Development of binocular fixation in human infants

doi:10.1016/0022-0965(77)90080-7

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Volume 23, Issue 1, February 1977, Pages 133-150

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0965(77)90080-7 Get rights and content

Abstract

Two experiments measured changes in binocular eye alignment from 1- to 6-month-old human infants. In Experiment 1 changes in binocular eye alignment were recorded from 1, 2, and 3 month olds using corneal photography. A luminous target was moved along the infant's midline at one of two constant speeds. Infants at all three ages showed some evidence of appropriate changes in binocular eye alignment (convergence as the target approached and divergence as the target receded). The likelihood of appropriate convergence and divergence increased with age, as did the ability to respond appropriately to the faster target motion. A measure of convergence lag (further decrease in interpupillary distance after target motion had ended) was obtained for trials on which the target approached the infant. Convergence lag decreased with age and was greater on trials at the faster target speed until 3 months of age. Experiment 2 measured the responses of 3, $412$ , and 6 month olds as a wedge prism was placed alternately in front of each eye. The prism displaced the image nasally (either 2.5° or 5°), creating inappropriate binocular eye alignment. A refixation eye movement in response to the prism was not present consistently until 6 months of age. Hypotheses as to the mechanism controlling infant binocular eye alignment are discussed with respect both to the present findings and to findings from human adults and animals.

