; six subjects perceived temporal instabilities, either in addition, or in the absence of spatial distortions. Objectively determined spatial displacement and spatial uncertainty were significantly larger in subjects with a history of strabismus and a deep acuity loss than in subjects with refractive etiology and a mild acuity loss. Subjects experiencing temporal instability showed more spatial uncertainty in the amblyopic eye than did subjects with a stable perception.

CONCLUSIONS. These results suggest that a history of strabismus and a deep amblyopia are more likely to be associated with temporal misperceptions than a refractive etiology and a mild acuity loss. A temporally unstable perception may be related to a more profound disorganization of the central neural pathways connected to the amblyopic eye.

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