Recovery of Stereopsis in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

描述（由申请人提供）：视网膜相关性黄斑变性影响中心视力并损害高敏度视功能。 患有AMD的人抱怨日常任务困难，如阅读，识别面孔和看电视。 最近的研究报告了眼手协调和抓握的困难，这与数据显示大多数AMD患者几乎没有深度感知一致。 当两只眼睛具有非常不同的视力丧失模式时，立体视觉可能受损，特别是当较强的眼睛确定双眼注视方向时，而不考虑另一只眼睛中相应注视位置的功能状态。 深度知觉的丧失不仅会影响需要手眼协调的任务，而且会对移动性和避障造成严重后果。 在这个提议中，我们通过鼓励个体在具有相似功能的两只眼睛中使用固定位点来检查AMD个体恢复立体视觉的潜力。 我们首先在目标1中考察深度知觉的潜力。 这需要映射两只眼睛中的残差功能区域，以确定周边是否存在可以帮助深度感知的对应点。 在目标2中，我们确定观察者是否能够将来自两只眼睛的信息联合收割机结合起来（立体视觉的必要先决条件），以及他们是否具有任何程度的深度知觉。 在目标3中，我们检验了AMD个体能够使用不同的固定位点进行不同的治疗的假设。 任务 我们采取两种方法来鼓励观察者使用功能等同且位于两只眼睛中相应位置的视网膜位点，因此它们可以为深度感知提供基底。 我们首先人为地将两只眼睛的视力丧失模式等同起来，并允许观察者练习协调的眼球运动。 然后，我们确定他们是否在受益于深度信息的眼手协调任务中使用这些相应的固定位置。 如果固视位置的选择确实是任务依赖性的， 这两项任务将改善双眼对应性，并可能导致立体视觉的恢复。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Age-related macular degeneration affects central vision and impairs high acuity visual function. Individuals with AMD complain about difficulty with everyday tasks such as reading, recognizing faces and watching television. More recent studies report difficulty with eye-hand coordination and grasping, consistent with data showing that the majority of individuals with AMD have little depth perception. Stereopsis can be impaired when the two eyes have very disparate patterns of vision loss, particularly when the stronger eye determines binocular gaze direction, without regard to the functional status of the corresponding fixation location in the other eye. Loss of depth perception not only impacts tasks requiring eye hand coordination, but it can have serious consequences for mobility and obstacle avoidance. In this proposal we examine the potential to restore stereopsis in individuals with AMD, by encouraging individuals to use fixation loci in the two eyes that have similar function. We start by examining the potential for depth perception in Aim 1. This requires mapping the regions of residual function in the two eyes to determine if there are corresponding points in the periphery that can subserve depth perception. In Aim 2 we determine whether observers are able to combine information from the two eyes (a necessary prerequisite for stereopsis) and whether they have any degree of depth perception. In Aim 3 we test the hypothesis that individuals with AMD are able to use different fixation loci for different tasks. We take two approaches to encourage observers to use retinal loci that are functionally equivalent and in corresponding locations in the two eyes, so they can provide a substrate for depth perception. We first artificially equate the pattern of vision loss in the two eyes and allo observers to practice coordinated eye movements. We then determine whether they use these corresponding fixation locations in an eye-hand coordination task that benefits from depth information. If indeed the choice of fixation location is task- dependent, we expect that practice with these two tasks will improve binocular correspondence and potentially lead to a recovery of stereopsis.