Applied Visual Peformance Tests

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的目标是研究临床实用的视觉功能测试的应用，以了解老年人视觉功能与视觉任务表现之间的关系；识别和监测有视力丧失风险的人；并提出优化任务表现的潜在干预措施。在我们迄今为止的工作（Smith-Kettlewell研究所或“SKI”研究）中，我们收集了有史以来最完整的视觉功能随年龄变化的描述及其与任务表现的关系，揭示了超越标准高对比度的“真实世界”视觉功能测量的重要性的新证据。现在我们将更仔细地研究三个主要发现。首先，我们将继续我们的发现，即低对比度视力测量可以高度预测具有良好高对比度敏锐度的个体未来的视力丧失。这一发现及其深远的影响，将在一项纵向研究中进行仔细研究，该研究包括全面的眼科检查以及我们的综合视力测试电池。其次，我们将探讨这一发现的含义，即阅读率随着年龄的增长而下降，即使在视力良好的个体中也是如此。我们将研究非敏锐和非视觉因素对阅读表现的影响，以提高我们对它们的贡献的理解。第三，我们将探索如何利用与亮度和双目视觉相关的任务表现来改善轻度至中度视力障碍老年人的阅读和面部识别表现。在此过程中，我们将为我们的纵向研究收集两轮以上的数据，这些数据将在15年内包含5个测试点，显著提高其价值和预测性

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our goal is to investigate the application of clinically-practical vision function tests to understanding the relationships between vision function and visual task performance among elders; identifying and monitoring those at risk for vision loss; and suggesting potential interventions for optimizing task performance. In our work to date (in the Smith-Kettlewell Institute or "SKI" Study), we have collected the most complete description ever of changes in vision function with age and their relation to task performance, uncovering new evidence for the importance of "real world" vision function measures that go beyond standard high contrast acuity. We will now examine three major findings more closely. First, we will pursue our discovery that low contrast vision measures are highly predictive of future vision loss in individuals with good high contrast acuity. This finding, with its far-reaching implications, will be closely examined in a longitudinal study incorporating full ophthalmological examinations in addition to our comprehensive vision test battery. Second, we will explore the implications of our discovery that reading rates decline with age even in individuals with good acuity. We will examine the non-acuity and non visual factors in reading performance to improve our understanding of their contributions. Thirdly, we will explore ways in which findings about task performance relating to luminance and binocularity can be exploited to improve reading and face recognition performance among elders with mild to moderate visual impairments. In the process, we will gather two more rounds of data for our longitudinal study, which will then encompass five test points over 15 years, significantly increasing its value and predictive power.