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Ghasia F, Tychsen L. Inter-Ocular Fixation Instability of Amblyopia: Relationship to Visual Acuity, Strabismus, Nystagmus, Stereopsis, Vergence, and Age. Am J Ophthalmol 2024; 267:230-248. [PMID: 38944136 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajo.2024.06.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/01/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE Amblyopia damages visual sensory and ocular motor functions. One manifestation of the damage is abnormal fixational eye movements. Tiny fixation movements are normal; however, when these exceed a normal range, the behavior is labeled "fixation instability" (FI). Here we compare FI between normal and amblyopic subjects, and evaluate the relationship between FI and severity of amblyopia, strabismus angle, nystagmus, stereopsis, vergence, and subject age. METHODS Fixation eye movements were recorded using infrared video-oculography from 47 controls (15.3 ± 12.2 years of age) and 104 amblyopic subjects (13.3 ± 11.2 years of age) during binocular and monocular viewing. FI and vergence instability were quantified as the bivariate contour ellipse area (BCEA). We also calculated the ratio of FI between the 2 eyes: right eye/left eye for controls, amblyopic eye/fellow eye for amblyopes. Multiple regression analysis evaluated how FI related to a range of visuo-motor measures. RESULTS During binocular viewing, the FI of fellow and amblyopic eye, vergence instability, and inter-ocular FI ratios were least in anisometropic and most in mixed amblyopia (P < .05). Each correlated positively with the strabismus angle (P < .01). During monocular viewing, subjects with deeper amblyopia (P < .01) and larger strabismus angles (P < .05) had higher inter-ocular FI ratios. In all, 27% of anisometropic and >65% of strabismic/mixed amblyopes had nystagmus. Younger age and nystagmus increased FI and vergence instability (P < .05) but did not affect the inter-ocular FI ratios (P > .05). CONCLUSIONS Quantitative recording of perturbed eye movements in children reveal a major functional deficit linked to amblyopia. Imprecise fixation, measured as inter-ocular FI ratios, may be used as a robust marker for amblyopia and strabismus severity. NOTE: Publication of this article is sponsored by the American Ophthalmological Society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatema Ghasia
- From the Neurosciences and Ocular Motility Laboratory (F.G.), Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
| | - Lawrence Tychsen
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (L.T.), St Louis Children's Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Ghasia F, Wang J. Amblyopia and fixation eye movements. J Neurol Sci 2022; 441:120373. [PMID: 36007287 DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2022.120373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Amblyopia is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by abnormal visual experience in early life that affects 3-5% of the population. Amblyopia results in a host of monocular and binocular visual afferent function deficits including reduced visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, depth perception, interocular suppression, and efferent function abnormalities such as unstable and inaccurate fixation. Conventional treatments such as patching therapy and newer dichoptic treatments are not always successful as 30-40% of patients experience recurrence/regression of amblyopia. There are numerous review articles focused on visual afferent function deficits and treatment modalities and outcomes in amblyopia. Recently, the advent of high spatial and temporal resolution eye trackers has spurred studies on fixation eye movements (FEMs) in healthy controls and neurologic and ophthalmic disorders. In this focused review, we will summarize studies evaluating FEM abnormalities in amblyopia. We will first describe the common devices and techniques used to quantify fixation abnormalities, and then highlight the importance of systematically evaluating the eye movements under different viewing conditions and describe the parameters crucial in assessing FEM abnormalities in amblyopia. We will summarize the evidence suggesting that FEM abnormalities are not limited to the amblyopic eye only but also affects the fellow eye and that FEM abnormalities can serve as biomarkers to predict the impact of amblyopia on visual functions. Beyond diagnosis, we will discuss the treatment and prognostic implications of the evaluation of FEM abnormalities in clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatema Ghasia
- Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, United States of America.
