Citation

Gonzalez EG, Lillakas L, Lam A, Gallie BL, Steinbach MJ. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2013; 54(10): 6463-6471.

Affiliation

University of Toronto, University Health Network, 399 Bathurst Street, FP 6-212, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2S8, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology)

DOI

10.1167/iovs.13-12481

PMID

23982846

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the effects of monocularity on oculomotor control by examining the characteristics of the horizontal saccades of people with one eye and comparing them with those of a group of age-matched controls who viewed the stimuli both monocularly and binocularly. METHODS: Participants were tested in a no-gap no-overlap saccadic task using a video-based remote eyetracker. One group consisted of unilaterally eye enucleated participants (N = 15, mean age = 31.27 years), the other of age-matched of people with normal binocular vision (N = 18, mean age = 30.17 years). RESULTS: The horizontal saccade dynamics of enucleated people are similar to those of people with normal binocularity when they view monocularly and, with the exception of latency, when they view binocularly. The data show that: (a) the monocular saccades of both control and enucleated observers have longer latencies than the binocular saccades of the control group; (b) the saccades of the enucleated observers are as accurate as those of the controls viewing monocularly or binocularly; (c) smaller saccades are more accurate than the larger ones; and (d) abducting saccades are faster than adducting saccades. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the true monocularity produced by early enucleation does not result in slower visual processing in the afferent (sensory) pathway, or in deficits in the efferent (motor) pathways of the saccadic system. Possible mechanisms to account for the effects of monocular vision on saccades are discussed.

Language: en