Horizontal and vertical vergence training and its effect on vergences, fixation disparity curves, and prism...

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of horizontal and vertical vergence training on vertical fusional amplitudes, the vertical fixation disparity (VFD) curve, and prism adaptation. Thirty-four subjects were divided into three groups. One-third served as controls and the other two-thirds underwent 5 h of supervised horizontal and vertical vergence training, respectively. We hypothesized that subjects in the vertical group would manifest increased vertical vergence amplitude and coefficients of adaptation in concert with flatter VFD slopes. Before and after the 4-week training period, vertical vergences, fixation disparity (FD) curves, and coefficients of vertical prism adaptation were measured by a single individual who was intentionally uninformed of each subject's group. Analysis of the data suggests that changes in the vertical fusional amplitudes increased slightly. Although changes in the VFD slope and coefficient of prism adaptation were not statistically significant, the changes were much greater in the vertical group and in the hypothesized direction. We suggest that the results offer preliminary support for our hypothesis.