| | - Jingyun Wang
- SUNY College of Optometry, NY, New York, United States of America
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Banerjee S, Ranspach LE, Luo X, Cianciolo LT, Fogerty J, Perkins BD, Thummel R. Vision and sensorimotor defects associated with loss of Vps11 function in a zebrafish model of genetic leukoencephalopathy. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3511. [PMID: 35241734 PMCID: PMC8894412 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07448-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic Leukoencephalopathies (gLEs) are heritable white matter disorders that cause progressive neurological abnormalities. A founder mutation in the human endolysosomal trafficking protein VPS11 has been identified in Ashkenazi Jewish patients manifesting classic gLE symptoms of hypomyelination, developmental delay, motor and systemic deficits. In this study, we characterized the visual and sensorimotor function of two zebrafish vps11 mutant lines: the previously reported vps11(plt), and a new vps11(-/-) null mutant line, using behavioral analysis to track larval motor responses to visual and acoustic stimuli. We found that mutant larvae from both vps11(plt) and vps11(-/-) lines were able to visually distinguish light and dark, but showed a progressive loss of a normal sensorimotor response to visual stimuli from 5 days post fertilization (dpf) to 7dpf. Additionally, optokinetic response analysis performed at 5dpf indicated that the mutants were significantly visually impaired. Both mutant lines also displayed a progressively lower sensorimotor response to a singular acoustic stimulus from 5-7dpf. Next, we tested the habituation response of the mutant lines to series of acoustic taps. We found both mutant lines habituated faster than their siblings, and that vps11(plt) mutants habituated faster than the vps11(-/-) mutants. Together, these data suggest that loss of Vps11 function results in progressive visual and sensorimotor abnormalities in the zebrafish vps11(plt) and vps11(-/-) mutant lines. This is the first study to characterize behavioral deficits in a vertebrate model of Vps11-dependent gLE. The mutants and behavioral assays described here could be a valuable model system in which to test potential pharmacological interventions for gLE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shreya Banerjee
- Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Lillian E Ranspach
- Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Xixia Luo
- Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Lauren T Cianciolo
- Department of Ophthalmic Research, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Joseph Fogerty
- Department of Ophthalmic Research, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Brian D Perkins
- Department of Ophthalmic Research, Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Ryan Thummel
- Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
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Ionta S. Visual Neuropsychology in Development: Anatomo-Functional Brain Mechanisms of Action/Perception Binding in Health and Disease. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:689912. [PMID: 34135745 PMCID: PMC8203289 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.689912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Vision is the main entrance for environmental input to the human brain. Even if vision is our most used sensory modality, its importance is not limited to environmental exploration. Rather it has strong links to motor competences, further extending to cognitive and social aspects of human life. These multifaceted relationships are particularly important in developmental age and become dramatically evident in presence of complex deficits originating from visual aberrancies. The present review summarizes the available neuropsychological evidence on the development of visual competences, with a particular focus on the associated visuo-motor integration skills in health and disease. With the aim of supporting future research and interventional settings, the goal of the present review is to constitute a solid base to help the translation of neuropsychological hypotheses into straightforward empirical investigations and rehabilitation/training protocols. This approach will further increase the impact, ameliorate the acceptance, and ease the use and implementation of lab-derived intervention protocols in real-life situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvio Ionta
- Sensory-Motor Lab (SeMoLa), Department of Ophthalmology-University of Lausanne, Jules Gonin Eye Hospital-Fondation Asile des Aveugles, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Abstract
The developing visual brain is an integrated system, linking analysis of the visual input to visuomotor control, visual cognition, and attention. Major points in human visual development are the presence of rudimentary pathways present at birth which can control fixation behavior, with subsequent development of specific functions. These functions include the emergence of cortical selectivity; the integration of local signals to provide global representations of motion, shape, and space; the development of visuomotor modules for eye movements, manual reaching, and locomotion; and the development of distinct attentional systems. Measures of these processes in infancy and early childhood can provide indicators of broader brain development in the at-risk child. A key system in development is the dorsal cortical stream. Measures of global motion processing, visuomotor actions, and attention suggest that this system is particularly vulnerable in children with a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders. Early disorders of the eye (strabismus, cataract) reveal the level of plasticity in the developing visual system and the ways in which early experience can affect the course of functional development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janette Atkinson
- Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Oliver Braddick
