Summary
The visually evoked potential was recorded in response to pseudorandom modulation of a uniform field and sine-wave gratings in humans with naturally occurring amblyopia. Analysis in the frequency domain showed similar temporal tuning when the nonamblyopic and amblyopic eye were stimulated with a uniform field and with spatial stimuli. Although most observers showed some reduction in the cortical response to stimulation of the amblyopic eye with uniform field modulation, all observers showed reductions in the response obtained for stimulation of the amblyopic eye with spatial stimuli. This decrease in the cortical response to stimulation of the amblyopic eye for sine-wave gratings was present at either the low and middle temporal frequencies or over the range of temporal frequencies tested, and was greater than that observed in those amblyopes who also showed reductions with uniform field modulation. Latency measures in the time domain showed increases in the response of the early components when the amblyopic eye was stimulated with a uniform field and with sine-wave gratings above 2 c/deg. These electrophysiological results confirm the results obtained psychophysically which suggest that although amblyopia is primarily a spatial anomaly, the response is influenced by the temporal attributes of the stimulus as well.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arden GB, Barnard WM, Mushin A (1974) Visually evoked responses in amblyopia. Br J Ophthalmol 58: 183–192
Brettel H, Hiltz R, Rentschier I (1979) The effects of temporal modulation on grating contrast sensitivity in amblyopia. Biomed Tech (Berl) 24: 329–330
Davies WDT (1970) System identification for self-adaptive control. Wiley, London
Dustman RE, Beck EC (1963) Long-term stability of visually evoked potentials in man. Science 142: 1480–1481
Fishman RS, Copenhaver RM (1967) Macular disease and amblyopia. Arch Ophthalmol 77: 718–725
Fricker SJ (1962) Narrow-band filter techniques for the detection and measurement of evoked responses. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 14: 411–413
Fricker SJ, Kuperwaser M (1979) Use of pseudorandomly-timed stimuli and cross-correlation techniques for visual evoked response measurements. In: Computers in Ophthalmology, April 5–6, 1978, IEEE, pp 242–248
Harwerth RS, Levi DM (1978) A sensory mechanism for amblyopia: Psychophysical studies. Am J Optom Physiol Opt 55: 151–162
Hess RF (1980) A preliminary investigation of neural function and dysfunction in amblyopia. I. Size-selective channels. Vision Res 20: 749–754
Hess RF, Bradley A (1980) Contrast perception above threshold is only minimally impaired in human amblyopia. Nature 287: 463–464
Jones R, Keck MJ (1978) Visual evoked response as a function of grating spatial frequency. Invest Ophthalmol 17: 652–659
Lehmkuhle S, Kratz KE, Mangel SC, Sherman SM (1980) Effects of early monocular lid suture on spatial and temporal sensitivity of neurons in dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat. J Neurophysiol 43: 542–556
Levi DM (1975) Patterned and unpatterned visual evoked responses in strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. Am J Optom Physiol Opt 52: 455–464
Levi DM, Harwerth RS (1978) A sensory mechanism for amblyopia: Electrophysiological studies. Am J Optom Physiol Opt 55: 163–171
Levi DM, Walters JW (1977) Visual evoked responses in strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia: Effects of check size and retinal locus. Am J Optom Physiol Opt 54: 691–698
Levi DM, Harwerth RS, Manny RE (1979) Suprathreshold spatial frequency detection and binocular interaction in strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 18: 714–725
Levi DM, Harwerth RS, Venverloh J (1980) Spatial and temporal masking in amblyopia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci [Suppl] 19: 9
Lombroso CT, Duffy FH, Robb RM (1969) Selective suppression of cerebral evoked potentials to pattern light in amblyopia exanopsia. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 27: 238–247
Loshin DS (1977) Spatio-temporal properties of the amblyopic visual system. Doctoral Dissertation. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Mackensen G (1958) Reaktionszeitmessungen bei Amblyopie. Albrecht Von Graefes Arch Ophthalmol 159: 636–642
Manny RE (1981) Psychophysical and electrophysiological investigations of amblyopia: Uniform field and spatio-temporal interactions. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
Manny RE, Levi DM (1981a) Psychophysical investigations of the temporal modulation sensitivity function in amblyopia: Uniform field flicker. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 22: 515–524
Manny RE, Levi DM (1981b) Psychophysical investigations of the temporal modulation sensitivity function in amblyopia: Spatio-temporal interactions. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 22: 525–536
Nawratzki I, Auerbach E, Rowe H (1966) Amblyopia ex-anopsia- the electrical response in retina and occipital cortex following photic stimulation of normal and amblyopic eyes. Am J Ophthalmol 61: 430–435
Noorden GK von (1961) Reaction time in normal and amblyopic eyes. Arch Ophthalmol 66: 695–701
