Aerobic Exercise Effects on Ocular Dominance Plasticity with a Phase Combination Task in Human Adults

Several studies have shown that short-term monocular patching can induce ocular dominance plasticity in normal adults, in which the patched eye becomes stronger in binocular viewing. There is a recent study showing that exercise enhances this plasticity effect when assessed with binocular rivalry. We address one question, is this enhancement from exercise a general effect such that it is seen for measures of binocular processing other than that revealed using binocular rivalry? Using a binocular phase combination task in which we directly measure each eye’s contribution to the binocularly fused percept, we show no additional effect of exercise after short-term monocular occlusion and argue that the enhancement of ocular dominance plasticity from exercise could not be demonstrated with our approach.

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Using psychophysical performance to predict short-term ocular dominance plasticity in human adults

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/jov.20.7.6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (7) ◽

pp. 6

Author(s):

Cecilia Steinwurzel ◽

Silvia Animali ◽

Guido Marco Cicchini ◽

Maria Concetta Morrone ◽

Paola Binda

Keyword(s):

Ocular Dominance ◽

Short Term ◽

Ocular Dominance Plasticity ◽

Human Adults

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Action Video Gaming Does Not Influence Short-Term Ocular Dominance Plasticity in Visually Normal Adults

eNeuro ◽

10.1523/eneuro.0006-20.2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. ENEURO.0006-20.2020

Author(s):

Xiaoxin Chen ◽

Shijia Chen ◽

Deying Kong ◽

Junhan Wei ◽

Yu Mao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ocular Dominance ◽

Video Gaming ◽

Short Term ◽

Ocular Dominance Plasticity ◽

Normal Adults

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Short-term plasticity in the visual thalamus

10.1101/2021.10.14.464354 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jan W Kurzawski ◽

Claudia Lunghi ◽

Laura Biagi ◽

Michela Tosetti ◽

Maria Concetta Morrone ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Ocular Dominance ◽

Monocular Deprivation ◽

Spatial Proximity ◽

Short Term ◽

Ocular Dominance Plasticity ◽

Short Term Plasticity ◽

Visual Thalamus ◽

Plasticity Effect

While there is evidence that the visual cortex retains a potential for plasticity in adulthood, less is known about the subcortical stages of visual processing. Here we asked whether short-term ocular dominance plasticity affects the visual thalamus. We addressed this question in normally sighted adult humans, using ultra-high field (7T) magnetic resonance imaging combined with the paradigm of short-term monocular deprivation. With this approach, we previously demonstrated transient shifts of perceptual eye dominance and ocular dominance in visual cortex (Binda et al., 2018). Here we report evidence for short-term plasticity in the ventral division of the pulvinar (vPulv), where the deprived eye representation was enhanced over the non-deprived eye. This pulvinar plasticity effect was similar as previously seen in visual cortex and it was correlated with the ocular dominance shift measured behaviorally. In contrast, there was no short-term plasticity effect in Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN), where results were reliably different from vPulv, despite their spatial proximity. We conclude that the visual thalamus retains potential for short-term plasticity in adulthood; the plasticity effect differs across thalamic subregions, possibly reflecting differences in their cortical connectivity.

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Ocular Dominance Plasticity: Measurement Reliability and Variability

10.1101/2020.07.27.211144 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Seung Hyun Min ◽

Ling Gong ◽

Alex S. Baldwin ◽

Alexandre Reynaud ◽

Zhifen He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ocular Dominance ◽

Measurement Methods ◽

Monocular Deprivation ◽

Short Term ◽

Ocular Dominance Plasticity ◽

Physiological Basis ◽

Eye Dominance ◽

Phase Combination ◽

One And Many ◽

Test Retest Reliability

AbstractIn the last decade, studies have shown that short-term monocular deprivation strengthens the deprived eye’s contribution to binocular vision. However, the magnitude of the change in eye dominance after monocular deprivation (i.e., the patching effect) has been found to be different between for different methods and within the same method. There are three possible explanations for the discrepancy. First, the mechanisms underlying the patching effect that are probed by different measurement tasks might exist at different neural sites. Second, test-retest variability in the measurement might have led to inconsistencies, even within the same method. Third, the patching effect itself in the same subject might fluctuate across separate days or experimental sessions. To explore these possibilities, we assessed the test-retest reliability of the three most commonly used tasks (binocular rivalry, binocular combination, and dichoptic masking) and the repeatability of the shift in eye dominance after short-term monocular deprivation for each of the task. Two variations for binocular phase combination were used, at one and many contrasts of the stimuli. Also, two variations of the dichoptic masking task was tested, in which the orientation of the mask grating was either horizontal or vertical. This makes five different measurement methods in all. We hope to resolve some of the inconsistencies reported in the literature concerning this form of visual plasticity. In this study, we also aim to recommend a measurement method that will allow us to better understand its physiological basis and the underpinning of visual disorders.

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Can Short-Term Ocular Dominance Plasticity Provide a General Index to Visual Plasticity to Personalize Treatment in Amblyopia?