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Shaikh AG, Ghasia FF. Fixational saccades are more disconjugate in adults than in children. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0175295. [PMID: 28406944 PMCID: PMC5391133 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Accepted: 03/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Fixational eye movements are of particular interest for three reasons. They are critical for preventing visual fading and enhancing visual perception; their disconjugacy allows scanning in three dimensions, and their neural correlates span through the cortico-striatal, striato-collicular and brainstem networks. Fixational eye movements are altered in various pediatric ophthalmologic and neurologic disorders. The goal of this study was to compare the dynamics of fixational eye movements in normal children and adults. METHODS We measured the fixational saccades and inter-saccadic drifts in eye positions using infrared video-oculography in children and adults. We assessed the frequency, amplitude, main-sequence, and disconjugacy of fixational saccades as well as the intra-saccadic drift velocity and variance between these two groups. RESULTS We found a similar frequency but an increase in the amplitude of fixational saccades in children compared to adults. We also found that the fixational saccades were more conjugate in children than in adults. The inter-saccadic drifts were comparable between the two groups. DISCUSSION This study provides normative values of dynamics of fixational eye movement in children and adults. The greater disconjugacy of fixational saccades in adults suggests the existence of neural mechanisms that can independently regulate the movements of two eyes. The differences between adult and pediatric populations could be due to completion of the development of binocularly independent regulation of fixational saccades nearing adulthood. The alternate possibility is that the increased disconjugacy between the two eyes may represent a deficiency in the eye movement performance as a function of increasing age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aasef G. Shaikh
- Department of Neurology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States of America
- Neurology service, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA medical center, Cleveland, OH, United States of America
- Daroff-Del’Osso Ocular Motility Laboratory, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA medical center, Cleveland, OH, United States of America
| | - Fatema F. Ghasia
- Daroff-Del’Osso Ocular Motility Laboratory, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA medical center, Cleveland, OH, United States of America
- Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Kaul YF, Rosander K, von Hofsten C, Brodd KS, Holmström G, Kaul A, Böhm B, Hellström-Westas L. Visual tracking in very preterm infants at 4 mo predicts neurodevelopment at 3 y of age. Pediatr Res 2016; 80:35-42. [PMID: 27027722 DOI: 10.1038/pr.2016.37] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2015] [Accepted: 12/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Typically developing infants track moving objects with eye and head movements in a smooth and predictive way at 4 mo of age, but this ability is delayed in very preterm infants. We hypothesized that visual tracking ability in very preterm infants predicts later neurodevelopment. METHOD In 67 very preterm infants (gestational age<32 wk), eye and head movements were assessed at 4 mo corrected age while the infant tracked a moving object. Gaze gain, smooth pursuit, head movements, and timing of gaze relative the object were analyzed off line. Results of the five subscales included in the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III) at 3 y of age were evaluated in relation to the visual tracking data and to perinatal risk factors. RESULTS Significant correlations were obtained between gaze gain and cognition, receptive and expressive language, and fine motor function, respectively, also after controlling for gestational age, severe brain damage, retinopathy of prematurity, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. CONCLUSION This is the first study demonstrating that the basic ability to visually track a moving object at 4 mo robustly predicts neurodevelopment at 3 y of age in children born very preterm.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Katarina Strand Brodd
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.,Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Gerd Holmström
- Department of Neuroscience/Ophthalmology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Alexander Kaul
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Birgitta Böhm
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
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Developmental synergy between thalamic structure and interhemispheric connectivity in the visual system of preterm infants. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2015; 8:462-72. [PMID: 26106571 PMCID: PMC4474422 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2015] [Revised: 05/26/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Thalamic structural co-variation with cortical regions has been demonstrated in preterm infants, but its relationship to cortical function and severity of non-cystic white matter injury (non-cystic WMI) is unclear. The relationship between thalamic morphology and both cortical network synchronization and cortical structural connectivity has not been established. We tested the hypothesis that in preterm neonates, thalamic volume would correlate with primary cortical visual function and microstructural integrity of cortico-cortical visual association pathways. A total of 80 term-equivalent preterm and 44 term-born infants underwent high-resolution structural imaging coupled with visual functional magnetic resonance imaging or diffusion tensor imaging. There was a strong correlation between thalamic volume and primary visual cortical activation in preterms with non-cystic WMI (r = 0.81, p-value = 0.001). Thalamic volume also correlated strongly with interhemispheric cortico-cortical connectivity (splenium) in preterm neonates with a relatively higher severity of non-cystic WMI (p-value < 0.001). In contrast, there was lower correlation between thalamic volume and intrahemispheric cortico-cortical connectivity, including the inferior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontal orbital fasciculus. This study shows distinct temporal overlap in the disruption of thalamo-cortical and interhemispheric cortico-cortical connectivity in preterm infants suggesting developmental synergy between thalamic morphology and the emergence of cortical networks in the last trimester.
