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Updated: May 15, 2025
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Published on: April 11, 2025
Personalized Rehabilitation for Residual Deficits: Tailoring Perceptual Learning for Improved Visual Function in
Yunsi He1, Zixuan Xu1, Lei Feng1
1State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Guangzhou, China.
Purpose:
This study explored the efficacy and predictors of success for a novel monocular fine orientation discrimination perceptual learning (fine-PL) approach in addressing perceptual deficits in meridional amblyopia (MA).
Design:
Prospective, longitudinal study.
Participants:
Fifty-three children with persistent MA participated in this study.
Methods:
Twenty-one participants underwent a 14-day regimen of monocular fine-PL focused on grating orientation discrimination exercise (±5°) aligned with the vertical or horizontal meridian near each individual's threshold spatial frequencies. Nineteen participants underwent coarse orientation discrimination perceptual learning (coarse-PL), and 13 participants received optical correction alone.
Main Outcome Measures:
Measurements included both the best-corrected and uncorrected visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity function (CSF), and stereoacuity, with daily VA assessments during the training.
Results:
Significant improvements were observed in uncorrected VA (increased by 1.3 lines, P < 0.001) and best-corrected VA (increased by 0.3 lines, P = 0.002) in the fine-PL group. Posttraining assessments showed enhancements in all measured CSF metrics, both with and without correction (all P < 0.05), and in both distance and near stereopsis (all P < 0.05). Compared with coarse-PL, fine-PL more effectively addressed residual deficits in uncorrected vision. Early changes in VA correlated significantly with final VA outcomes. A 6-month follow-up confirmed the retention of these gains.
Conclusions:
Fine-PL offers targeted rehabilitation for perceptual distortions in MA, with early responses during training serving as potential predictors of success. This personalized approach effectively addresses residual deficits beyond optical correction, offering a promising noninvasive option for visual function improvement.
Financial Disclosures:
Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.
