Better performance through amblyopic than through normal eyes

Spatio-temporal interpolation reconstructs the (complete) motion path of objects presented discontinuously, e.g. under stroboscopic illumination or in television. Interpolative vernier stimuli were created by presenting two line segments with a temporal delay instead of a spatial offset. Ten amblyopic patients had to indicate whether the lower segment of the moving target was offset to the left or right relative to the upper segment. For five patients we also measured thresholds for a conventional moving vernier. Five normal subjects were measured with sharply focused and blurred interpolative verniers. At low velocities of interpolative vernier targets, results of amblyopic eyes are inferior to those of normal eyes. However, 9 out of 10 patients perform better using their amblyopic than using their normal eye at high velocities. In control subjects, blurred stimuli yield results similar to those of amblyopic eyes, indicating a similarity between (optical) blur and the mechanisms underlying amblyopia. Thresholds for conventional vernier targets of amblyopic observers, on the other hand, are constant over the whole velocity range for both normal and amblyopic eyes, with a better performance of the normal eye at all velocities. The consequences for models of amblyopia are discussed.