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Keitel A, Prinz W, Daum MM. Perception of individual and joint action in infants and adults. PLoS One 2014; 9:e107450. [PMID: 25202914 PMCID: PMC4174902 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2014] [Accepted: 08/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Infants and adults frequently observe actions performed jointly by more than one person. Research in action perception, however, has focused largely on actions performed by an individual person. Here, we explore how 9- and 12-month-old infants and adults perceive a block-stacking action performed by either one agent (individual condition) or two agents (joint condition). We used eye tracking to measure the latency of participants' gaze shifts towards action goals. Adults anticipated goals in both conditions significantly faster than infants, and their gaze latencies did not differ between conditions. By contrast, infants showed faster anticipation of goals in the individual condition than in the joint condition. This difference was more pronounced in 9-month-olds. Further analyses of fixations examined the role of visual attention in action perception. These findings are cautiously interpreted in terms of low-level processing in infants and higher-level processing in adults. More precisely, our results suggest that adults are able to infer the overarching joint goal of two agents, whereas infants are not yet able to do so and might rely primarily on visual cues to infer the respective sub-goals. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the perception of joint action in infants develops differentially from that of individual action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Keitel
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Research Group ‘Infant Cognition and Action’, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Prinz
- Department of Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Moritz M. Daum
- Research Group ‘Infant Cognition and Action’, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Developmental Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Phadke A, Msall ME, Droste P, Allred EN, O'Shea TM, Kuban K, Dammann O, Leviton A. Impaired visual fixation at the age of 2 years in children born before the twenty-eighth week of gestation. Antecedents and correlates in the multicenter ELGAN study. Pediatr Neurol 2014; 51:36-42. [PMID: 24938138 PMCID: PMC4062923 DOI: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2014.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2014] [Revised: 03/04/2014] [Accepted: 03/07/2014] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Very little is known about the prevalence, antecedents, and correlates of impaired visual fixation in former very preterm newborns. METHODS In the multicenter ELGAN study sample of 1057 infants born before the twenty-eighth week of gestation who had a developmental assessment at 2 years corrected age, we identified 73 who were unable to follow an object across the midline. We compared them to the 984 infants who could follow an object across the midline. RESULTS In this sample of very preterm newborns, those who had impaired visual fixation were much more likely than those without impaired visual fixation to have been born after the shortest of gestations (odds ratio, 3.2; 99% confidence interval, 1.4-7.5) and exposed to maternal aspirin (odds ratio, 5.2; 99% confidence interval, 2.2-12). They were also more likely than their peers to have had prethreshold retinopathy of prematurity (odds ratio, 4.1; 99% confidence interval, 1.8-9.0). At age 2 years, the children with impaired fixation were more likely than others to be unable to walk (even with assistance) (odds ratio, 7.5; 99% confidence interval, 2.2-26) and have a Mental Development Index more than three standard deviations below the mean of a normative sample (odds ratio, 3.6; 99% confidence interval, 1.4-8.2). CONCLUSION Risk factors for brain and retinal damages, such as very low gestational age, appear to be risk factors for impaired visual fixation. This inference is further supported by the co-occurrence at age 2 years of impaired visual fixation, inability to walk, and a very low Mental Development Index.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anuradha Phadke
- Department of Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Michael E Msall
- Kennedy Research Center on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospitals, Chicago, IL
| | | | | | - T. Michael O'Shea
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Karl Kuban
- Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center, Boston MA
| | - Olaf Dammann
- Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston MA; Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Alan Leviton
- Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
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Falck-Ytter T, Bölte S, Gredebäck G. Eye tracking in early autism research. J Neurodev Disord 2013; 5:28. [PMID: 24069955 PMCID: PMC3849191 DOI: 10.1186/1866-1955-5-28] [Citation(s) in RCA: 130] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2013] [Accepted: 09/13/2013] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Eye tracking has the potential to characterize autism at a unique intermediate level, with links 'down' to underlying neurocognitive networks, as well as 'up' to everyday function and dysfunction. Because it is non-invasive and does not require advanced motor responses or language, eye tracking is particularly important for the study of young children and infants. In this article, we review eye tracking studies of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children at risk for ASD. Reduced looking time at people and faces, as well as problems with disengagement of attention, appear to be among the earliest signs of ASD, emerging during the first year of life. In toddlers with ASD, altered looking patterns across facial parts such as the eyes and mouth have been found, together with limited orienting to biological motion. We provide a detailed discussion of these and other key findings and highlight methodological opportunities and challenges for eye tracking research of young children with ASD. We conclude that eye tracking can reveal important features of the complex picture of autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terje Falck-Ytter