Parker DM, Salzen EA (1977) Latency changes in the human visual evoked response to sinusoidal gratings. Vision Res 17: 1201–1204
Perry NW, Childers DG (1969) The human visual evoked response: Method and theory. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois
Potts AM, Nagaya T (1969) Studies on the visual evoked response: III. Strabismus amblyopia and hysterical amblyopia. Doc Ophthalmol 26: 394–402
Reddy SN, Kirlin RL (1979) Spectral analysis of auditory evoked potentials with pseudorandom noise excitation. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 26: 479–487
Regan D (1977a) Steady-state evoked potentials. J Opt Soc Am 67: 1475–1488
Regan D (1977b) Speedy assessment of visual acuity in amblyopia by the evoked potential method. Ophthalmologica 175: 159–164
Regan D (1977c) Fourier analysis of evoked potentials; some methods based on Fourier analysis. In: Desmedt JE (ed) Visual evoked potentials in man: New developments. Claredon Press, Oxford, pp 110–117
Regan D (1978) Assessment of visual acuity by evoked potential recording: Ambiguity caused by temporal dependence of spatial frequency selectivity. Vision Res 18: 439–443
Regan D (1981) Evoked potential studies of visual perception. Can J Psychol/Rev Canad Psychol 35: 77–112
Regan D, Beverley KI (1973) Relation between the magnitude of flicker sensation and evoked potential amplitude in man. Perception 2: 61–65
Rentschler I, Hiltz R, Brettel H (1980) Spatial tuning properties in human amblyopia cannot explain the loss of optotype acuity. Behav Brain Res 1: 433–443
Riggs LA (1976) The correlation of electrophysiological and psychophysical measures: VECP. In: Lawwill (ed) Documenta ophthalmologica, proceedings series, vol 13. Junk, The Hague, pp 3–12
Schor CM, Levi DM (1980) Direction selectivity for perceived motion in strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 19: 1094–1104
Shipley T (1969) The visually evoked occipitogram in strabismic amblyopia under directview ophthalmoscopy. J Pediatr Ophthalmol 6: 97–112
Snyder A, Shapley R (1979) Deficits in the visual evoked potentials of cats as a result of visual deprivation. Exp Brain Res 37: 73–86
Sokol S (1976) Visually evoked potentials: Theory, techniques and clinical applications. Surv Ophthalmol 21: 18–44
Sokol S (1977) Visual evoked potentials to checkerboard pattern stimuli in strabismic amblyopia. In: Desmedt JE (ed) Visual evoked potentials in man: New developments. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 410–417
Sokol S, Bloom B (1973) Visually evoked cortical responses of amblyopes to a spatially alternating stimulus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 12: 936–939
Sokol S, Nadler D (1979) Simultaneous electroretinograms and visually evoked potentials from adult amblyopes in response to pattern stimulus. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 18: 848–855
Sokol S, Riggs LA (1971) Electrical and psychophysical responses of the human visual system to periodic variation of luminance. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 10: 171–180
Spekreijse H (1966) Analysis of EEG responses in man evoked by sine wave modulated light. Junk, The Hague
Spekreijse H, Khoe LH, Tweel LH van der (1972) A case of amblyopia; electrophysiology and psychophysics of luminance and contrast. In: Arden GB (ed) The visual system. Plenum Press, New York, pp 141–156
Srebro R, Wright WW (1980) Visually evoked potentials to pseudorandom binary sequence stimulation: Preliminary clinical trials. Arch Ophthalmol 98: 296–298
Srebro R, Sokol B, Wright W (1981) The power spectra of visually evoked potentials to pseudorandom contrast reversals of gratings. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 51: 63–68
Tsutsui J, Nakamura Y, Takenaka J, Fukai S (1973) Abnormality of the visual evoked response in various types of amblyopia. Jpn J Ophthalmol 17: 83–93
Tuttle DR (1973) Electrophysiological studies of functional amblyopia utilizing pattern reversal techniques. Unpublished Thesis, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky
Tweel LH van der (1964) Relation between psychophysics and electrophysiology of flicker. Doc Ophthalmol 18: 287–304
Tyler CW, Apkarian P, Nakayama K (1978) Multiple spatialfrequency tuning of electrical responses from human visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 33: 535–550
Wanger P, Nilsson BY (1978) Visual evoked responses to patternreversal stimulation in patients with amblyopia and/or defective binocular function. Acta Ophthalmol (Copenh) 56: 617–627
Werre PF, Smith CJ (1964) Variability of responses evoked by flashes in man. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 17: 644–652
Yinon U, Jakobovitz L, Auerbach E (1974) The visually evoked response to stationary checkerboard patterns in children with strabismic amblyopia. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 13: 293–296
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by grant ROI EYO1728 from the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Manny, R.E., Levi, D.M. The visually evoked potential in humans with amblyopia: Pseudorandom modulation of uniform field and sine-wave gratings. Exp Brain Res 47, 15–27 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235881
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00235881