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Contribution of stereopsis, vergence, and accommodative function to the performance of a precision grasping and placement task in typically developing children age 8–14 years
2020, Human Movement Science
Citation Excerpt :
The motor aspect of binocular vision is horizontal fusional vergence, which refers to convergent and divergent eye movements to fixate stimuli that are at different distances in depth (Howard & Rogers, 2002). Fusional vergence develops postnatally at approximately 3 months of age (Aslin, 1977; Bharadwaj & Candy, 2008), and is stimulated by a retinal disparity between the two eyes, in order to achieve single binocular vision. Although the gain, peak velocity, and duration of vergence movements are similar to adults by 4 years of age (Yang & Kapoula, 2004), the latency of vergence response continues to improve, and becomes adult-like around the age of 10–12 years (Yang, Bucci, & Kapoula, 2002).
Upper limb reaching and grasping movements are performed more efficiently during binocular viewing; however, the distinct contribution of stereopsis, fusional vergence, and accommodation (binocular facility, amplitude and accuracy) has not been examined in typically developing children. This study examined binocular visual function in a cohort of 57 typically developing children, 8 to 14 years old. Hand kinematics were recorded using a motion capture camera while children performed a prehension task involving threading a bead onto a needle. Results showed that different aspects of binocular vision contribute to the control of distinct phases of upper limb movements. Specifically, fusional vergence was associated with higher peak reach velocity, stereoacuity was associated with shorter grasp execution, and accommodation was associated with shorter placement duration. These findings suggest that different aspects of binocular vision play an important role in optimizing the control of distinct phases of prehension movements during development.
Different surgical outcomes in infantile exotropia according to onset time
2019, Journal of AAPOS
To determine whether age of onset influences surgical outcomes in infantile exotropia.
The medical records of patients at our tertiary care facility who underwent bilateral lateral rectus recession for infantile exotropia during the period 2004-2013 were reviewed retrospectively. Patients were grouped by onset age: 6 months or earlier (E6 group) or later than 6 months (L6 group). Motor outcomes, near stereoacuity, and distance fusional status in both groups were evaluated.
A total of 134 patients were included: 35 in the E6 group and 99 in the L6 group. At a mean follow-up of 4.6 years, recurrence occurred in 12 (34%) of the E6 group and 38 (38%) of the L6 group (P = 0.496). Overcorrection occurred in 3 (9%) of the E6 group and in 4 (4%) of the L6 group (P = 0.341). In the analysis of 109 patients eligible for sensory examinations, the E6 group demonstrated a higher proportion of patients with reduced stereoacuity of 80 arcsec or worse (54% vs 25% [P = 0.007]) and suppression (46% vs 12% [P < 0.001]) compared with those in the L6 group. In logistic regression analyses, onset of ≤6 months was significantly associated with reduced stereoacuity (OR = 6.42) and suppression (OR = 37.67) but not with recurrence or overcorrection.
In our study cohort, age of onset ≤6 months was associated with worse sensory prognosis for children with infantile exotropia but not with a difference in motor outcomes.
Early versus late surgery for infantile exotropia
2018, Journal of AAPOS
Citation Excerpt :
In the current study, however, early surgeries were associated with better results in infantile exotropia, especially for patients with constant exotropia. Primary infantile exotropia, which is likely to be expressed as a constant deviation,10 reflects deficient development of the convergence system during the early vulnerable period of life and disruption of normal binocular processing in the visual cortex16,17; it differs from childhood intermittent exotropia in terms of etiology. Earlier surgery may offer more chance for restoration of binocular vision in children with infantile constant exotropia.
To determine whether age at surgery influences postoperative outcome in infantile exotropia.
This longitudinal, retrospective study included children who underwent bilateral lateral rectus recession between 2004 and 2012 for an exotropia with onset by 12 months of age. Surgical outcomes were considered failures if recurrence with exodeviation of >8^Δ or overcorrection with esodeviation of >5^Δ developed during postoperative period. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to compare the association of age at surgery with development of recurrence and overcorrection.
A total of 93 children were included. Mean age at surgery was 3.2 years. At a mean follow-up of 3.6 years, 19 of 93 patients (20.4%) experienced recurrence and 3 (3.2%) had overcorrection. In the multivariate analyses, increased age at surgery was associated with higher risk for recurrence (OR = 1.031 per 1-month; 95% CI, 1.003-1.060). In subgroup analyses, the association was significant only in the constant exotropia group (OR = 1.410; 95% CI, 1.037-1.917) and not in the intermittent exotropia group (OR = 0.995; 95% CI, 0.938-1.056). In both groups, overcorrection was not associated with any factors, including age at surgery.
Older age at surgery was associated with risk of recurrence in infantile exotropia with constant deviation, but it was not correlated with surgical outcomes for patients with intermittent exotropia in this study.
Vergence driven accommodation with simulated disparity in myopia and emmetropia
2018, Experimental Eye Research
Citation Excerpt :
The human visual system undergoes development into adulthood (Aslin, 1977; Banks, 1980; Fioravanti et al., 1995; Haynes et al., 1965; Yang and Kapoula, 2003).
