Training-induced recovery of low-level vision followed by high-level perceptual improvements in an adult with developmental object and face agnosia

Abstract

Long-term deprivation of normal visual inputs can cause perceptual impairments at various levels of visual function, from basic visual acuity deficits, to high-level face and object agnosia. Yet it is unclear whether training during adulthood, at a post-developmental stage of the adult visual system can overcome such developmental impairments. Here, we visually trained LG, a 20-year-old individual with a developmental object and face agnosia. Prior to training, LG’s basic visual functions such as visual acuity, crowding effects, and contour integration were at the level of a 5-6 year old. Intensive visual training, based on lateral interactions, was applied for a period of nine months. LG’s directly trained but also untrained visual functions such as visual acuity, crowding, and contour integration improved significantly and reached near-age-level performance, with long-term (over 2 years) persistence. Moreover, the training facilitated additional binocular functions, and some improvement was observed in LG’s higher order visual functions such as object recognition and part integration. LG’s face perception skills have not improved thus far. These results suggest that corrective training at a post-developmental stage, even in the adult visual system, can prove effective, and its enduring effects are the basis for a revival of a developmental cascade that can lead to reduced perceptual impairments.

Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013