Accommodation and Defocus in the Infant Visual System

描述（申请人提供）：出生后视觉系统和神经视觉系统的发育都依赖于视觉经验。视觉体验是由两只眼睛的视网膜图像中可用的信息定义的。本研究的目的是将我们之前对婴儿时期单眼视网膜图像质量的检查扩展到完全的双眼观看条件。我们将在图像清晰度和图像对齐的背景下研究人类婴儿的视觉体验，这主要是由调节和收敛响应及其相互作用定义的。这些研究将记录调节和会聚之间相互作用的出现，以及它们在屈光性和调节性斜视发展中的作用。有三个具体的目的：i)了解适应和收敛之间的关系的正常成熟与正视化和眼间距离的增长。ii)确定在人类发展的关键时期对调节或收敛精度的相对偏差。iii)了解调节和会聚行为对高度远视或斜视婴儿和儿童视觉体验的影响。公共卫生相关性：该项目将确定婴儿和儿童在典型发育过程中如何处理明显冲突的聚焦和眼睛对准需求。它还将调查为什么有些孩子会发生屈光性或适应性斜视，而另一些视觉系统明显匹配的孩子却没有。目的是制定干预策略，以防止这种斜视和相关的弱视。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The postnatal development of both the optical and neural visual systems is dependent on visual experience. Visual experience is defined by the information available in the retinal images in the two eyes. The goal of the proposed research is to extend our previous examination of retinal image quality in one eye during infancy to full binocular viewing conditions. We will examine human infants' visual experience in the context of image clarity and image alignment, which are primarily defined by accommodation and vergence responses and their interaction. These studies will document the emergence of the interaction between accommodation and vergence and their role in the development of refractive and accommodative strabismus. There are three specific aims: i) To understand the normal maturation of the relationship between accommodation and vergence with emmetropisation and growth of the distance between the eyes. ii) To determine the relative bias towards accommodation or vergence accuracy during the critical period of human development. iii) To understand the effects of accommodation and vergence behavior on visual experience of infants and children with high hyperopia or strabismus. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project will determine how young infants and children manage apparently conflicting focusing and eye alignment demands during typical development. It will also investigate why some children develop refractive or accommodative strabismus while others, with apparently matching visual systems, do not. The goal is to develop intervention strategies to prevent this strabismus and associated amblyopia.