Abstract
Purpose :
Playing video games with the amblyopic eye can improve amblyopic vision. These visual functions include visual acuity, vernier acuity, stereoacuity, spatial attention and temporal attention (Li et al, 2011, 2015, 2018). Our current study was aimed at investigating the effect of playing stereoscopic three-dimensional (3D) video games on contrast perception in adults with amblyopia.
Methods :
Eleven adults with non-strabismic amblyopia participated. Crowded visual acuity ranged from <a href="tel:20/25-20/80">20/25-20/80</a>. The participants were required to play 3D first-person shooter video games for a total of 40 hours, 2 hours per session, over 4-6 weeks. The fellow sound eye was blurred with Bangerter foils. A 32-inch 3D television was used to display stereoscopic game content with a Sony PlayStation 3 system. A pair of liquid crystal shutter glasses enabled stereo images to be delivered to each eye. Before and after the video game intervention, contrast sensitivity function was measured for a range of spatial frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 cycles per degree, or cpd). In each trial, a vertical Gabor pattern was displayed randomly at one of four locations on the monitor screen. The visual task was to indicate the target location (four-alternative forced-choice: top-left/right and bottom-left/right). A logarithmic staircase procedure was adopted to control the stimulus contrast. The contrast threshold was defined as the average contrast over the last 8 staircase reversals.
Results :
Accompanying improved visual acuity (roughly 0.1 logMAR, 20%) in the amblyopic eye after playing 3D video games for 40 hours, our participants gained significant improvements in contrast sensitivity for a wide range of spatial frequencies (0.5 to 20 cpd: averaging 18%; t=6.70, p<0.0001). The mean percent improvement was greater at medium spatial frequencies (5 & 10 cpd) than low and high spatial frequencies.
Conclusions :
Here we show that playing 3D video games for a short period of time improvescontrast perception in adults with amblyopia, but not in normal adults. This type of stereoscopic video games might have important therapeutic value in the recovery of reduced depth perceptionin patients with amblyopia and possibly other binocular vision anomalies.
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.