The formation of focused and corresponding foveal images requires a close synergy between the accommodation and vergence systems. This linkage is usually decoupled in virtual reality systems and may be dysfunctional in people who are at risk of developing myopia. We study how refractive error affects vergence-accommodation interactions in stereoscopic displays. Vergence and accommodative responses were measured in 21 young healthy adults (n=9 myopes, 22–31 years) while subjects viewed naturalistic stimuli on a 3D display. In Step 1, vergence was driven behind the monitor using a blurred, non-accommodative, uncrossed disparity target. In Step 2, vergence and accommodation were driven back to the monitor plane using naturalistic images that contained structured depth and focus information from size, blur and/or disparity. In Step 1, both refractive groups converged towards the stereoscopic target depth plane, but the vergence-driven accommodative change was smaller in emmetropes than in myopes (F_1,19=5.13, p=0.036). In Step 2, there was little effect of peripheral depth cues on accommodation or vergence in either refractive group. However, vergence responses were significantly slower (F_1,19=4.55, p=0.046) and accommodation variability was higher (F_1,19=12.9, p=0.0019) in myopes. Vergence and accommodation responses are disrupted in virtual reality displays in both refractive groups. Accommodation responses are less stable in myopes, perhaps due to a lower sensitivity to dioptric blur. Such inaccuracies of accommodation may cause long-term blur on the retina, which has been associated with a failure of emmetropization.
Contribution of binocular vision to the performance of complex manipulation tasks in 5-13 years old visually-normal children
2016, Human Movement Science
Citation Excerpt :
Visually-normal preschool children (3–6 years old) attain a stereoacuity threshold between 60–120 s of arc (Afsari et al., 2013; Ciner et al., 2014), and achieve adult levels (i.e., <10 s of arc) later than 14 years of age (Giaschi, Narasimhan, Solski, Harrison, & Wilcox, 2013). Ocular vergence also emerges during the first few weeks after birth and continues to develop during childhood (Aslin, 1977; Bharadwaj & Candy, 2008; Horwood & Riddell, 2013; Yang, Bucci, & Kapoula, 2002; Yang & Kapoula, 2004). Infants at 6 months of age are capable of executing convergent eye movement to re-fixate the target upon introduction of 5 and 10 diopter base-in prisms (Aslin, 1977).
Individual studies have shown that visuomotor coordination and aspects of binocular vision, such as stereoacuity and dynamic vergence control, continue to improve in normally developing children between birth and early teenage years. However, no study has systematically addressed the relationship between the development of binocular vision and fine manipulation skills. Thus, the aim of this cross-sectional study was to characterize performance of complex manipulation tasks during binocular and monocular viewing. Fifty-two children, between 5 and 13 years old, performed 2 manipulation tasks: peg-board and bead-threading under randomized viewing conditions. Results showed that binocular viewing was associated with a significantly greater improvement in performance on the bead-threading task in comparison to the peg-board task and the youngest children showed the greatest decrement in task performance under the monocular viewing condition when performing the bead-threading task. Thus, the role of binocular vision in performance of fine manipulation skills is both task- and age-dependent. These findings have implications for assessment of visuomotor skills in children with abnormal binocular vision, which occurs in 2–3% of otherwise typically developing children.
Clinical experience with video Head Impulse Test in children
2015, International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology
A standardized diagnostic protocol for children's vestibular assessment is still missing in daily clinical life. As rotatory chair testing and caloric test are usually not tolerated well by children, the aim of our study was not only to evaluate the importance and practicability of the video head impulse test performed in children with and without balance problems, but also to outline a diagnostic algorithm for children with balance problems.
Fifty-five children aged 3–16 years have been included in this prospective monocentric study. Balance was assessed using results from health screening examinations of the participants and results from a specific dizziness questionnaire for children. The children were then divided in two groups: group I without any sign of vestibular development disorder and group II with possible signs for a pathological equilibrium development. Horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex (HVOR) was assessed using a video-oculography system device (EyeSeeCam^©). Gain at 40, 60, and 80 ms and gain variance has been measured. Furthermore, it was evaluated how calibration of the system was tolerated by the participants, how the test itself was accomplishable in children, and which difficulties arose during testing.
Reproducible test results were accomplished in 42 children (75%). Children with no balance problems in history showed a median gain of 1.02 (±0.28). A significant gain reduction between 40 and 80 ms was found (P < 0.05). Catch-up saccades were found in none of the children. Children with balance problems had a significantly reduced gain. (0.47 ± 0.3; P < 0.05) In this group, catch-up saccades could be detected in 4 out of 6 patients. For both groups, performing the test approximately took 20 min, which is significantly longer than in adults (P < 0.05). Calibration of the system with laser dots was easily doable in children aged 6 and older, whereas children between 3 and 5 years had better calibration results using colorful little icons.
Video head impulse test is a sensitive and efficient vestibular test in children, which is tolerated well by children aged 3–16 years. Therefore, video head impulse test can be easily used as a screening tool to detect vestibular dysfunction in the pediatric population.

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^☆: This research is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Minnesota while the author held an NIMH predoctoral traineeship (5 T01 MHO 6668) at the Institute of Child Development. Partial support was provided by NICHD grants to the Center for Research in Human Learning (00098) and the Institute of Child Development (05027), and by an NIH grant to Philip Salapatek (1 R01 HD 07317).

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Development of binocular fixation in human infants☆

Abstract

Brain Research

American Journal of Ophthalmology

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

Sensitive period for the development of human binocular vision

Science

Developmental factors in the formation of feature-extracting neurones

Accurate two-dimensional eye tracker using first and fourth Purkinje images

Journal of the Optical Society of America

Ocular motility and strabismus

The reciprocal actions of accommodation and convergence

Journal of Physiology (London)

Infrared television recording and measurement of ocular behavior in the human infant

American Psychologist