- Department of Women’s & Children’s Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institute (KIND), Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Unit, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center, Gävlegatan 22, Stockholm, SE-11330, Sweden
- Uppsala Child & Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sven Bölte
- Department of Women’s & Children’s Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institute (KIND), Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Unit, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center, Gävlegatan 22, Stockholm, SE-11330, Sweden
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Gustaf Gredebäck
- Uppsala Child & Babylab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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Strand-Brodd K, Ewald U, Grönqvist H, Holmström G, Strömberg B, Grönqvist E, von Hofsten C, Rosander K. Development of smooth pursuit eye movements in very preterm infants: 1. General aspects. Acta Paediatr 2011; 100:983-91. [PMID: 21332783 PMCID: PMC3123744 DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2011.02218.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2010] [Revised: 02/05/2011] [Accepted: 02/11/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
AIM To investigate early oculo-motor development in a population-based cohort of very preterm infants. METHODS Early oculo-motor development was prospectively studied by measuring smooth pursuit eye movements at 2 and 4 months corrected age in a population of very preterm infants born in Uppsala County 2004-2007. Eighty-one preterm infants were studied, and 32 healthy term infants constituted the control group. RESULTS The study group consisted of infants with a mean gestational age of 28 + 5 weeks. At 2 and 4 months corrected age, infants born very preterm showed lower gain (p < 0.001) and proportion of smooth pursuit eye movements (p < 0.001) compared to the control group. The boys showed higher gain of smooth pursuit eye movements at both 2 and 4 months corrected age, compared to girls. CONCLUSIONS Oculo-motor development measured by smooth pursuit eye movements is delayed in very preterm infants at 2 and 4 months corrected age. This might be a risk factor or early indicator of later perceptual and behavioural impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Scott Johnson
- b Department of Psychology , UCLA , Los Angeles, California
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14
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Hou C, Gilmore RO, Pettet MW, Norcia AM. Spatio-temporal tuning of coherent motion evoked responses in 4-6 month old infants and adults. Vision Res 2009; 49:2509-17. [PMID: 19679146 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2009.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2009] [Revised: 08/05/2009] [Accepted: 08/06/2009] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Motion cues provide a rich source of information about translations of the observer through the environment as well as the movements of objects and surfaces. While the direction of motion can be extracted locally these local measurements are, in general, insufficient for determining object and surface motions. To study the development of local and global motion processing mechanisms, we recorded Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs) in response to dynamic random dot displays that alternated between coherent rotational motion and random motion at 0.8 Hz. We compared the spatio-temporal tuning of the evoked response in 4-6 months old infants to that of adults by recording over a range of dot displacements and temporal update rates. Responses recorded at the frequency of the coherent motion modulation were tuned for displacement at the occipital midline in both adults in infants. Responses at lateral electrodes were tuned for speed in adults, but not in infants. Infant responses were maximal at a larger range of spatial displacement than that of adults. In contrast, responses recorded at the dot-update rate showed a more similar parametric displacement tuning and scalp topography in infants and adults. Taken together, our results suggest that while local motion processing is relatively mature at 4-6 months, global integration mechanisms exhibit significant immaturities at this age.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Hou
- Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA 94115, United States of America.
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Abstract
Cognitive control of behavior continues to improve through adolescence in parallel with important brain maturational processes including synaptic pruning and myelination, which allow for efficient neuronal computations and the functional integration of widely distributed circuitries supporting top-down control of behavior. This is also a time when psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, emerge reflecting a particularly vulnerability to impairments in development during adolescence. Oculomotor studies provide a unique neuroscientific approach to make precise associations between cognitive control and brain circuitry during development that can inform us of impaired systems in psychopathology. In this review, we first describe the development of pursuit, fixation, and visually-guided saccadic eye movements, which collectively indicate early maturation of basic sensorimotor processes supporting reflexive, exogenously-driven eye movements. We then describe the literature on the development of the cognitive control of eye movements as reflected in the ability to inhibit a prepotent eye movement in the antisaccade task, as well as making an eye movement guided by on-line spatial information in working memory in the oculomotor delayed response task. Results indicate that the ability to make eye movements in a voluntary fashion driven by endogenous plans shows a protracted development into adolescence. Characterizing the transition through adolescence to adult-level cognitive control of behavior can inform models aimed at understanding the neurodevelopmental basis of psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatriz Luna
- Laboratory of Neurocognitive Development, Department of Psychology and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
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