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2020.00625 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

Author(s):

Chunwen Tao ◽

Zhifen He ◽

Yiya Chen ◽

Jiawei Zhou ◽

Robert F. Hess

Keyword(s):

Ocular Dominance ◽

Short Term ◽

Ocular Dominance Plasticity ◽

Visual Plasticity ◽

General Index

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Brief localised monocular deprivation in adults alters binocular rivalry predominance retinotopically and reduces spatial inhibition

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-75252-w ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Shui’er Han ◽

David Alais ◽

Hamish MacDougall ◽

Frans A. J. Verstraten

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Binocular Rivalry ◽

Ocular Dominance ◽

Monocular Deprivation ◽

Annular Region ◽

Gabaergic Inhibition ◽

Central Vision ◽

Short Term ◽

Deprivation Period ◽

Deprived Areas

Abstract Short-term deprivation (2.5 h) of an eye has been shown to boost its relative ocular dominance in young adults. Here, we show that a much shorter deprivation period (3–6 min) produces a similar paradoxical boost that is retinotopic and reduces spatial inhibition on neighbouring, non-deprived areas. Partial deprivation was conducted in the left hemifield, central vision or in an annular region, later assessed with a binocular rivalry tracking procedure. Post-deprivation, dominance of the deprived eye increased when rivalling images were within the deprived retinotopic region, but not within neighbouring, non-deprived areas where dominance was dependent on the correspondence between the orientation content of the stimuli presented in the deprived and that of the stimuli presented in non-deprived areas. Together, these results accord with other deprivation studies showing V1 activity changes and reduced GABAergic inhibition.

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Short-Term Monocular Deprivation Enhances Physiological Pupillary Oscillations

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2017/6724631 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2017 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Paola Binda ◽

Claudia Lunghi

Keyword(s):

Visual Perception ◽

Binocular Rivalry ◽

Latent Variable ◽

Cortical Excitability ◽

Ocular Dominance ◽

Sensory Stimulation ◽

Monocular Deprivation ◽

Systematic Change ◽

Short Term ◽

Pupillary Oscillations

Short-term monocular deprivation alters visual perception in adult humans, increasing the dominance of the deprived eye, for example, as measured with binocular rivalry. This form of plasticity may depend upon the inhibition/excitation balance in the visual cortex. Recent work suggests that cortical excitability is reliably tracked by dilations and constrictions of the pupils of the eyes. Here, we ask whether monocular deprivation produces a systematic change of pupil behavior, as measured at rest, that is independent of the change of visual perception. During periods of minimal sensory stimulation (in the dark) and task requirements (minimizing body and gaze movements), slow pupil oscillations, “hippus,” spontaneously appear. We find that hippus amplitude increases after monocular deprivation, with larger hippus changes in participants showing larger ocular dominance changes (measured by binocular rivalry). This tight correlation suggests that a single latent variable explains both the change of ocular dominance and hippus. We speculate that the neurotransmitter norepinephrine may be implicated in this phenomenon, given its important role in both plasticity and pupil control. On the practical side, our results indicate that measuring the pupil hippus (a simple and short procedure) provides a sensitive index of the change of ocular dominance induced by short-term monocular deprivation, hence a proxy for plasticity.

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Inverse occlusion, a binocularly motivated treatment for amblyopia

10.1101/418871 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jiawei Zhou ◽

Yidong Wu ◽

Yiya Chen ◽

Xiaoxin Chen ◽

Yunjie Liang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Laboratory Finding ◽

Ocular Dominance ◽

Contrast Ratio ◽

Primary Outcome Measure ◽

Secondary Outcome ◽

Short Term ◽

Ocular Dominance Plasticity ◽

Paired Samples ◽

Refractive Correction ◽

Stereo Acuity

AbstractRecent laboratory finding suggest that short-term patching the amblyopic eye (i.e., inverse occlusion) results in a larger and more sustained improvement in the binocular balance compared with normal controls. In this study, we investigate the cumulative effects of the short-term inverse occlusion in adults and old children with amblyopia. A prospective cohort study of 18 amblyopes (10-35 years old; 3 with strabismus) who have been subjected to 2 hours/day of inverse occlusion for 2 months. Patients who required refractive correction or whose refractive correction needed updating were given a 2-month period of refractive adaptation. The primary outcome measure was the binocular balance which was measured using a phase combination task, the secondary outcome measures were the best corrected visual acuity which was measured with a Tumbling E acuity chart and convert to logMAR units and the stereo acuity which was measured with the Random-dot preschool stereotest. The averaged binocular gain was 0.11 in terms of the effective contrast ratio (z = −2.344, p = 0.019, 2-tailed Related samples Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test). The average acuity gain was 0.14 logMAR equivalent (t(17) = 0.13, p < 0.001, 2-tailed paired samples t-test). The averaged stereo acuity gain was 253 arc seconds (z = −2.689, p = 0.007). Based on more recent research concerning adult ocular dominance plasticity, contrary to current practice, patching the amblyopic eye makes more sense; comparable acuity benefits, better compliance, better binocular outcome and applicable to adults as well as old children.

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