Developmental changes in the balance of disparity, blur and looming/proximity cues to drive ocular alignment and focus

Horwood, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0886-9686 and Riddell, P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4916-2057 (2013) Developmental changes in the balance of disparity, blur and looming/proximity cues to drive ocular alignment and focus. Perception, 42 (7). pp. 693-715. ISSN 0301-0066 doi: 10.1068/p7506

Abstract/Summary

Accurate co-ordination of accommodation and convergence is necessary to view near objects and develop fine motor co-ordination. We used a remote haploscopic videorefraction paradigm to measure longitudinal changes in simultaneous ocular accommodation and vergence to targets at different depths, and to all combinations of blur, binocular disparity, and change-in-size (“proximity”) cues. Infants were followed longitudinally and compared to older children and young adults, with the prediction that sensitivity to different cues would change during development. Mean infant responses to the most naturalistic condition were similar to those of adults from 6-7 weeks (accommodation) and 8-9 weeks (vergence). Proximity cues influenced responses most in infants less than 14 weeks of age, but sensitivity declined thereafter. Between 12-28 weeks of age infants were equally responsive to all three cues, while in older children and adults manipulation of disparity resulted in the greatest changes in response. Despite rapid development of visual acuity (thus increasing availability of blur cues), responses to blur were stable throughout development. Our results suggest that during much of infancy, vergence and accommodation responses are not dependent on the development of specific depth cues, but make use of any cues available to drive appropriate changes in response.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-pure-test.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/33418
Identification Number/DOI	10.1068/p7506
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Central Services Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item